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It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Murder
A Catering Hall Mystery
by Maria DiRico
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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder (A Catering Hall Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Publisher : Kensington Cozies (October 26, 2021)
Mass Market Paperback : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 1496725360
ISBN-13 : 978-1496725363
Digital ASIN : B08VFBT9B2
Astoria, Queens, is decorated within an inch of its life for the Christmas season, and Mia Carina is juggling her job at the Belle View catering hall with a case of murder . . .
Mia’s busy with a full schedule of events at the family business—among them an over-the-top Nativity-themed first birthday party and a Sweet Sixteen for a teen drama queen. But her personal life is even more challenging. Her estranged mother has returned—and her lifelong friend Jamie has discovered a shocking secret about his past. He’s so angry that he starts hanging out with Lorenzo, who claims to be his long-lost brother—even after it becomes clear that Lorenzo’s story is as fake as a plastic Christmas tree.
Then a body turns up among the elves in a Santa’s-workshop lawn display, and amateur sleuth Mia has a buffet of suspects to choose from. Amid the holiday celebrations, she intends to find out who’s the guilty party . . .
Italian recipes included!
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Enjoy this peek inside:
Donny took Mia’s hands in his and squeezed them.
“Mille grazie, Mia. All we ask is that you keep this news to yourself until we meet together to tell Jamie. You can share it with your father. I trust him with my life. But no one else.”
Mia nodded her agreement. A thought occurred to her.
“Does Donny Junior know?” Jamie’s older brother, a textbook goombah who barely made it out of high school, lived to tease his more cerebral little brother and give him grief.
Donny Senior shook his head. “We’re not saying a word to Little Donny until we talk to Jamie.”
“Good. I’m worried he might throw this in Jamie’s face.”
A bookcase suddenly rotated out of place and Donny Junior burst into the room from a secret location, eliciting startled screams from the office occupants. “I would never do that,” Donny Junior declared with passion.
“Donny, what were you thinking?” his angry mother scolded. “You know your father has high blood pressure. You could have given him a stroke.”
“Or me,” Mia said, pouring herself a small shot of Strega. “I know you have a hidden bar, but what the hell is that?” She pointed to a small room behind the faux bookcase.
“It’s a panic room,” Donny Senior said. “We’ve got a few around the place. This one was a birthday present from Aurora.” He glared at his son. “You got a lot of nerve, sneaking up on your family like that.”
Donny Junior returned his father’s glare. Even though he had half a foot on his father, he was often referred to as Little Donny by friends and family. He and “Big Donny” shared the same coloring, muddy brown eyes, and fleshy facial features, making it impossible for anyone to deny that Little Donny was a biological Boldano. “I’ve seen how you all been whispering to each other and shutting up the minute I came into the room. When I heard Mia was coming over by herself, I knew something was up and if you weren’t gonna tell me, I was gonna do whatever it took to find out what was going on.” His expression softened. “Jamie is my brother. I know we’re always on each other, but I love him. And I should be part of this conversation.”
His father began to protest, but Aurora cut him off.
“You’re right, son,” she said. “You should be. We’ll tell Jamie tomorrow night. At Piero’s restaurant. Jamie loves Piero’s mushroom pasta alla carbonara. It’ll make the news go down easier.”
That’s so typically Italian, Mia thought. If there’s a problem, a dish of homemade pasta will solve it. But as far as she was concerned, there wasn’t a pasta dish in the world that would ease Jamie into this revelation.
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About Maria DiRico
Maria DiRico is the pseudonym for Ellen Byron, author of the award winning, USA Today bestselling Cajun Country Mysteries. Born in Queens, New York, she is first-generation Italian-American on her mother’s side and the granddaughter of a low-level Jewish mobster on her father’s side. She grew up visiting the Astoria Manor and Grand Bay Marina catering halls, which were run by her Italian mother’s family in Queens and have become the inspiration for her Catering Hall Mystery Series. DiRico has been a writer-producer for hit television series like Wings and Just Shoot Me, and her first play, Graceland, appears in the Best Short Plays collection. She’s a freelance journalist, with over 200 articles published in national magazines, and previously worked as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing. A native New Yorker who attended Tulane University, Ellen lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and two rescue dogs.
Author Links – Website – Chicks on the Case – Facebook – Twitter
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – IndieBound
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Sounds like a good read.
Great cover