Culinary

Invincible is the adjective that comes most readily to mind when describing Maddy Montgomery, the hero in Valerie Burns’ Baker Street series. She’s relocated to the tiny, lake-front, Michigan town of New Bison, which is hundreds of miles from the closest Jimmy Choo boutique. Her nemesis in love has suddenly made an appearance, trashing Maddy all over social media. And while the bakery she inherited from her great-aunt is turning into a rip-roaring success, it attracts more dead bodies than the city morgue. Yes, there is a lot going on in this series, and we can’t forget the role of Baby, Maddy’s English Mastiff, who’s as expressive as any human. But one murder is rarely enough, and when a body washes ashore, it becomes clear that someone is out to suppress some important information. Once again Maddy needs to draw on the expertise of her great-aunt’s friends, the Baker Street Irregulars. This series has it all: fun, fashion, and friendship.

As always, Blacke (Vinyl Resting Place, 2022) does a fabulous job of keeping several balls in the air, from romances to murder, from seeking likely perpetrators to fighting off a pair of predatory investors. Small-town Cedar River, where gossip spreads like warm butter, provides the setting, while the three Jessup sisters—the youngest, Juni, is our narrator—are still struggling to keep their cafe/vinyl record store alive. When a crazy storm rips through town—this is Texas, after all—it washes out the roads, knocks out the electricity, and leaves a corpse in a parked car near their shop. He turns out to be one of the predatory investors—Juni knew him from college—who was hoping to make a deal with the sisters. But more importantly, with the town now isolated, where is the murderer hiding? The characters are wonderful, with Juni’s voice and sense of humor especially fresh, and the storyline is completely absorbing. A real treat for cozy fans.

Delilah and the crew from her restaurant, the upscale pizzeria Delilah & Son (Son is short for Sonya, Delilah’s best friend and sous chef), are at Bluff Point, an opulent, old mansion on Wisconsin’s Geneva Bay. They’re catering the Friends of the Library’s fundraising gala—an opportunity to show off their skills and bolster the declining winter business—and the menu does look fantastic. Too bad that the guests hardly get to sample anything more than the appetizers when Edgar Clemmons, outgoing board chair—and quite bitter about his departure—falls down the staircase, landing at the bottom like a broken marionette. Murder or accident? It’s hard to say, since Edgar shared a number of vague secrets with several people before he took his tumble. The man’s demise sends many scurrying home, although a powerful storm has moved in—downed trees, exposed power lines—prohibiting law enforcement from reaching Bluff Point and keeping a dozen or so attendees, including Delilah and her staff, in the mansion for the night. Here the mystery morphs into a closed circle, with an assemblage that includes Delilah’s crush, police detective Calvin Capone; and Butterball, her cat, who takes on quite the active role in this title. As with the other books in the series, Quigley balances wonderful character development and plenty of low-key humor with the search for a killer. It’s hard to imagine a cozy fan who wouldn’t find this book to be a total delight.

After a stint as an advertising executive in New York City, Mallory is back in Wingate, Connecticut, where she has taken over her recently deceased aunt’s Cookie Shop. Finally, a long-held dream fulfilled. Except Mallory’s staff of two can’t stop rankling each other, her boyfriend is seen in a compromising situation with another woman, and food blogger Beatrice Wright, aka Queen Bea, is accusing her of stealing a recipe. Then Beatrice is discovered dead, lying on her kitchen floor, her body outlined by flour. And who might have discovered the body? Our heroine, Mallory–who had stopped by Beatrice’s house to make cookie peace. While this novel uses many of the tropes of cozy fiction, there’s a wonderful freshness about Mallory, who can’t wait to let others solve the murder, and confronts all likely suspects herself, in a direct and unvarnished manner. The first in a series that many cozy readers will love. One request: it’s time for Kip, Mallory’s BFF and fellow baker, to come out. Everyone seems to have a love life, while he’s left at home making spaghetti for Mallory and loading up the Netflix. Sad.

First things first: Quigley’s sophomore effort is every bit as witty, character-driven, and well-plotted as last year’s Six Feet Deep Dish. As always, Geneva Bay, Wisconsin chef and pizzeria owner Delilah O’Leary has a few too many things going on. She’s hoping to win the “Taste of Wisconsin” culinary contest, but can’t quite get the recipe exactly right. Her BFF and sous chef, Sonya, is having an affair with none other than the wife of a celebrity chef. And as luck would have it, he’s the judge for the competition. Bad timing! Meanwhile, her pit bull of a great-aunt is suddenly throwing a lot of shade her way. With no explanations. Even Butterball, the cat she shares with her ex-fiancé, wants out. But when visiting the new juice bar—owned by her ex’s annoying girlfriend—she witnesses one of the customers keel over, likely dead from a poisoned smoothie. And before you can say Pretzel Crust Deep-Dish Bratwurst Pizza, Delilah is drawn into some very risky goings-on. The satire is a joy, Delilah’s narration is sheer pleasure, and her restaurant crew provides plenty of balance. This is turning out to be one of the best new cozy series going.

While I love an old-fashioned cozy as much as anyone—the guest everyone loathes is found dead on the library floor, a fatal slash across a carotid artery, or perhaps a touch too much monkshood in the afternoon tea?—I especially enjoy mysteries located in the present, with settings and characters that are fresh and idiosyncratic. This Portland (OR) based series, Ground Rules, fits the bill perfectly. In the first volume, barista and total hipster Sage Caplin just opens her new coffee cart when, as luck would have it, a corpse is found dead by her wheels. In Double Shot Death, the coffee cart is at a sustainable music festival—how PDX is that?—when a body is found in the woods clutching one of her coffee mugs. In Flat White Fatality, Sage has a side gig modeling as a character for her boyfriend’s game development company, Grumpy Sasquatch Studio. But then, during a team-building event, the most annoying of the company’s coders is murdered, in Sage’s own roastery no less. When another employee is almost killed, Sage realizes she needs to step it up and find the murderer before she becomes suspect number one. Plenty of satire, lots of fascinating local detail, excellent friends and family, and an insider look at the world of special coffees.