Tag: culinary

New Cozy Mysteries for Spring!

- Michelle Leave a comment

Some of the best loved cozy mystery series continue every spring with the next book in the series to enjoy.  Below are some of the most popular cozy mystery titles to read over the next few months!  

Curds of Prey  by Korina Moss

As the social wedding of the summer hears up, Cheesemonger Willa Bauer is busy preparing her famous cheese bar for the festivities at the request of the bride and groom.  All is well with the preparations until a member of the wedding party is found dead at the bridal shower and Willa is charged with finding a killer.  Curds of Prey is the third book in the Cheese Shop Mystery series.

 

Digging Up Daisy  by Sherry Lynn

Digging Up Daisy, the first book launching the Mainely Murder Mystery series, introduces us to Kinsley Clark, owner of the landscaping company SeaScapes.  Kinsley is thrust into a murder investigation after finding a mud-covered shoe while moonlighting at her aunt’s bed and breakfast.  Is this shoe linked to an infamous case from years ago that remains unsolved?  Kinsley delves into the cold case and finds herself in the thick of the investigation to find a killer.

 

Mother of the Bride Murder  by Leslie Meier 

Lucy Stone travels to France for her daughter’s nuptials and happens upon a killer in Mother of the Bride Murder, the 29th installment of this popular cozy mystery series.  While touring the French countryside, a body is pulled from the moat of a historic chateau.  Will the wedding go off as planned or will the body count continue to rise?  Lucy Stone is determined to find out and not let it ruin her daughter’s big day.

 

Death by Chocolate Marshmallow Pie  by Sarah Graves

Another chocolate shop is coming to town and is about to encroach on Ellie’s chocolate store the Chocolate Moose in Death by Chocolate Marshmallow Pie!  After the owner of Choco, the rival store, is found dead after a heated incident with Ellie.  All fingers point to Ellie as the possible culprit and she has to act fast to clear her name!  This is the sixth book in the Death by Chocolate mystery series.

 

Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust  by Mindy Quigley 

Set in a Wisconsin pizzeria, owner Delilah O’Leary has her sights set on winning the annual “Taste of Wisconsin” culinary contest with her crowd favorite pizza recipe in Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust, the second book in the Deep Dish Mystery series.  When another culinary contestant is poisoned, everyone in the contest is a suspect.  Will Delilah find the killer before they strike again?

 

Cinnamon Twisted  by Ginger Bolton 

A mundane afternoon at the Deputy Donut café turns upside down when café owner Emily Westhill takes on the nearly impossible task of trying to return an earring to a customer in Cinnamon Twisted.  She gets more than she bargained for when, after finally locating the customer, Emily finds her dead!  Things become even more complicated for her when a police officer finds the other earring with a note attached to Emily herself.  Time is of the essence as Emily works to find a connection between the victim, earring and the mysterious history of the building that houses the Deputy Donut cafe!  Fans will enjoy this seventh book in the Deputy Donut mystery series.

Death Comes to Marlow  by Robert Thorogood 

The very popular Marlow Murder Club series returns in the second book in the series!  The trio of amateur sleuths make their next appearance in Death Comes to Marlow.  Recovering from the holiday festivities, Judith is invited to a pre-wedding celebration at the home of her aristocratic neighbor.  Events then go south from a blissful festive occasion to tragedy after the groom is found dead in a locked room.  Is it an accident or murder?  The sleuthing trio will have to find out!

 

Hot Pot Murder by Jennifer J. Chow 

Hot Pot Murder, the second book in the LA Night Market mystery series, find cousins Yale and Celine Yee involved in another food stall escapade. After being invited to a gathering of local food vendors, one of the attendees doesn’t make it through the dinner and another vendor may be the culprit!  The cousins join forces to get to the bottom of the caper so the food market won’t close for good!

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

- Stephanie Leave a comment

In November every year, I try to read as many mysteries as I can. This November, I decided to focus on cozy mysteries partly because Checked In: A Davenport Library Podcast, hosted by three DPL librarians, will be talking about cozy mysteries, amongst other things, in our November episode. (You should check it out to hear myself and two other librarians talk about all things library). Cozy mysteries are considered the gentle reads of the mystery genre. They generally avoid graphic violence, sexual content, and profanity, but feature instead unlikely detectives. Right up my alley!

On my quest to read more cozy mysteries, I discovered Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala. This book is the first in a brand new series called Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery. (The second title Homicide and Halo-Halo is set to come out in February 2022.)This culturally diverse title is full of sharp humor and delicious food. The author even includes a list of recipes at the end of the novel. The end of this book clearly sets you up for a sequel. You even get to read a snippet of the next book in the series.

Lila Macapagal has moved back home. This was not what she wanted to do, but after a nasty breakup and not having completed college, Lila doesn’t really have any other options. Now living back home with her grandmother and aunt, Lila must figure out ways to help save her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant. In addition to that huge task, Lila is also dealing with her big group of matchmaking aunties/godmothers who want her to settle down and be happy. They love her, but that love is tinged with judgment.

Lil’s ex-boyfriend also keeps popping up in her life too. He is a food critic that has been targeting all the local restaurants for the last couple years and is destroying businesses through his reviews. He has become increasingly nasty and has set his sights on Tita Rosie’s restaurant. While eating one day at the restaurant, he drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila. The aftermath of that has drastic consequences for the family. The local police treat Lila like she is their only suspect, their landlord wants to use the death as an excuse to kick the family out of the restaurant, and Lila’s best friend has started acting weird. Refusing to let her family be persecuted for something that they didn’t do, Lila decides to start investigating herself with the help of her family and friends. What she discovers is more complicated than she ever could have imagined.

I’ll Have What Phil’s Having

- Stephanie Leave a comment

what phil's havingI enjoy a good travel documentary, but what really hooks me in are the ones that focus on the local food that can be found and enjoyed when you are on vacation. I’ll Have What Phil’s Having is what I would call a food travel documentary and definitely fulfilled my wish for more of a focus on food than the sites that you would see in a traditional travel documentary.

I’ll Have What Phil’s Having follows Emmy Award-winner Phil Rosenthal, the creator of the hit show Everybody Loves Raymond, as he travels around the world looking for fantastic food in various countries and cities. Phil visits six sites: Tokyo, Italy, Paris, Hong Kong, Barcelona, and his hometown, Los Angeles. At each place, he seeks out what he thinks to be the world’s best food, looking for chefs, ground-breaking style-setters, and leaders in the culinary world to expand his palate and find places where both locals and tourists go to find the best food.

What I loved about this documentary is that Phil was looking for restaurants and chefs that both kept the food traditions of their communities alive and also were working to create new foods, ideas, and restaurants. He acknowledges that he looks for places that both tourists go to, but that going off the beaten path and looking for places that the locals know of will sometimes lead you on a new adventure.

This documentary caught and held my interest because of the wide variety of food he tested, the places he visited, and because of his hilarious commentary and facial expressions as he experienced anything new for the first time. He also gives tours of the famous and historical sites around as enticement for visiting the places that he is at as well. Highly recommended.