Some of the most delicious culinary mysteries
Food and murder. They don't necessarily seem like two things that would go so well together, but somehow they do.
And cozy culinary mysteries are the perfect reads to satisfy your appetite for both delicious food and crime fiction. The amateur sleuths in these mysteries can solve cases and make delicious dishes. And many of these books even include recipes so you can really immerse yourself in the delicious story. Dig in!
A Deadly Inside Scoop
What's the perfect settling for a chilling murder mystery? An ice cream shop, of course! A Deadly Inside Scoop is the first novel in a new cozy mystery series set in the Crewse Creamery ice cream shop. The store is owned by Bronwyn Crewse, who is dedicated to providing customers with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors—many from her grandmother's original recipes. But the store is unable to open for the summer season due to construction delays, and Bronwyn is forced to open up the store for the first time on a snowy day. Not ideal for ice cream. To make matters worse, on the evening of the shop's opening, Bronwyn finds dead man in the snow, and her father is a suspect for the murder.
Arsenic and Adobo
Arsenic and Adobo is a cozy mystery that mixes delicious recipes with murder. After a particularly ugly breakup, Lila Macapagal moves back home to help save her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant. But then her ex-boyfriend (who also happens to be a notoriously difficult critic) shows up at the restaurant and confronts Lila. Who would have guessed he would drop dead only moments after their confrontation? Certainly not Lila, even though now everyone suspects her of murder.
View eBook View AudiobookDeath by Dumpling
Death by Dumpling is another cozy culinary mystery that starts with a brutal breakup that leaves our main character Lana Lee looking for a fresh start. After her breakup and dramatically walking out of her corporate job, Lana returns home to Cleveland to work at her parents' Chinese restaurant, Ho-Lee Noodle House. Her new life gets suddenly more complicated when the restaurant's property manager, Mr. Feng, turns up dead after he receives a delivery of shrimp dumplings from Ho-Lee. Everyone on staff knew about Mr. Feng’s severe shellfish allergy, so who could have done this?
View eBook View AudiobookRoast Mortem
If a delicious hot cup of coffee is more your speed, pick up Roast Mortem, a cozy mystery set in Village Blend coffeehouse. Claire Cosi is the manager and head barista, and she's proud of her espresso-making abilities. But now Claire must take off her barista apron and put on her detective hat. Someone is burning down cafes all across the city, and firefighters are dying in suspicious ways. Can she solve the mystery? Or will her cafe be next?
View eBook View AudiobookBanana Cream Pie Murder
Here's another murder mystery that features delicious recipes so you can recreate bakery owner Hannah Swensen's tasty treats. In Banana Cream Pie Murder, Hannah Swensen has just returned home from her honeymoon and is looking forward to settling down in Lake Eden, Minnesota for a nice, relaxing domestic life. But her dreams are short-lived when a murder rocks the small town. Hannah's mother's neighbor Victoria Bascomb was once a renowned stage actress, and she made many enemies during her lifetime. But who would have gone so far as to murder her? Joanna Fluke has written many books starring bakery owner turned amateur sleuth Hannah Swenson. In fact, the 29th book in the series, Caramel Pecan Roll Murder is out this year. Each story contains a page-turning mystery with delicious recipes, and the novels can be read in any order. Start with this one, the 21st in the series, if you want a particularly compelling story to get you into the series—or if you're just looking for one novel you can read as a standalone!
View eBook View AudiobookTempest in a Teapot
Tempest in a Teapot is a cozy mystery set in Auntie Rose's Victorian Teahouse, where serenity is steeped to perfection in an antique teapot. Sophie Taylor was the owner of a fashionable Manhattan restaurant, but when her business falls through, she returns to her grandmother's teahouse, where her old friend Cissy Peterson is having her bridal shower. The choice of venue for Cissy's shower is controversial, considering the fact that her grandmother owns a competing establishment, La Belle Epoque. And when Cissy's fiancé's mother dies after eating scones from La Belle Epoque, Sophie finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation.
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