A Key West Food Critic Mystery

Can we all just appreciate the tropical beauty that is this cover? So peaceful and lush.

But not for Hayley Snow, the food critic for the Key Zest Magazine. Things almost never slow down in the Keys and Hayley’s hot cop husband is as busy as she is. Not to mention that his father is in town and Hayley has yet to meet the imposing man.

When Hayley and a friend take their pups over to Geiger Key for a peaceful lunch and dog run, it should be relaxing enough. And it is. Until Ziggy digs up more than sand on the dunes. Local Davis Jager, an avid and very serious birdwatcher, who is also out on the beach identifies the body as one GG Garcia. Garcia has a lot of enemies. He’s loud and brash and is buying up all the real estate he can get his hands on to create even more tourist destinations. The locals aren’t so happy with that idea.

Of course, Hayley isn’t going to just let a dead body go without an investigation. When she and her trusty sidekick, Miss Gloria pay Davis a visit they find out later he was attacked in the parking lot. So, he isn’t a suspect? Maybe.

They find more mysterious things as they help Hayley’s mother with the funeral reception at the Women’s Club. A very old cookbook and a box of notes about some of the members. What a find! Full of recipes from the original cookbook the women put out in the 1940s. Some of them sounded gross, but some of them weren’t recipes at all, but a diary!

This was a good installment of the series. Hayley and Nathan are getting into a married routine and things are looking up for her at work as well!

And as usual, Ms. Burdette has included all of the delicious recipes!

Netgalley/ August 9th, 2022 by Crooked Lane Books

In the twelfth installment of Lucy Burdette's Key West Food Critic Mystery series, A Dish to Die For, Hayley Snow and her husband Nathan Bransford have returned from their honeymoon (with family) and are settling into married life. This book also happens to be set after the global pandemic of 2020 and does address some of the fallout from the pandemic including the business failures and the difficult road to recovery for others. The story opens with Hayley and her friend Eric taking their dogs for an outing to one of the other islands and subsequently finding the body of GG Garcia. As the story unfolds, Hayley, as usual, is unable to stay out of the investigation on her own but is soon approached by the police department to be part of an undercover operation to attempt to gain knowledge about one of the suspects. Hayley and Nathan face additional stress when Nathan's estranged father arrives to assist with a practice evaluation of the policies and procedures of the police department.

As with the earlier books in this series, the author utilizes outstanding character and relationship development as well as descriptive scene setting to enable the reader to put themselves in the mystery alongside these characters. The one issue that I had with this book is the complete absence of any mention of Connie, Ray and their daughter. I feel that the author missed a golden opportunity to shine a light on how families with small children handled the pandemic and are moving forward. Hopefully, this can be addressed in a future installment. Now that Hayley has met Nathan's entire family, I look forward to future installments of this series, creating more opportunities for interaction in both their personal and professional lives.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I love this book! Excellent writing and my first real “cozy mystery.” The character development, the ways the clues were laid out and the family relationships were all amazing and definitely kept you wanting to read more and more. So I did, I only felt like the climax happened real quickly that I had to go back a reread it. Otherwise I was genuinely surprised with the result of who was responsible. Highly recommend this cozy mystery and any other books that are a part of this series. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for an ARC for my honest review. I did truly enjoy reading this and will be looking into more of Lucy’s books!

"A Dish to Die For" is an intriguing and entertaining cosy murder mystery. I hadn’t read any of the previous books in the series, but that wasn’t a problem as it worked perfectly well as a standalone novel. I found it to be an easy, interesting and enjoyable story, with a strong sense of place (it definitely made me want to visit Key West). I also enjoyed the culinary aspect to the storyline, and was interested to learn about typical Key West dishes. The descriptions of food actually made me feel quite hungry, so I was grateful for the recipes included at the end of the book!

This book is highly recommended. It was a fun read with all the best elements of the genre. I will now be seeking out other titles in this series.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing a complimentary digital copy of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review.

I love this book so much. I couldn't put it down. After my almost 3 year long book reading slump this is the first book I read and I am so glad. Amazingly written and it made me wanna read more books.

Hayley Snow, well know writer and food critic for Key Zest is finally taking a break from the madness of life with her good friend Eric Altman and her husband Nathans small, but inquisitive dog Ziggy Stardust, when she realises Ziggy has gone missing.
She decides to stroll further along the quiet beach and finds Ziggy digging madly in the sand, blue denim showing and what appears to be a hand showing amongst the sand. So begins another cozy murder A Dish To Die For with a plot that twists and turns throughout the culinary sector of Key West, to serve up a rather interesting conclusion.
The dead man is GG Garcia, a man known for his ruthlessness in business and his blatant womanising, a man with powerful connections and dangerous fiends, but what is he doing somewhere he would not normal be and dead at that.
Birdwatcher Davis Jager identifies the body, but says that he has no idea what happened as he was only there to observe the bird life; he also says he and GG had no love lost between them as GG would exploit anything he could to make money, including destroy rare bird habitat.
Davis becomes a bit of a worry to Hayley as he seems to have adopted her, but when is brutally attacked outside of a local restaurant after talking with her, she begins to wonder what really is going on.
Along with Miss Gloria, her mother Janet, who has been asked to cater for GG’s Memorial Service, to be held ironically at the Women’s Club, she reluctantly begins to investigate what is fast turning into a rather nasty, messy, mystery which has a long trail back into the early days of Key West and the Woman’s Club. Not at all what was expected.
A Dish To Die For from Lucy Burdett is a slow but comfortable read, perfect for a lazy day at home or at the beach. A real bonus are the four fabulous recipes at the end of the book which feature in the story.

Disclaimer: I am not the biggest fan of cozy mysteries. However, I dabbled into the Key West Food Critic Mystery series previously and enjoyed it so when this book came up as an advanced read copy, I did not hesitate to jump on it! This series has proven to be one I enjoy I think because I absolutely love Key West.

The book begins with Haley heading out for a nice walk with her friend Eric and four legged friend Ziggy. Ziggy leads them to a body he dug up and so begins yet another mystery. This time the victim is a local Key West developer named GG Garcia who isn’t exactly well liked.

Haley gets her hands on a vintage Key West cookbook and when her mom is hired to cater GG Garcia’s funeral reception and askes Haley to help, Haley pulls out the cookbook. The cookbook may have more significance than just great recipes!

In this book, I enjoyed learning more about the relationship between Haley and her husband Nathan. In the previous book I read of the series, he did not play a big role and I did not learn much about their relationship. Take note, I have not read this series from start to finish. This is book #12. The last one I read was #10 and I felt as though I did not miss anything skipping #11. Just like my life, my reading is all over the place lol

Good easy light read for when you don’t want to think too much. It flows nicely, although a bit slow at times. For someone like myself who reads a lot of intense thrillers, the change of pace is welcome. I look forward to more books in the Key West Food Critic series!

Thank you to Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read the advanced copy of this book! Now if you will all excuse me, I have a banana cream pie to make!

This cozy mystery series leaves me hungry everytime thanks to the well described recipes. That aside, this one moved a little more slowly and the motive for the killing…a bit difficult to read…which will be clear why when you get to that point. You do get to meet Skip, Nathan’s father, who helps develop more of Nathan’s character and personality. Miss Gloria is up to her usual antics but she was more low key than in previous novels. I liked that the author leveraged actual aspects of key west in this book, between the actual residents and clubs, this felt authentic.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the arc.

I grew up in Florida and have visited Key West, which is definitely a distinct area, so reading this book was a bit like ol' home week. Hayley Snow is an interesting character, brave but not foolhardy as her husband's father, Skip, describes her, and I have enjoyed my past visits with her. She is also a bit of a body magnet, so to speak, and finds a body along the beach while walking Ziggy the dog. Clues are sparse, witnesses seemingly nonexistent, and much of the book seems as focused on her curiosity about an old Key West cookbook, circa 1949, as trying to figure out who murdered GG Garcia. who wasn't well liked, so there were many suspects. Could their be some connection between the murder and the cookbook?

While Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher who was at the beach when Hayley and Ziggy found the body, wasn't particularly likeable, Hayley's friends and acquaintances were likeable. Ironically, none stood out in my mind as being particularly memorable. They were just good, ordinary people, the sort you know and call friends. That was a plus in my mind. It made the setting more real. Husband Nathan, the almost mandatory in a cozy mystery cop partner/boyfriend or, in Nathan's case, husband, was likeable and while he fretted about Lucy's safety, wasn't overbearing. The introduction of a female officer from another district was also a nice touch and I'm hoping she reappears in future books.

I enjoyed the story. That said, the pace was on the slow side until late in the book. That allowed the author to showcase the setting and, well, bask in the food talk. After all, Hayley does write a food column for the paper. (Yes, there are recipes.) Hayley never seemed in genuine danger and it was genuinely nice to have an amateur sleuth who didn't rush in without thinking simply so the author could have a dramatic ending. As it was, the ending of this one was satisfying, if a bit bittersweet. The past does color the future, let's just say. We got to meet Nathan's father, and watch the beginnings of a tentative new relationship with him, watch Hayley in action, rub elbows with her friends, pet Ziggy, and, yes, enjoy lots of tastes of Key West and it's food and characters.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for taking me on this, for me, somewhat nostalgic visit to Key West. I'm already looking forward to my next visit there with Hayley.

A Dish to Die For contains so many of my favorite qualities in a cozy mystery. Unfortunately, something about this one just wasn't it for me. It wasn't a bad reading experience for me, but it wasn't a memorable one either. I think most of it boils down to how slowly the plot picked up. I'm not a huge fan of slow burns, so I think it was a completely personal issue! From the looks of other reviews, most readers seem to love this book, so hopefully you will, too!

This is a food based cozy series set in the Florida Keys that is fun to read. I have read and enjoyed the entire series. Hayley Snow is a food critic for a Key West publication and part time sleuth married of course to a detective. She has a interesting cast of charcters as friends that all add to the series. She lives on a houseboat which is interesting to read about and imagine as you read this series. This next in series takes Haley to a beach out of her way with a friend for the day to relax. Of course she finds a body and is intrigued to find out the deceased was quite despicable.

This is a fun journey in each book based around the food culture of Key West. I enjoy this series for its light hearted sleuthing and fun location. The charcter of Miss Gloria a octenagarian friend of Haley is a delight.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity.

I was drawn to this as I have recently been getting into Cosy Mysteries and I love when food is a feature in the book. I had not read any of Lucy Burdette's books before so this was a first for me.

A food critic (Hayley) somehow becomes involved in finding a dead body and gets drawn into the investigation of this murder. From making food for the memorial service to studying old cookbooks to find clues this seemed to be my kind of book.

The book held my interest as there was mystery and intrigue and as I said previously 'Food'. I liked the characters as they are all different with their own personalities, some good and some not so good. Even though it is part of a serious (number 12) I had no problem following along although I probably would have known the characters better had I read the others first.

A fun book, unpredictable and even a bit of fun. A great length for a book as well as it wasn't drawn out and I found it so very easy to read.

Must go check out her other books now!

A great whodunit! Very detailed scenery with great characters and makes you want to take a trip to key west

Haley Snow just stumbled along another murder. With the help of her friends and cop husband, they try to find out who has disrupted their friendly Key West surroundings. I really like the friendship between Miss Gloria and Haley and the idea of living on a houseboat piqued my interest from the start. The way that Haley was able to talk bout food and then find different ways to cook things, I wish I could be more like that. This was the first time reading this series and I am intrigued to read more.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the advance read.

This is my first Lucy Burdette book and again not my last. I enjoyed the characters and the setting.
Hayley Snow is a food critic for the publication Key Zest in Key West, Florida. While picnicking with a friend on the beach her dog, Ziggy uncovers a dead body. She tries to not get involved in the investigation. But the police are having a hard time because the guy was so I unliked.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free copy of this book for an honest review.

When food critic Hayley Snow and her friend Eric Altman discover a dead body on Boca Chica Beach on Geiger Key, they quickly call the police. Earlier Hayley had come to the beach for lunch 🍱 and run their dogs.

The body is identified to be GG aka Gerald Garcia. Who killed him and why?

A delightful cozy mystery filled with mouthwatering recipes such as Mojito With Simple Syrup, Banana Cream Pie 🥧, and Party sandwiches 🥪

Thank you to Lucy Burdette, NetGalley, and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC of this book.

This was a new series for me, and I hadn't realized when I requested it that it was part of a series (and not the first book in it). So I did struggle a bit getting into the story, especially since it started off immediately with the impact of the pandemic on tourism in Key West.

I think perhaps for readers who had read earlier titles in the series, it would have felt like a welcome homecoming to see all the characters again.

And I did enjoy the main characters and I normally love cozy mysteries. But this one eluded me a bit. The murder victim, GG, was a horrible person, which gave us plenty of suspects to consider, but it also just left me queasy to think of what kind of person he was.

So, I just really didn't find the story entertaining. It was well-written but painful to think of the hold GG had on so many and the pain that he inflicted on others.

I do appreciate NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Lucy Burdette for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

The book opens on Hayley Snow, searching for her dog Ziggy who had wandered off, and when she finds him she also finds the body of GG Garcia, a greedy, womanizer who was very disliked. His death came to the shock of no one.
Hayley finds herself in the search for answers to the murder of GG Garcia, as well as dealing with meeting her father in law for the first time. Along with her mother, they search for clues to who was behind the murder, much to the displeasure of Hayley's police officer, husband.
This story is set during Covid, and it is addressed so many times in the first few pages, that I almost stopped reading. But I pushed on and did finish, but it was a a bit of a struggle.
There are a lot of highlights in the story, strong women, sleuthing, lots of yummy recipes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of A Dish to Die for by Lucy Burdette in exchange for an honest review. Hayley Snow is a food critic for Key Zest magazine. She is good friends with octogenarian Miss Gloria. A man is found dead on the beach. Hayley and Miss Gloria investigate. I enjoyed this latest book in the series. Lucy Burdette is a good writer and I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story in Key West. It was interesting to read about foods on the endangered species lists and how different people treat it.

I have read other books by this author and I have never been disappointed.

A Dish to Die for is a great cozy mystery with a fun-to-read storyline and great well-crafted characters.

In this story, we find Hayley, a food critic enjoying a quiet afternoon when she notices Ziggy - her husband's dog missing. When she finds him he is digging up a man's body. The more Hayley investigates the more dangerous it becomes for her.

The story is a must-read.