What an inviting cover for the latest in the Key West Food Critic Mystery Series. I love everything about it. This is my favorite cozy series. It’s got all the things I love: Key West; great restaurants and amazing food; quirky characters, house boats, cats, and there is always a murder.
Hayley Snow is the food critic for Key Zest magazine in Key West, Florida. It’s not a bad gig if you can get it. Hayley is surrounded by a unique cast of characters who I have become very fond of over the years, and they’re all back. Octogenarian Miss Gloria who lives on a houseboat next to Hayley and her husband, is still very much alive and kicking. She’s so full of pepper and really brings so much to the story.
The city of Key West is a huge character in these books. I love to be taken back to the island paradise I love through reading these books each summer. And don’t worry, you can start with any of the books; they don’t have to be read in order. Of course I’ve read all of them so what can I say.
I love that Burdette has incorporated the local Women’s Club cookbook into the story. In fact, it’s a big part of the mystery. You’ll enjoy sleuthing out clues from among the pages. And some of the characters in this book are real people in Key West. How fun!
I also love that current issues that are happening right now in Key West are pinpointed and used to move the story along. Such as: the murdered man was not a beloved member of society but a developer with an awful reputation in the Keys who was also a known womanizer. He had so many enemies that any number of people could have had good reason to kill him. The cruise ship situation is brought to the surface and how it affects the working people of the city and the environment.
I love Key West. Visiting the island is like taking a valium. Everything slows down. Everyone can truly be themselves…
My Review copy of A DISH TO DIE FOR was provided by Crooked Lane Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I loved it and am already anxious to read the next one.