Let's clear the advances in the background story. Julian is on the scene and actual a critical pawn in the mystery, although his role doesn't surface until quite late. Goldy had put Schulz on hold and taken up with an old college friend, now a psychologist. The friend is the first murder victim, and to compound his lack of judgment, it turns out that he was only courting Goldy as research into his study of abused women. Goldy and Arch have taken up residence with Marla's older sister and her husband, serving as live-in cook and general helper-outer because her ex, the JeRK, has been harassing her. Another refugee finds a temporary shelter there, too - Scout, the cat.
More murder, more dinners, a poison pen food critic - oh, yes - a rival caterer in a nearby town who is suing Goldy over the name of her catering business. He and his wife are Three Bears Catering. Apparently, Colorado is not big enough for both Goldilocks and the Three Bears. And somebody finds the missing detonator - and everything blows up.
The story ends with Schulz proposing to Goldy at the hospital where Arch ends up after the bad tricks a minion into trying to drown him. He proposes with witnesses - Arch and Julian are both present and have settled that Julian will move in with them and apprentice himself to Goldy. The fates of Schulz's proposal and Scout the cat are left hanging - but we all know from later books in the series that the proposal is accepted and that Scout takes over the management of the Bear-Schulz establishment in the future.
If you want to know about one of the more creative murders in series fiction and how they get from paragraph two to paragraph three above, you will just have to reread it for yourself. And tomorrow I must do homework - procrastination has already paid off, now it is time to pay the piper.
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