The preparations are not running smoothly and besides Evelyn’s petty blackmail, the mayor’s office is angry with the Ruby Theater people, the theater group is upset with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and everyone is fuming with the Parks and Recreation department because they are supposed to have the parking lot paved in time for the opening.

Evelyn had many enemies and finding one angry enough to commit murder is not difficult. The mayor’s aide hired her and had been observed running from the scene of the crime. Miss Ella Jackson’s restaurant is preparing the food, and she had appeared at the planning meeting. Even Heaven’s good friend and neighbor, Mona, is unusually incensed with Evelyn’s machinations and wants nothing to interfere with the dedication’s success.

Many famous visitors are expected for the opening including Bob Daulton, a movie producer filming the big name musicians and baseball players taking part in the opening. Jazz singer Samantha Scott will be present, and Mona hopes to apologize for a forty-year-old mistake that ruined their childhood friendship. Sam’s husband, Lefty Stuart, is a famous baseball player participating in the dedication of the baseball museum. Also, Boots Turner, the musician Sam first sang with in high school is attending, still angry after all these years that she has married someone other than himself. Everyone seems to have an ulterior motive for attending, and secrets are plentiful.

I found the profuse number of characters difficult to keep track of and almost had to take notes. Perhaps Ms. Temple’s previous books are required reading in order to keep everyone straight. Although an abundant cast of characters can provide insight into relationships, motives, and explain the plotline, too many people in a book clutter up the story. If there are many suspects, it seems plausible that the mystery will be difficult to solve, but in this case, too many names to remember result in a distraction.

Also, although I would enjoy meeting someone like Heaven, I have a hard time empathizing with her disastrous personal history of five husbands. Perhaps she has learned from her past mistakes, but it indicates she is capable of bad judgment of people -- an unusual trait for a successful amateur sleuth.

On the good side, the storyline is very original and appealing, and Ms. Temple shows us her superior knowledge of Kansas City, the restaurant business, and jazz. Her recipes, interspersed throughout the book, are mouth watering and feasible to make. Even the scores of characters are realistic, well fleshed-out, and absorbing. All in all, this is not a perfect book, but it is worth checking out or waiting for the paperback.

--Monica Pope