T.C. LoTempio, author of several series, including the Nick and Nora mysteries, kicks off a new series featuring a magazine food blogger with Eat, Drink and Drop Dead. Yes, it’s the typical first in a cozy mystery series with an amateur sleuth who comes under suspicion, a hot cop, and a best friend willing to get in trouble with the sleuth, but LoTempio’s mystery is fun with a lot of potential for future books.

Tiffany Austin was a hot-shot assistant chef in New York City who was pushed out of her job by her boss. Now, she’s home in Branson, Georgia, at the end of her six-month trial as the food blogger and columnist for Southern Style magazine. But, it looks like the position will come down to her or Jenny Lee Plumm, the Society N Style columnist. When Tiffany is offered a permanent position, Jenny Lee lets everyone know she’s going down fighting. She and Tiffany even have a loud argument in front of the staff. So, when Jenny Lee’s body is found that night, it’s natural for the Chief of Detectives, Philip Bartell, to talk with Tiffany.

Tiffany doesn’t take her status well as a suspect. Instead, she and her best friend, Hilary, investigate Jenny Lee, looking for the story she said would be her big break. But, even when Tiffany turns important evidence over to Bartell, something still doesn’t feel right.

As I said, Eat, Drink and Drop Dead is a series launch, and all of the basic elements of a first in a cozy series are included. I’m willing to give the food blogger another chance. I liked Tiffany, her pets, her friends, and the hot cop.

Eat, Drink and Drop Dead by T.C. LoTempio. Severn House, 2023. ISBN 9781448310029 (hardcover), 256p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I downloaded a galley from NetGalley to review for a journal.