Sleep in Heavenly Pizza by Mindy Quigley Series: Deep Dish Mysteries #4
Published by Minotaur Books on October 22, 2024
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
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Pizza chef Delilah O’Leary and her kitty companion, Butterball, get into the holiday spirit as Geneva Bay, Wisconsin hosts the nation’s premier snow sculpting championship. The annual event transforms the charming resort town into a wonderland of snow castles, ice rinks, and cozy cups of cocoa. On the eve of the festival though, a too-good-to-be-true Chrismukkah catering gig brings some frosty tidings and heralds an unexpected visit from Delilah’s high-intensity older sister. Suddenly it seems that the holidays may not be the hap-happiest season of all. And when a missing party guest’s frozen corpse turns up inside one of the town's snowy sculptures, murder threatens to put the celebrations—and Delilah’s crew—on ice for good.
Sleep in Heavenly Pizza is the fourth in the Deep Dish Mystery series but the first I’ve read. I knew it centered around a pizza shop, obviously, but had a different kind of restaurant in my head. Delilah & Son is way fancier than our pizza places generally. Of course, I live in the land of Steubenville/ Ohio Valley pizza and my favorite pizzeria doesn’t have any place to sit and eat, either inside or outside, but they do have a stack of napkins on the counter in case you want to eat in your car. They certainly wouldn’t be catering the upscale Chrismukkah party the book opens with. The party winds down a bit early when the hosts’ family drama gets out of hand and glassware is broken. The next day one of the guests is found dead in a pile of snow being used for a sculpture competition, and of course the guests and catering staff come under suspicion.
I did think this worked fine a stand-alone. It’s a self-contained mystery and the author did a good job introducing all the characters without spending too much time rehashing the previous books.
Delilah is our amateur sleuth/chef/restaurant owner. She and her (requisite) detective boyfriend, Calvin Capone, have to sort through the clue and family dynamics to figure out who the killer was. There is a lot going on with the investigation, Delilah’s family being in town, and one of her employees missing.
The characters are fun and the small town setting is great. I liked how even the secondary characters got a chance to shine. The mystery itself was put together well, with plenty of suspects and red herrings. I liked the seasonal touches too. Give me a good holiday cozy anytime.
About Mindy Quigley
Mindy Quigley is the author of two cozy mystery series: the Deep Dish Mysteries and the Mount Moriah Mysteries.
Her short stories have won awards, including the 2018 Artemis Journal/Lightbringer Prize. Her non-writing career has been stranger than fiction, taking her from the US to the UK, where she worked as the personal assistant to the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep, and as project manager for a research clinic founded by the author J.K. Rowling.
She lives in Virginia with her Civil War history professor husband and their children.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
I read the first book in the series and enjoyed it. I haven’t had time to return to the series yet.
I enjoyed this one, but I don’t think I’ll bother going backwards.