The guests include former model Lillith who arrives with her overweight tycoon husband Rudy and stepson. Radio talk-show host Dr. Patrice Singleton is disguised as Pat Snell, so no one will recognize that the star who chides a nation of people unable to control their eating has gained a lot of weight herself. Also in the group is Marcia, a newly divorced woman who has recently taken up with a group that advocates nudity, and her sister Dorinda who has come to keep an eye on Marcia. Rounding out the group is tabloid journalist Heather Brackland, who has come to recoup money she lost when her ex-boyfriend Cail, now Lida’s assistant trainer, left her.

Tess certainly has her hands full trying to plan healthy meals with Lida and keep the guests from sneaking snacks. This is in addition to planning her wedding and overseeing renovations to her apartment. When the guests start bickering among themselves, Tess attributes the high emotions to their hunger from their new diets.

When Heather begins to hint that she has secrets about some of the guests and plans to find secrets about the rest, tempers flair even hotter. Then Marcia, wearing Heather’s rain slicker, is found dead on the lawn after being hit in the head with a dumbbell and everyone assumes that Heather was the intended victim.

After another murder, the evidence points to Cail and when the police learn he is wanted in California for dealing drugs, they are convinced that they have the right person. Something doesn’t seem right to Tess and she begins asking a few questions around town, in-between selecting flowers for her reception. The more she pokes her nose around, the more she realizes many of her guests had reasons to want Heather dead.

Weigh Dead is a must read for fans of the culinary/bed and breakfast subgenera of mysteries. Included in the back of the book is a selection of low-fat recipes Tess’s cook Gertie prepares (under protest) for the guests.

As the anticipation towards Tess and Luke’s nuptials increases, readers look forward to the next installment, hoping it will include the wedding…most likely with a corpse to wish the newlyweds well. Weight Dead is a fast, one-sitting read that will have new readers seeking out the previous five Iris House mysteries.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry