I love this series! I really can't get enough of Miriam and her friends and family. I love the Spanish mixed in with the English. Such a great story!

Calypso, Corpses and Cooking is the second book in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series by Raquel V. Reyes. The protagonist of this series is Miram Quinones-Smith, a Cuban American chef who does segments on a local television station as well as having her own You Tube show. In this book, the mystery starts out when the mother of the culprit in the first is reported missing after a Halloween carnival where she confronted Robert about his role in her daughter's conviction. When she is later discovered in Robert and Miriam's yard disoriented and suffering from a blow to the head, Robert becomes a person of interest in the case. Robert's mother has also asked Miriam to put on the Women's Club annual gala at the country club. Shortly after an argument with the country club's chef about the gala, he is discovered dead after having gone over a balcony railing. Miriam and friends become entangled in the investigation of both events while still planning the gala.

With this series, the author has created an excellent vehicle to explore the multicultural areas around Miami, Florida and has done a wonderful job of developing a cast of multidimensional characters who deliver an interesting and creative storyline while solving the underlying mysteries. I particularly appreciate the way the author has her main characters raising their son with an appreciation of both cultures that make up his heritage. Through innovative circumstances, the author keeps the reader engaged in the plot and gives enough twists to not reveal the solution too early in the story but enough clues to make the revelations believable. I look forward to more books in this series to see where the future leads Robert, Miriam and their expanding family.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Crooked Lanes Books and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I love cozy mysteries but this one had a little too much family angst for me. I loved the sprinkling in of the Spanish and that the author addressed a method used for teaching a child two languages. I didn't realize until had finished the book that this is the second in a series. Overall this was good but not great. I don't know I'll try others from the series.

Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking is the second Caribbean Kitchen cozy mystery by Raquel V. Reyes. Released 8th Nov 2022 by Crooked Lane, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a fun cozy mystery full of food, culture, and (as the author herself refers to it) "Spanglish" phrases. The amateur sleuth is also a cultural anthropologist with a specialization in food culture and also the host of her own youtube channel and network cooking show. The plotting moves along at a good clip and I never found myself yanked out of the story by clunky dialogue or uneven writing. There is a fair amount of Spanish in the story, more than usual, but almost all of it is either easy to understand in context or explained by character responses.

The central characters are appealing, well rounded and largely female. Most of the male characters almost seem to be included as window dressing, but the central mystery and investigation carry the story quite well. There are a phenomenal number of food descriptions included and the author has an impressive grasp of ingredients and history for the relevant dishes and their importance to the different cultures who developed them. There's a lot of really interesting food history to be found. 

The climax, resolution, and denouement are self contained in this volume, so it works well as a standalone. The violence is mostly off-page and not extreme, given that it's a cozy mystery. The main character's mother-in-law is horribly racist and just plain mean, to the degree that she made it difficult to read the scenes in which she's featured (which is about 15% of the book). If MC Miriam's husband doesn't step up and do something about his mother, they'll be divorced and their kid Manny will be in therapy in 5 years. 

The book includes several delicious and intriguing recipes which are featured in the media scenes from her cooking show.

Four stars. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Thank you Netgalley and the author for letting me review this novel. Unfortunately, I struggled with this book due to the Spanish language and the slow pace of the book. Not the book for me.

⭐⭐ -- Cute cover on this one!

I quite enjoyed the first book in this series and was excited to dive into this one. Unfortunately, there was very little I liked about this one. For a book being set at Halloween, there was very little mention of the holiday. The pace was slow. The plot was all over the place. Where as the spanish didn't bother me in book one, in this one there was just too much without any translation or explanation. The plethora of pregnancy old wives tales. 🤦🏻‍♀️ The racist mother and Miriam's husbands lack of backbone to stand up to her. Miriam herself is annoying...I could go on, but why?

**ARC Via NetGalley**

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I enjoyed this cozy little mystery that was a simple read. I did not read the first in the series, but this was not an issue as this is a stand alone story. This is a fun, cozy mystery and Mariam is an enjoyable character. There is Spanish language throughout the story, but I knew enough from several years of Spanish in High School to deduce what was being said. On the few I didn't know, I used the translation feature on my Kindle. I enjoyed the different recipes and actually took a screenshot of several to share with friends and family.

I do plan to read the 1st in the series at some point since I did enjoy this one.

This is a really fun series! I love the characters, the culture, the location all of it...well everything except the MOTHER IN LAW!! She was my vote for most atrocious character in a cozy!
This book takes place @ halloween, but would be great for anytime of year!
I recommend this book to any cozy mystery lover!
I received an arc of this book in exchange for a honest review. I would like to thank netgalley, the author Raquel V Reyes, and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book!
My review on YouTube shorts:
https://youtube.com/shorts/WVnZuags4n4

While the mystery in this one is decent, it's everything else about this series that is really compelling. Miriam's career is fascinating, and I enjoy her commitment to it and her knowledge. The characters are all excellent, and it's consistently interesting to watch her and her husband's worlds collide.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and gave it a five-star Goodreads review. Now, I’m doing it again because the second one is even better.

Miriam wakes up to find a woman’s body lying among the Halloween decorations in her front yard. Next, her nightmare of a mother-in-law unexpectedly dumps responsibility for organizing the Women’s Club Fall Festival Gala on Miriam, which results in yet another dead body, that of the new head chef at the Woman’s Club who had earlier been heard arguing with the club’s manager and was then found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Next, people are poisoned. The one thing all of these events have in common is that Miriam was present. But Miriam wouldn’t…Would she..? Well, no, she wouldn’t. I’ll leave it to you to figure out who did do it and why.

Miriam is a great character and it’s refreshing to find a series with a highly intelligent - Miriam has a PhD in food anthropology - and eminently relatable Hispanic protagonist. Reyes is adept at creating characters who are realistic. For example, who among us has not either had a horrible mother-in-law or known someone who does? And anyone who has ever been a Mom to young children can relate to Miriam’s role as a mother.

Much of the story involves food, specifically Caribbean food, which is Miriam’s speciality but you don’t have to be a foodie to love this series because there’s a lot more than just food involved in the plots. This was a very enjoyable book and I look forward to reading the next in the series.

Release Date: October 27 2022

📖📖

Fall festivities are underway in Coral Shores, Miami. Cuban-American cooking-show host Miriam Quiñones-Smith wakes up to find a corpse in her front yard. The body by the fake tombstone is the woman that was kicked out of the school's Fall Festival the day before. Miriam's luck does not improve. Her passive-aggressive mother-in-law puts her in charge of the Women's Club annual gala. But this year, it's not canapes and waltzes. Miriam and her girlfriends-squad opt for fun and flavor. They want to spice it up with Caribbean food trucks and a calypso band. Add another death and two possible poisonings to the mix, and Miriam is worried the food truck fun is going to be a major crash. Can she steer this party home while solving the murder and mayhem plaguing Coral Shores?

This is the second book in the series. They spoiled the first book entirely including who the culprit was so if I wanted to read the first one I would already know the plot and the whodunnit. Miriam also speaks ALOT of Spanish, which is nice…if you know what she’s saying. I speak 0 Spanish so I feel like I missed out on things. This book (and probably series) is a skipper for me.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

#bookstagram #netgalleyreads #booknonrecommendation #CalypsoCorpsesandCooking #dreamscapemedia

A big thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the eARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is part of a series (#2) but reads well as a stand alone. I have not read the first. This was an enjoyable cozy mystery, with the addition of learning about new interesting foods (well at least for me). I almost wish I had a kitchen to try some of the recipes. I must say Miriam's mother in law is pretty horrific! Wow. 3.5 stars

Princess Fuzzypants here: I don’t know why it was hard to get into this book. I liked Miriam, her son, her kitty and her friends and extended family. I liked the mixture of Spanish into the text and the immersion into the Caribbean culture and food. I did not get as invested in the various murders for some reason. They just didn’t catch me the way some do where I am reading quickly to find out if my suspicions are correct. It was not that it was a bad mystery. It just did not grab me.

What did bother me was Robert, Miriam’s husband. They have been married long enough to have a four and a half year old with another on the way. They clearly love each other yet he allows his mother to say the most egregious things to his wife. She swallows the insults to keep peace until one day- blame hormones- she stands her ground and confronts the harridan. Then Robert has the gall to tell her it turned him on that she fought back. What a wuss! Even their kid knows that grandma is mean. For some it might have been a little thing but for me it was enough to blight the entire read.

For that reason I am going to knock my review down to four purrs but only one paw up.

I really enjoyed every part of this book! There are murder mysteries mixed with Caribbean cooking, and even dual languages mixed in. I don't speak Spanish, but the story leaves enough detail to get the basic understanding of what's being said. I haven't read the first book, but Reyes covers what has happened throughout the book. While I know know the ending of the first book, I'd still consider reading it, but read them in order if that's a deal-breaker for you. All in all, this is a fun mystery and worth the read!

Another great outing from Raquel Reyes. She writes so authentically about Miami, and as a long-time resident it's fun to see so much that I recognize. Miriam is a great character and Reyes does a good job of connecting her with the local police detective without resorting to the romance trope. Mouth-wateringly good!

I struggled with this book due to the Spanish and not knowing what the words meant. Other books that use another language (not English) usually tell you what the word means in English or you can figure it out. Those that know Spanish I'm sure would enjoy seeing it used in a book. Also, I struggled with the flow of the book - it started strong and then fizzled and things were started but didn't seem to have any follow through. Not a book for me unfortunately.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. I already left a review on Goodreads. But I was very very disappointed in this Novel. Right away it turns into a liberal feminist propaganda. Pass for me

Miriam Quiñones-Smith is a TV chef in Miami with a fair amount of problems, not the least of which is a dead body that turns up in her front yard.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the free Advanced Reader’s Copy. I will first start by saying that I love that this cozy mystery has a Latina as the main character. I have lived in Spain for over 30 years. In addition, I have close family friends who are of Cuban descent. Seeing that representation was cool.
There is a fair amount of Spanish used in the text, which I thought was well handled for the most part. I do object to the use of a certain word, which I do not find appropriate for a cozy mystery. However, perhaps it is not as strong in Florida as it is in Spain.
I was very surprised as to how much the first mystery in this series was referenced. I had not read the first book but now since I know who the killer is, I do not feel the need to go back and read the first book. There was not just a single reference to the killer in the first chapters, but details of the first crime was mentioned several times.
There are several things about the portrayal of the characters that grated on me. The mother in law was vile and racist. I didn’t really like Miriam. I didn’t like how she forced her young son to speak to her only in Spanish. As the mother of a bilingual family, I have always viewed that as wrong.
I did enjoy all the food descriptions and the settings. In addition, the descriptions of the Halloween season were well done.
I am sorry to say that I can only give this book two stars.

I was more than happy to catch with Mirian and the gang as I love the colourful&inclusive atmosphere.
This mystery is even better than the first and kept me guessing. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, love the characters, and can't wait to read the next book.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

First time I've read any thing by thus author and I enjoyed it alot, the family drama, the history of the food , twists and turns to keep you guessing, plus other thing that won me over was that funny, engaging, and clever though out the story.