Monday, July 6, 2015


MACARONI AND FREEZE 
Book 4 in the Comfort Food Mystery series 
by Christine Wenger


In the latest from the national bestselling author of Diners, Drive-ins, and Death, Trixie Matkowski finds herself in hot water after a killer gets cheesed off at a celebrity chef....

When the library roof collapses from the harsh winter weather, diner owner and comfort food chef Trixie Matkowski decides to organize a mac-and-cheese cook-off to raise funds for repairs. Priscilla Finch-Smythe, famous TV chef and former Sandy Harbor resident, is not only available to judge the contest—she’s offering an appearance on her show as the grand prize.

Trixie hopes that winning first place in the cook-off will help boost publicity for her Silver Bullet Diner. But when another winner is announced, and Priscilla is later found frozen in a snowbank, Trixie starts getting attention from the police instead. Now she’ll have to noodle over this mystery before everything really goes to pot….


Includes Delicious Home-Style Recipes

MY REVIEW


Author Christine Wenger is a gifted author who has written another winner. The entire plot was well thought out and expertly penned. Her characters are muti-layered, but well defined. And her way of mixing an excellent mystery with humor is top notch.  

Diners always seem to have the best food. But I never really gave thought to owning my own or working in one. Then I read the first three pages of this book and author’s description of how her lead character Trixie Matkowski sees her diner and why she loves it so much. It made me want to run to my local diner and spend the day!

Spending several chapters with just the characters, their lives and businesses, and the buildup of the story, is my favorite way for a book to start. So, I was thrilled when the murder happened a little further into this book. It gave me time to like or dislike the character that was going to be killed. For me, that makes the who and the why of the mystery and investigation more intriguing. And that was very true of this story.

The previous installments of the Comfort Food Mystery series were such yummy delights, I wasn’t surprised when I found MACARONI AND FREEZE even more delicious than the first three courses (books). I could feed off books like this all year! It filled my mental tummy with treat after treat of mystery, fun, and the wonderful satisfying feeling that only comes with an amazing book.

Make sure to check out the back of the book for ten amazing comfort food recipes, as well as an excerpt from book five, IT’S A WONDERFUL KNIFE.

Releases July 7

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More wonderful titles releasing 
Tuesday, July 7


From the New York Times bestselling author of A Vision in Velvet comes more spooky sleuthing with Lily Ivory, vintage boutique owner and gifted witch…

Lily would like nothing better than to relax, enjoy her friends, and take care of business at her store, which is booming thanks to San Francisco's upcoming Summer of Love Festival.  But as the unofficial witchy consultant to the SFPD, she is pulled into yet another case.

A woman has jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge, and her apparent suicide may be connected to a suspicious botanica in the Mission District. When the police investigate the shop, they ask Lily to look into its mysterious owner, whose granddaughter also appears to be missing. As Lily searches for the truth, she finds herself confronted with a confounding mystery and some very powerful magic…


The New York Times bestselling author of the Manor House Mysteries and the White House Chef Mysteries shows how a blast from the past can spell trouble for Grace Wheaton…

When Grace’s estranged sister Liza shows up on her doorstep, the timing couldn’t be worse. Grace’s beloved boss and benefactor, Bennett Marshfield, has finally gotten her to agree to a DNA test to establish if he is, in fact, her uncle. If so, Grace would move from being the trusted curator and manager of Marshfield Manor to Bennett’s heir. And her duplicitous sister would be right behind her in the line of inheritance.

Liza is not the only mysterious visitor to arrive in town. A man claiming to be an FBI agent has shown up, and a swarm of avaricious antique collectors have descended on Emberstowne for a prestigious convention. When Bennett reveals he’s in mind to acquire a secret antique and the FBI agent turns up dead, the plot thickens. And Grace can’t help but wonder if Liza is at the center of it all…


In national bestselling author Hannah Reed’s latest Scottish Highlands mystery, aspiring romance novelist Eden Elliott discovers the landscape isn’t the only thing that’s dramatic when a local woman is done in...

It’s early September in Glenkillen, Scotland, when American expat (and budding romance novelist) Eden Elliott is recruited by the local inspector to act as a special constable. Fortunately it’s in name only, since not much happens in Glenkillen.

For now Eden has her hands full with other things: preparing for the sheepdog trial on the MacBride farm—a fundraiser for the local hospice—and helping her friend Vicki with her first yarn club skein-of-the-month deliveries. Everything seems to be coming together—until the head of the welcoming committee is found strangled to death with a club member’s yarn.

Now Eden feels compelled to honor her commitment as constable and herd together the clues, figure out which ones are dogs, and which ones will lead to a ruthless killer . . .


In the newest Yarn Retreat Mystery from the national bestselling author of Silence of the Lamb’s Wool, dessert chef Casey Feldstein continues to develop her hidden talents for knitting…and solving murders.

With two yarn retreats in the bag, Casey is looking forward to running her third one at Cadbury by the Sea’s Vista Del Mar hotel on the Monterey Peninsula. This time, each knitter will get a Mystery Bag of knitting materials to turn into a personal project.

But Casey gets tangled up in another retreat at the same hotel, when the organizer and his wife have a very public spat. As Casey is delivering her baked goods later that night, she finds the woman dead in the bushes with a magician’s silk scarf nearby—just like the scarf Casey’s ex-boyfriend, Sammy, used during his magic act at the retreat. As Sammy takes center stage as the prime suspect, Casey and her friends will have to stitch together the clues before the real killer pulls a disappearing act...


Includes knitting patterns and a recipe


As the national bestselling Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries continue, the merchants of Jewel Bay, Montana, try to heat up chilly winter business with a new film festival. But their plans are sent reeling when a dangerous killer dims the lights on a local vendor...

In an attempt to woo tourists to Jewel Bay and cheer up the townies, Erin Murphy, manager of the specialty local foods market known as the Merc, is organizing the First Annual Food Lovers’ Film Festival, filled with classic foodie flicks and local twists on favorite movie treats. But when her partner in planning, painter Christine Vandeberg, is found dead only days before the curtain rises, Erin suspects someone is attempting to stop the films from rolling.

To make matters worse, Nick—Erin’s brother and Christine’s beau—has top billing on the suspect list. Convinced her brother is innocent and determined that the show must go on, Erin has to find who’s really to blame before Nick gets arrested or the festival gets shut down. But the closer she gets to the killer, the more likely it becomes that she’ll be the next person cut from the program...


INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES!

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3 comments:

  1. The cozy mystery books look awesome! Thank you Lisa. :)

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  2. Thanks for the reviews! They all look good!

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  3. Thanks, Lisa! More great reads!

    ReplyDelete