Another in the Ellie Haskell mystery series. In this one, Ellie is pregnant, moody, and travels to the U.S. with her husband for a chance for him to be admitted to a secret society of chefs. Story is set in a mansion on an island in Illinois, and invloves disappearing people and a possible murder which Ellie helps to unravel.The mystery story line is good involving mysterious characters, unexplained disappearances, a possible murder, and a mother-daughter rivalry because of a Mommy Dearest Joan Crawford type best seller. The title also works on multiple levels with requirements of the chef society, Ellie the expectant mother, and mother-daughter relationships.Though the story works well, I don't enjoy Cannell's Ellie character a lot. I don't care for Ellie's flippancy and wise cracking ways along with her constant swings back and forth between extremes regarding her husband. Gets tiresome. I also found Ellie's frequent dream sequences confusing at times, though the information revealed helped to move the story along as well as developed the various meanings of the title.
