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