The Cereal Murders

This delightfully wicked mystery features food expert Goldy Bear, seen last in Dying for Chocolate . Goldy, 31 and the divorced mother of a 12-year-old son and the owner of Goldilocks Catering (``Where Everything Is Just Right!'') in Aspen Meadow, Colo., caters as many as three events a day, even while solving a murder or two. After catering the senior class dinner at the exclusive but undistinguished Elk Park Prepatory School, Goldy discovers the body of the class valedictorian, Keith Andrews, strangled by one of her extension cords. Tom Schulz, gourmet cook, Goldy's lover and head homicide detective for the Aspen Meadow police, quickly discovers that Keith may have been an extortionist and a thief. Probing further, he and Goldy find that the senior class (oddly restrained in their response to the murder) and their rancorous parents are a group for whom obsession with grades, nasty competition over college slots and blatant bribery are the norm. The book proves to be a light but delicious combination of unique personalities, first-rate recipes and sustained suspense, with only a surfeit of red herrings for leftovers. (Nov.)