Gourmet Detective: A Healthy Place to Die

I like the chemistry between the two leads. They're fun to watch. And the mystery wasn't lacking in suspects.

During the climactic scene, the music sounds like a track in Bourne Supremacy.

Okay, so "A Healthy Place to Die" was in fact better than the initial film "The Gourmet Detective" in this franchise collection mainly because of the refreshing acting of Dylan Neal who plays amateur sleuth and gourmet guru Henry Ross. Now Henry's real motive for engaging in solving murders is because he is attracted to the lead San Francisco homicide detective Maggie Price, played by actress Brooke Burns.

As in the premier film of this franchise the affectionate bantering between Henry Ross and Detective Maggie Price continues as Henry relinquishes his penthouse suite to Maggie if she agrees to attend a cooking convention that he will be the lead presenter at the convention.

I found that the cat and mouse love attraction between Henry making goo goo eyes at Maggie, and Maggie's obnoxious and negative hissing at Henry's affectionate on towards dragged on much longer than needed until finally a reporter winds up dead in the hotel pool which finally leads these two reluctant partners to commence their whodunit investigation.

I will rate this film slightly higher that the premier film in this franchise collection and as the romantic sparks continue between Henry and Maggie maybe by the third film Maggie may just pull a rock star Rod Stewart and "Wake Up Maggie" he really just wants to talk to you!

I give A Healthy Place to Die a 5 out of 10 rating

Detective Maggie and consulting chef/gourmand Henry go away on a weekend retreat of chefs at a resort/spa in the woods. Maggie who is not a very relaxed person is off-duty and ready to relax...at least prepared to show everyone that she can. Henry gives Maggie his "presidential suite" which is to die for.

In attendance at the chef's retreat is a famous actress who is studying to be a chef for her next role, a reporter, a food critic, and a murderer.

The reporter, Kathleen, goes missing...Henry and Maggie start investigating. This was a fun out of the city excursion for the two...but their humor, attraction, and powers of observation are spot on.

I like this more mature relationship, with two professionals meeting each other on equal ground. They work together well, putting together observations and discussing possible theories until they figure who did it in this whodunnit.

It is pretty amazing that Henry could taste eye drops in a drink...as a chemist myself, I am really impressed. Tetrahydrozoline.

Let's go back to basics...Murder always comes down to two things: Love or Money.

"You know what this means?" "That we're a good team?"

This was both fun and funny. You should watch it.

This appears to be the second in the series and as such, the characters know each other but haven't progressed much past that. Maggie is slightly more than tolerant of the amateur detective, Henry, but doesn't fight working with him to solve the case. Of course along the way, they throw friendly insults at each other. It has a light air to it considering it's about murder.

I wouldn't put either one up for an Emmy, but the acting is OK.

I love how well they follow police procedures. It makes me wonder if they even have an adviser. They trample crime scenes and Henry picks up evidence with his bare hands.

But when it comes down to it, this is another amateur detective show, despite Maggie being a cop, and it's mostly about the banter and the mystery. I suspected something about the right person right from the start, but it was more about the guilty look than evidence. The evidence rolls out slowly and eventually gets to the right person.

Our gourmet cook detective Dylan Neal has been invited to go to a posh health spa where some of San Francisco's best appetites are hanging out to give a lecture and a cooking demonstration. At the same time his favorite homicide detective Brooke Burns has been ordered on vacation as she is accumulating way too many vacation days. We civil servants know what that is like to be in a use or lose situation.

But it turns into a working vacation as bottom feeding investigative reporter Lisa Marie Giaquinto goes missing and about halfway through the film is found by our vacationing sleuths.

Of course there's a lot of suspects that come with a lot of enemies, a few who are staying at the spa.

This was an enjoyable story, did not guess the perpetrator at all.