Jay and Cindy have quite a history. Back in the ‘90s they were husband and wife, soap-opera stars, and a successful musical duo. Then Cindy came out as gay, and Jay quickly followed, sinking their entertainment careers as fast as you can say “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Today the two are still buddies, share a home in Palm Springs, and have recently launched Hooray for Hollywood, a movie memorabilia store—think Betty Davis’s director’s chair from the set of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? But business is slow and money is tight, so when ninety-year-old Yana Davis, an actress from Hollywood’s golden age, approaches them to sell her vast collection of costumes and other items, they’re ecstatic. Hooray for Hollywood indeed, until they discover that they’re competing against Dylan Redman, VP at a Sotheby’s-like firm with enormous resources. This book is an absolute delight. Yes, there’s plenty of humor, and Yana is pure camp. But at the book’s core are Jay and Cindy, both struggling with loss and loneliness, both trying to make a success out of what they love. There’s plenty here to attract a broad range of cozy readers, all of whom will be back for book two.
Cozy
A delicious exploration into family, culture, and above all, food. We meet early twenties Yale Yee as she is let go from her job in a bookstore—no business—and is thinking of returning to work in her father’s dim sum restaurant. Yale’s a bit of an eccentric: no cellphone, no car (we’re in West Los Angeles), few friends, and still mourning her mother’s death. When Ba, her father, informs her that her rich, spoiled cousin, who she hasn’t seen in 20 years, is arriving from Hong Kong, Yale would rather hide in her apartment with Jane Austen. But instead, at Ba’s suggestion, she and cousin Celine end up running a food stall at the pop-up night market. Celine is everything you’d imagine: beautiful, vain, fashion obsessed, an influencer and foodstagrammer. But these polar opposites end up finding some common ground—at least enough to make the food stall a roaring success. If only there weren’t that dead customer Yale discovers, making the cousins the leading suspects. Off we head into the foodie world of West L.A.–Taiwanese breakfasts and Salvadorean pupusas as Yale and Celine try to clear their names. Chow gets so much right in this book, from the exploration of Asian cultures in L.A. to the growing relationship between the cousins. A fun start to a wonderful new series.
If you read deeply in crime fiction—from psychological thrillers to locked room mysteries—you’ll notice that each subgenre shares some similarities, like types of characters, settings, and narrative devices. This is especially true of cozies, whose readers like a good balance between the familiar and the new. But every now and again a cozy comes along in which the author not only checks off all of the boxes but does such an excellent job in the process that the book totally stands out from the crowd. This is the case with Six Feet Deep Dish, which stars chef Delilah O’Leary, whose larger-than-life personality takes hold of the narrative and never lets go. We’re in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin—a resort town a couple of hours north of Chicago—and Delilah is about to fulfill a lifelong ambition and open her own restaurant featuring gourmet, deep-dish pizza. But as opening night rolls around, she hits a few speed bumps: her uber-rich fiancé, who was bankrolling the endeavor, dumps her and disappears. Then a murder takes place during the opening, and her elderly aunt is found over the dead body, clutching the murder weapon. Delilah realizes that to save her aunt—and her restaurant—she needs to step it up and, with the help of the restaurant staff, find the killer. Droll and witty, sophisticated and credible, this is a series to watch out for.
There’s something comforting about a mystery that opens with the still-warm body of the victim. So when cheesemonger Willa Bauer discovers Sonoma food critic Guy Lippinger slumped over in his car, a knife from Curds & Whey—her new cheese shop—sticking out of his neck, we know we can relax and enjoy the ride. Guy passed by the store earlier in the evening to review it, and the review was clearly going to be a pan, which leaves Willa pretty much the number-one suspect. Willa is new to town, and in her efforts to clear her name and find the killer she gets to know both her colleagues at Curds & Whey and the other food entrepreneurs in town. Moss develops a great sense of community for Willa, filled with some stand-out characters and the potential for at least one love interest. While plenty of cozies have a food or drink focus—from coffee bars to bakeries—Moss does an excellent job of integrating cheese into the story, subtly teaching the reader while pairing cheese with plot developments. This all adds up to a series that readers will be eager to revisit.
Coffeehouses are a staple of cozy mysteries, but this follow up to Fresh Brewed Murder takes place around a coffee-cart business. It belongs to Sage Caplin, barista extraordinaire, who’s booked to sling her lovingly created coffees at Portland, Oregon’s Campathon Music Festival. The weekend has to be a success as she dreads telling her financial backers that opening a second cart was a bad decision. Business goes fine, but behind the scenes things get tense as Sage finds the dead body of an unpopular manager of some of the bands that are appearing at Campathon. Sage herself is suspected as she found another body in the previous book—can one person really be that unlucky? Both to clear her name and because she’s determined to find the truth, Sage unobtrusively goes about getting information from the many parties that may have been involved, all the while giving readers delicious coffee details with a side of tentative romance—her new boyfriend is a father, and his little son may be moving in. The possible killers and motives are well juggled and Duncan’s (AKA young adult author Kelly Garrett) writing is fresh and realistic. Readers will look forward to more with Sage and her coffee cart friends and family.
What the world needs now is more of the delightful Nonna Maria, an elderly widow who’s lived her whole life on the beautiful island of Ischia—18 miles from Naples—and is a bit of a legend. As famous for the espresso she brews as the advice she dispenses, she’s known throughout the island and, in turn, seems to know every native. When trouble comes calling, it’s Nonna Maria people turn to for help, trusting her instead of the local carabinieri. More of a “fixer” than your traditional detective, Nonna Maria takes on two cases in this book. In one, a young woman is worried that her fiancée isn’t what he seems, and Nonna Maria discretely moves her into hiding while she investigates. In the other, the old captain of a tour boat—and life-long friend of our investigator —is found dead, and Nonna Maria won’t accept that the death of this born sailor was an accident. To fix these problems, the intrepid widow calls on old friends, her parish priest, a nephew, a grandson, and even the head of a Neapolitan crime family, all while sharing with readers the delights of Ischia. Never too cutesy and plenty tough, Nonna Maria will delight fans of Italian mysteries and cozy enthusiasts who love a good armchair trip.
A mystery with all the right ingredients, in all the right proportions: compelling crime, eccentric characters, dishy police chief, fascinating location, and above all else, Lana Lewis, a quirky, smart, witty, and sarcastic protagonist. After getting laid off from her job as a journalist in Miami, Lana moved back to her hometown of Devil’s Beach, a barrier island north of the city, and opened Perkatory, a happening coffee shop. When Raina—who owns the hot yoga studio next door—goes missing, Lana dusts off her journalism creds and heads into the contentious, and gossip-ridden, world of yoga to cover the story for the local paper. But finding Raina takes a village, and Lana gets help from a wonderful cast, including her yoga-loving, hippie Dad—whose medical marijuana prescription is always filled—and Noah Garcia, the aforementioned police chief. Lana and Noah’s burgeoning relationship, despite plenty of professional conflict, is a strong element in the novel. But at the book’s heart is Lana, a complex character who’s recovering from a divorce, wary of romance, and uncertain about her career, yet with a great sense of humor. If I can’t spend the afternoon hanging out with Lana in Perkatory, then please get me the next volume in this series ASAP.
What’s better than a bookstore? Hardly anything, unless it’s a bookstore with a fabulous soul-food café, the business venture, and adventure, embarked on here by twins Koby Hill and Keaton Rutledge. The two are just getting to know each other, having been raised apart when Koby was put in foster care and Keaton adopted. Many twins in popular culture are portrayed as either freakishly similar or freakishly different, not that I’m bitter as a twin or anything, but these are regular siblings who get along while tiptoeing around their new relationship. Koby is protective of his sister and nervous that the flirting going on between Keaton and his best friend, Reef, will turn to more, a fear that ends when Keaton finds Reef dead on the subway. Reef knew he was in danger, it seems, and left his friend a legacy that leads the twins on a well-plotted quest for justice that’s filled with the quirky characters and yummy-food references readers expect in a cozy. I wished for recipes at the end, and those will be in the book when it’s released. After that, you can look forward to more books about Koby and Keaton, as this is the first in a new series. Collette’s (aka Abby L. Vandiver) work is sure to appeal to fans of Cleo Coyle’s Coffeehouse Mystery series, the Singaporean Mystery series by Ovidia Yu, and Mia P. Manansala’s Arsenic and Adobo.
Live in Massachusetts and need to reinvent your life? Move to a small seaside town on the California coast. Molly Madison, ex-cop, former PI, and dog wrangler, does just that, wanting to put behind her the murder of her husband, for which she was never fully exonerated. Fortunately, Pier Point is a welcoming community that is perfect for Molly; her golden retriever, Harlow; and Noodle, a neighbor’s enormous, slobbering Saint Berdoodle that Molly semi-adopts. On a morning beach walk, Noodle digs up a woman’s hand, setting in motion a search for the victim and the murderer that again has Molly on the police’s radar. Rothschild has created the first in what could be a wonderful series. Molly is quirky and totally believable. The community is engaging. And Harlow and Noodle, rooted in real-dog behavior, make great co-stars who lend a great deal to the story. I’m hooked.
Life could be better for Hayden McCall, a diminutive, red-headed (don’t call him cute!) eighth-grade teacher in Seattle. The bad news: While hanging out at a gay bar, he manages to get kicked in the eye by Camilo, a beautiful go-go boy. The good news: Camilo invites him home for the evening and turns out to be quite a gentleman. The worse news: Hayden wakes up the next morning to find Camilo gone, his bull terrier needing to be fed, and the police knocking at the door. With that, we are off and running as Hayden searches for Camilo, accompanied by two of Camilo’s best friends, both lesbians: Hollister, who’s African American, a risk taker, and in possession of an impressive mohawk; and Burley, who’s a giant, a baker, and a total stoner. Both women are keenly aware that the cops are not going to take the disappearance of a young Latino man seriously, a go-go boy at that, and it is up to them to save their friend. This novel is a wonderful mix of lightheartedness—no surprise, sidekicks Hollister and Burley provide plenty of laughs—and seriousness, as we learn that Venezuelan-born Camilo is a “Dreamer” whose stay in the U.S. is precarious. Congratulations to Osler for creating a mystery set in the LGBTQ community that is both compelling and heartfelt. Bring on the next installment!