December 2023 New Release Cozies

 Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews. The recipe reviews and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing. 

Deep Fried Death
A Country Store Mystery #12
Maddie Day

 The 12th book in the Country Store Mystery Book series has some new and interesting tidbits such as the phrase “busier than a mosquito in a nudist colony.” There is no way to not chuckle while reading each time Robbie interacts with Buck, who as it turns out Buck has a wife, a doctor, who knew?!?! When you’re not chuckling be prepared to have hunger pains from the amazing food descriptions, but not to worry there are recipes included at the conclusion of the story. I made the apple dumplings and they were enjoyed by many. In addition to a new recipe, the murder site is a new one as well, an outhouse race for the site of the murder, now that is a new and creative cozy mystery event. It was a pity that the victim’s body ended up inside Robbie’s race entry. Evermina was beaten with a cast iron skillet being used as a decoration thus ending the smear campaign she had started against Robbie’s restaurant store, the Pans and Pancakes. Since the murder took place in Nashville instead of South Lick, Robbie is not working with local law enforcement and actually seems to be trying to avoid Sheriff Hailey Harris and state detective Octavia Slade while she looks for clues to remove herself and maybe her brother-in-law Don O’Neil from the top of the suspect list. Usually Robbie is bouncing ideas and info back and forth with Buck, but not this time at least not in the presence of his deputy cousin Wanda or Octavia. 

Robbie hates that once again she was involved in a murder but relishes the exercise of creating a clue crossword to keep things straight. Was Evermina killed by Zeke her husband (we aren’t sure if there was a divorce yet or not). Maybe it was Wendy Corbert, gift shop owner in Nashville, who appears to be Zeke’s new girlfriend.  Robbie is feeling overwhelmed in this one between her “condition,” the restaurant with its soon to be delivered deep fryer, constant questioning by nonlocal law enforcement, and worry for her brother-in-law Don.   As a stand-alone cozy, you do not need to know what happened in the last book or the last 11 for that matter but since it is such a great series you will want to add them to your TBR list.  Robbie is a unique character with adequate skills as a cook and carpenter (this is how she describes herself) and no professional sleuth training but she does have a good heart and desire to help her family and friends. You find yourself empathizing with Robbie but be careful of the well laid red herrings that misdirect and be sure to check out the tasty recipes. 

Public Anchovy #1: A Deep Dish Mystery
Molly Quigley
St. Martin's Paperbacks

What should have been a fun and festive event turns into a dark and stormy night complete with a murder. Delilah and crew have been hired to cater the Friends of the Library’s Roaring 20’s fundraising event. Sounds like fun, right? Well then there is a storm and a request for an all vegan pizza with no gluten and no sugar and no tomatoes which makes it a “free from” pizza (free from anything that makes it a pizza). As the weather turns treacherous so does the situation for the rather unpleasant Edgar Clemmons who was on a mysterious mission regarding a wrong that needed to be righted. Funny thing about Edgar is that the only person who seemed to be able to tolerate and even enjoy his company was Sonya, Delilah’s BFF and business partner.  Among the suspects is an international artist Count Leka Simeon Victor Hohenstaufen Chandon aka Jarka’s ex‑fiancé, the Count’s current fiancé, a pretentious and well off influencer, her trophy husband, and maybe even Capone’s mom, Lola Capone. 

There is nothing like spending the night without power in a dark and slightly spooky house with a possible killer. As the catering crew and the “hoity-toity” guests hunker down, Delilah goes in search of Butterball the stowaway cat who causes some chaos. So she might be looking for clues at the same time, but hey you can’t blame a girl from wanting to clear the name of her beloved cat. 

I do need to point out that this is not how Delilah wanted to meet Capone’s mom. Of course Delilah has a hard time determining if the man has feelings for her or not as he has a tendency to be in cop mode when they are together, which means walls go up and stoic/stone faced Capone comes out. In this instant though, the weather might have been cold but the heat between Delilah and Detective Capone is HOT. This is culinary cozy so it comes with an array of recipes included a very tasty recipe for tiramisu cookie bars that are easy to make and even easier to eat (the entire pan).