Both of these books are part of the Culinary Mysteries by Nancy Fairbanks.
In the three earlier books in the series we meet Carolyn Blue - the wife of a university chemistry professor. Jason Blue likes having a traditional wife, and Carolyn has been one for all of these years as the children have been growing up. Now that they are both college aged, she feels free to become a little less traditional. While she is an accomplished cook, she would rather cook than eat. So with her love of both food and history, a new career involving a regular syndicated newspaper column about food and travel seems like a natural choice.
Now then, Carolyn and Jason Blue are both WASPs to the most stereotyped degree you can imagine. He is a stuffed shirt, a very conservative snob and self centered workaholic. She is prissy and sheltered and opinionated. The author likes to have fun with the stereotypes and it is very funny to me to see Carolyn's eyes being opened up to a bigger world with more diverse people than she runs into at meetings for college faculty wives.
The three previous books took place in New Orleans, New York City, and France. Filled with not only mysteries, but with delightful descriptions of food, these books always make me hungry. Normandy was especially tempting, with its apple liquor and apple pastries...
Chocolate Quake is the fourth book in the series. Jason has a conference in San Francisco, so Carolyn tags along to visit some good restaurants, and get material for her column. The last thing she expects is to find her mother-in-law in jail for murder. Jason just sort of dumps the problem on her while he is busy at the conference. With the help of a gay former professional football player turned private detective, Carolyn tries to find the real murderer, to get her awful witch of a MIL out of jail. She also manages to eat some pretty fine sounding meals. Amusing like the first three novels, but Jason was sort of irritating and self centered...
The Perils of Paella is the fifth book in the series. Jason has yet another conference in Spain, so Carolyn travels to Barcelona to meet with an old friend while Jason is giving his paper in another Spanish city. The last thingshe is expecting is to find the corpse of a murder victim in the museum where her friend works. Throw in a missing runaway teen, a couple of snooty nobles, and a group of weird artists, and you have the recipe for a fun mystery in an exotic setting.
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