Diane Mott Davidson

Name: Catering to Nobody
Author: Diane Mott Davidson

American · 1 series

Amateur sleuth Culinary mystery Small town mystery

By The Editorial Team · Last reviewed April 2026

Diane Mott Davidson is widely credited with pioneering the culinary mystery subgenre. When her debut novel Catering to Nobody appeared in 1990, it introduced a fresh formula: a resourceful amateur sleuth whose professional cooking life collides, again and again, with murder. Readers had never quite seen anything like it, and the book launched a seventeen-book series that ran for more than two decades.

Davidson’s heroine is Goldy Schulz, a caterer working out of the fictional mountain town of Aspen Meadow, Colorado. Goldy is a single mother rebuilding her life after escaping an abusive marriage, and her catering business is both her livelihood and her independence. When corpses start turning up among her clients and neighbours, Goldy’s instinct to investigate proves impossible to suppress. The Colorado Rocky Mountain setting gives the series a distinctive atmosphere — crisp, small-town, insular — that feels miles away from the procedural grimness of urban crime fiction.

One of the series’ defining pleasures is the recipes. Every book includes actual, tested recipes for the dishes Goldy prepares, and readers have been cooking from them for thirty years. The food is never decorative; it is woven into the plot, the characters, and the rhythms of daily life in Aspen Meadow.

Davidson died in 2022, leaving the series complete at seventeen novels spanning 1990 to 2013. The books are finished, the mysteries are resolved, and readers can enjoy the entire arc from beginning to end without waiting for anything more.

Quick Facts

Born: 1949
Died: 2022
Nationality: American
Genre: Culinary mystery / cosy crime
Series: Goldy Schulz (17 books, 1990–2013)
Awards: Anthony Award nominee

Reading Order Advice

Start with Catering to Nobody and read in publication order. Goldy’s personal life — her relationship with detective Tom Schulz, her son Arch, and her fraught history with her ex-husband — develops steadily across all seventeen books. Jumping in mid- series means missing the emotional groundwork that makes later entries so satisfying. The good news: every novel works as a standalone mystery, so you can pause between books without losing the plot threads.

Goldy Schulz

1
Catering to Nobody (1990)
Goldy's catering business and her ex-husband's release from prison collide when a guest is poisoned at a funeral reception.
2
Dying for Chocolate (1993)
Goldy takes a live-in catering job at a lakeside estate and finds herself entangled in murder among the wealthy residents of Aspen Meadow.
3
The Cereal Murders (1994)
A competitive college prep season turns deadly when students at an elite school begin dying and Goldy caters the events that keep bringing her to the scene.
4
The Last Suppers (1995)
Goldy is hired to cater a series of pre-wedding dinners but the groom goes missing and a body turns up, threatening her most important job of the season.
5
Killer Pancake (1996)
Catering a cosmetics company launch event plunges Goldy into a world of diet culture, corporate secrets, and a murder that threatens to ruin everything.
6
The Main Corpse (1997)
A gold mine investment scheme in Aspen Meadow goes violently wrong and Goldy finds herself investigating while trying to keep her business afloat.
7
The Grilling Season (1998)
Goldy's ex-husband is suspected of murdering a patient and Goldy races to uncover the truth before the wrong person takes the fall.
8
Prime Cut (2000)
A catering job at a remote mountain ranch leads Goldy into a tangle of secrets involving a fashion photographer and murders that reach back years into the past.
9
Tough Cookie (2001)
A ski resort is the setting for a deadly season when a series of suspicious accidents and a murder land squarely in Goldy's catering territory.
10
Sticks and Scones (2002)
Goldy is hired to cater at a historic English-style manor house and the gothic atmosphere turns sinister when a guest is murdered and old family secrets surface.
11
Chopping Spree (2003)
A holiday catering assignment at a failing shopping mall becomes a nightmare when a body is discovered and Goldy is caught between competing suspects.
12
Double Shot (2005)
Goldy's abusive ex-husband is found dead and she is the prime suspect, forcing her to investigate while keeping her family and business from falling apart.
13
Dark Tort (2007)
A young paralegal who worked nights cleaning a law firm is murdered and Goldy, catering for the firm, digs into the dangerous secrets buried in its files.
14
Sweet Revenge (2008)
When a librarian is murdered at a book signing event Goldy is catering, she must sort through a crowd of literary rivals and personal vendettas to find the killer.
15
Fatally Flaky (2009)
A beloved local doctor is killed and a wedding Goldy is catering is thrown into chaos as she unravels the connections between the victim and Aspen Meadow's residents.
16
Crunch Time (2011)
A private investigator is murdered and Goldy takes in a neighbour who may know too much, putting her own household in danger while she pursues the truth.
17
The Whole Enchilada (2013)
The death of an old friend at a party Goldy is catering sets off a chain of events that forces her to confront painful history and close the case for good.

If you enjoy Diane Mott Davidson, try...

Joanne Fluke — Culinary mysteries with recipes woven into the story
Cleo Coyle — Food-themed cosy mysteries with strong female leads