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Dial M For Meat Loaf
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Plot Summary of Dial M For Meat Loaf
"LOAF

Fawcett, Nov 2001, 6.99, 336 pp.
ISBN: 034542154X

    Sophie Greenacy owns St. Paul's Mansfield Plazza and writes a restaurant review column for the Minneapolis Times-Register. The newspaper is currently sponsoring a favorite meatloaf recipe contest with the grand prize being a weekend at the Plazza. Helping Sophie with this enormous endeavor is Bernice Washburn, the food editor at the paper.

    When Sophie learns that her friend's father is ill, she offers to drive Bernice to the hospital to visit him. When John Washburn regains consciousness, he immediately admits that he killed handyman Kirby Rinbeck, an individual allegedly blackmailing him. Sophie decides to investigate only to stunningly learn that John is a multiple bigamist, but finds no evidence that her friend's father killed anyone. Working with Bernice's significant other Angelo Falzone, Sophie searches for the real killer.

    DIAL M FOR MEATLOAF is a witty sophisticated who-done-it with a serpentine story line that takes readers on quite a meandering ride that works. Ellen Hart serves up quite a dish with one of the best amateur sleuth novels of the year because of that strong plot and likable but eccentric characters with fan appeal.

Harriet Klausner

"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Dial M For Meat Loaf
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 40%
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Big focus on forensic evidence
Kind of investigator - amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - feelings towards family/friends
Legal Thriller Yes
Legal Plotlets - finding out whether someone is really guilty
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - chef
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - none
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - student
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
Motive of antagonist - jealousy
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Midwest

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 1
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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