Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes

October 11, 2021

I love a cozy mystery debut that’s a little different with characters that are not the stereotypical white middle-class owners of a craft shop or bookstore. Raquel V. Reyes introduces Cuban-American Miriam Quinones-Smith, a food anthropologist, a wife and...

Death in Castle Dark by Veronica Bond

August 29, 2021

Another reader commented that they weren’t sure Veronica Bond could sustain a series with the Dinner and a Murder Mystery theme. I’m not sure either, but I found the first in the series, Death in Castle Dark, to be a fun, engaging book with a charming...

Much Ado About Nauticaling by Gabby Allan

July 28, 2021

This time, when I say Gabby Allan “launches” a new series, it’s an appropriate word. Much Ado About Nauticaling is the first Whit and Whiskers mystery, and it’s set on Catalina Island off the coast of southern California. There’s...

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manasala

May 04, 2021

Mia P. Manasala’s Arsenic and Adobo, will make you hungry, if nothing else. But, it does offer a great deal more. The debut mystery introduces readers to Filipino-American food and culture, with its emphasis on family. There are cozy tropes; the close-knit...

The Curse of the Cherry Pie by Amy Patricia Meade

May 02, 2021

When I reviewed Amy Patricia Meade’s first Tish Tarragon mystery, Cookin’ the Books, I said I loved the supporting cast, but I didn’t feel as if Tish was well-developed. The Curse of the Cherry Pie is the fourth in the series, and Tish has come into...