Delilah is nervous about her restaurant’s soft opening, checking and rechecking everything. The one thing she has left up to her partner, business and romantic, is ordering the sign for Sam and Delilah’s Deep Dish Pizza; but when it finally shows up with an interesting error, it sparks an argument that leads to Sam walking out. As the soft opening proceeds Delilah gets moderately plowed and, when a water/bus boy is obviously flirting with customers instead of doing his job she storms out front to fire him only to find her great aunt holding a gun and standing over a body. When it becomes clear the detective assigned to the case suspects frail Aunt of murder Delilah springs into action to find the real murderer and clear her aunt.
This has all the ingredients for a cozy mystery - small town, amateur sleuth, handsome detective, cute cat and good friends - and actually has a “real person” type as our female sleuth is not a trim size 2 but a healthy size 16ish with curves. Delilah also is a super A type with some anger issues and within the first few pages I wondered what the basis for her relationship with Sam ever was since she is so driven and obsessed with perfection in everything and he is way laid back. Her personality made it a bit hard to get invested in the book to begin with but all-in-all it is a quick, pleasant read with a satisfying conclusion so I will be checking out the next entry in the series.

I am always a bit hesitant to start a new series, but I really enjoyed this one. I love pizza which is why I started this book.

The personal relationships between strong personalities were a bit interesting and I'm glad that they evened out as the book progressed.

The mystery was interesting and kept me guessing. I'm looking forward to 'visiting' these characters again in the next book.

I really enjoyed this start to a new cozy mystery series. The main character and main side character were really well done and I absolutely adored Butterball the cat. The mystery was good but a bit simple and predictable. I still enjoyed it though. I loved the pizza descriptions and recipes, they sound delicious. Overall I enjoyed this one and think the series will be good. Looking forward to the next book.

Dear Fellow Reader,

  Isn’t there something appealing about reading a book that takes place in a locale that you are familiar with? I find that it perks my interest. I want to see if I have been in the exact location as the characters and if I can “see” all the places that they talk about.

In Six Feet Deep by Mindy Quigly, we are transported to Geneva Bay, WI. Which, I am sure is based in Lake Geneva, WI. Even the main character’s name, Delilah O’Leary makes me think of the Irish Woods area just east of Lake Geneva, where there was a conclave of Irish immigrants.

Instead of the day being one of the big days in Delilah’s life, it goes from frustrating to disastrous. It is the day of the soft opening of Delila’s new pizza restaurant. Delilah can open this dream of hers with the financial help of her rich fiancé. The sign for the new restaurant arrives and they all go out to watch it being put in place. Delia has reluctantly left the sign as the responsibility of her fiancé. She has a hard time letting go of responsibilities, but she is sure he will get this right. He understands how important it is, right? When the sign is wrong, Delilah loses it with her fiancé. He then walks out on her. She can’t stop to evaluate or work on her relationship right then as she has a restaurant full of people about to arrive. She needs to have her best foot forward. She thinks everything is set until she finds her beloved aunt holding a gun over a dead body. Needless to say, the opening was cut short. When the police detective arrives and the scene and closes her new and newly unfinancially sound restaurant, Delilah has more worries than she can count. But the biggest problem is with her aunt. She is sure that her aunt didn’t kill anyone but how to prove it? And will Detective Calvin Capone be offended by her portrait of his famous relative in the restaurant?

Delilah has to find a murderer, untangle her relationship with her fiancé, (and find him for the police to question), and figure out what is going to happen to her dream.

This was a pleasant read. I enjoyed it. I am sure partially because of the location but the story was well-developed and moved along well. I would recommend it.

Thanks for reading!

This was a great start to the series. It immediately drew me in with the turmoil among the characters, the launching of the new business and the end of her relationship. I enjoyed catching all the historical mob ties and gangster connections as well. Delilah is opening a pizza shop in Geneva Bay. Her wealthy fiance is footing the bill, until they get in to an argument on opening night. He takes off, leaving Delilah with all the stress of the opening night, as well as the financial demands of a business. To make matters worse, her elderly aunt, who is at the soft open is found holding a murder weapon, with a dead body in front of her. Delilah knows her aunt is not a killer, and starts digging in to who the real killer may be. She has a zany assortment of staff members who stand by her side. I really enjoyed this series.

I was honestly pleasantly surprised by this? This book became available to me as an eARC because I am part of SMP’s influencer program; I didn’t request it outright but, since it was available, I decided to give it a shot. This was a solid cozy mystery, full stop! It’s not a genre I read too much of so I went into it with an open mind and again, I’m surprised (in a good way ofc!) at how much I truly enjoyed it. The cast of characters are all fun and well-developed, the dialogue was sharp and witty, the mystery engaging…… and Butterball made me really want a cat now despite being allergic? LOL. Definitely looking forward to keeping tabs on & reading the rest of this series!

Six Feet Deep Dish is an enjoyable mystery set in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, a location haunted by it's mobster past. Delilah O’Leary is just set to have a grand opening of her new restaurant when a murder happens right outside her door. Soon both Delilah and her aged aunt are prime suspects. The story follows the amateur sleuthing of Delilah as she attempts to take control away from the charming Detective Capone. The story is filled with food, interesting characters, unexpected plot developments and a romance ending and beginning. The book ends with recipes that fill the story.

I wasn't too sure what to make of the first few chapters. Delilah is very much a type-A personality and when stressed, she is not at her nicest, but I soon came to know and appreciate her, and I loved the ensemble cast from her techie hipster fiancé to the hefty resident feline. Plus, it's a very smart mystery with a savvy cast and delightful twists and turns. Having read a few mysteries recently where the leads are more clumsy than clever, it was a joy to live vicariously through an amateur sleuth who was realistically competent. There's a slight romantic subplot with great chemistry that is likely to lead to development in this series.

This was a new to me author and a new series (that I will now be forced to follow because I loved it!!!)

I will admit my reading mojo has been at a low, so I ended up buying the audiobook and absolutely loved it! If work and sleep hadn't gotten in the way I would have listened to this right through from start to finish.

Delilah is opening her dream restaurant, a Chicago style deep dish Pizzeria. Unfortunately on the night of her soft opening someone is murdered and she is determined to solve the crime so she can open her restaurant!

Loved the characters and the speed of the story, it kept moving along, no lagging parts.

I also want to mention that I loved the narrator Holly Adams and I will now have to get all the rest of the books in this series as they come out in audiobook format since she was so enjoyable to listen to.

I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this story, even though I eventually read this in audiobook format.

A mid-west cozy set in a pizza shop?! I'm there!! I loved the characters and the setting was absolutely perfect. I can't wait to read more in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Paperbacks for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was as adorable as it was a really fun mystery. We're dropped immediately into characters who feel like our best friends by the end of it. It was low stakes, high fun, the perfect afternoon read.

This one ticked off all my favorite aspects of a cozy mystery, right down to the adorable pet that steals the show. 😉

I have to admit that Delilah didn’t start out as one of my favorite characters, but she grew on me – mainly because she grew as a character as the story progressed. She actually came to some self realizations that some of her nearest and dearest already realized, but loved her despite those character flaws. Speaking of which, there were some really great supporting characters that surrounded Delilah. Those characters were probably responsible for me eventually loving Delilah as much as they did.

There was witty humor, a few interesting twists and an unexpected culprit that I really didn’t see coming – especially since there were just as many characters to dislike as there were to fall in love with. All in all, I enjoyed my time spent in Geneva Bay and I’m looking forward to the next book in the Deep Dish Mysteries series.

Entertaining read that includes two of my favorite things, pizza and mystery! Add in references to the Midwest and I’m sold. Overall I enjoyed the story and plan to check out the 2nd book in the series, Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust, when it’s released next year.

When Delilah's attempt to open a fancy pizza restaurant is interrupted by murder, she has to cope with financial woes and theft, as well as find the killer.

This was a fun start to a series, and I'd certainly like to read more. For one, the food descriptions were absolutely amazing. I also liked Delilah and her group of friends/employees, as well as the local town folk. There were quite a few characters, but they had unique personalities which made them easy to keep straight. I thought the mystery was good and not what I expected!

Such a fun start to a new series! I love that the author has created a character that shows growth during the story - she doesn't focus only on the murder mystery. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of these characters.

I love a good cozy mystery and this was a fantastic start to a new series! Delilah was a great lead character and honestly all of the characters were enjoyable. The author did a great job introducing everyone, including the cat Butterball who is an adorable little sidekick. I loved the setting of a deep dish pizza joint with a focus on classic mob characters for the backdrop of the restaurant. The main detective has familial ties to the mob which adds a little more interest as well. This is one of the best intros to a new cozy series I have read in a long time. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series as the books are released!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this advance reader's copy. All opinions are my own.

I struggled hard with what to rate this one because I did like it but I didn't love it. Let's call it a 3.5 star book. (And thanks to Netgalley for the arc) My problem is the protagonist, Delilah. She's a chef opening her new pizzeria bank rolled by her billionaire fiance but when things go wrong she tears him a new one (my sympathies are more with him than her). She describes herself as a type A personality and as one myself I get it but I can admit when I'm wrong. Delilah can't and won't and that makes her hard to like, especially when she starts lying to the detective because she thinks she's right and he isn't (even in the wrap up when he's trying to explain legal reasons why they can't have contact and she's pissy as hell with him).

Delilah's Aunt Biz who has a cottage in Geneva WI, a wealthy area, has been struggling with the things that come with age but on opening night it looks like Biz might have killed her live-in caretaker,not that Delilah believes that for a moment. She has to clear her aunt's name and find the real killer.

Detective Capone (yes related to that Capone who was a big deal in this area back in the day) was a character I wanted more of (as this is in Delilah's pov). I liked him. I especially loved the nod to the fact that in general what the amateur sleuth is doing could be considered illegal and he points that out but is otherwise supportive of Delilah.

It doesn't take too much to figure out why the murder happened though the actual killer was a bit harder to swallow. Also she doesn't really guess the killer until they're in her face with a knife so she's not as good a sleuth as she thinks. That said I'd read another of these.

But back to Delilah for a moment and her cat Butterball. Sorry once again I'm with her fiance Sam. She's killing this cat by constantly feeding him cheese and other fattening things and letting him outside to get into fights. Also I struggle with the idea that a woman who is supposed to be a good business woman/chef/take charge type A personality NOT knowing a damn thing about how her restaurant is being funded or having her name on the accounts just in case Sam isn't there to write a check. Does she not have a debit card? And has she never heard jewelers will buy jewelry vs going to a pawn shop?

If you know anything about me, I dislike deep dish pizza. It’s just overly saucy for my taste but I’m willing to try anything once. Okay, not even remotely true but this cozy mystery has me wanting to give deep dish another try. Six Feet Deep Dish is set in the picturesque town of Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, just an hour and a half drive from Chicago. It’s here we meet Delilah O’Leary, former fine dining chef extraordinaire, who convinced her fiancé, Sam Van Meter, a tech startup multi-millionaire, to move there so she can start her own deep dish pizza restaurant. She’s hired her best friend, Sonya, also a former fine dining chef, Daniel, a Puerto Rican bartender (speaking of Puerto Rico, make sure to help with recovery efforts after Hurricane Fiona!), Melody, a wholesome farm girl, and Carson, a flaky teenager to assist her. On her soft opening, she gets into a major fight with Sam, someone calls her business a hobby (we all know how that is 🙄), and suddenly someone is shot and killed just a few yards away from her business. One of the other reasons she decides to move to Geneva Bay is to take care of her ailing aunt, Auntie Biz. The book takes you on a rollercoaster ride dealing with drugs, elder abuse, relationship/communication issues, murder, drinking, and beautiful lakeside views.

Even in fiction novels, the real world shines through. Here are my takeaways:

This is the first book in the series but it doesn’t read like one.
Delilah seems like a real person who struggles with some big issues, which isn’t normal for your typical cozy. I like this.
The recipes are customizable and suited for a reader's taste.
Making pizza dough is hard but worth it.
Never let someone control all of the finances in your relationship, friendship, business, etc. I’ve done this and it did not end well. Trust the experience of myself and this fictional character; you do not want!
Murder will and can happen anywhere. To quote one of my favorite movies, “Murder is basic.”
Take care of your elders y’all. Delilah makes the mistake of trusting a caregiver who does not have her aunt’s best interest in mind. This leads to murder and a drug overdose.
Running and owning a restaurant is hard. Find a team that makes it easier and will stick with you because they believe in the brand and YOU.
Relationships are hard. Communication skills are the most important thing you can learn to better your relationships. Resentment is real. Whoever your person is, make sure to talk about the things that each of you want to accomplish outside of your coupling. Make a plan to ensure you both get what you want and need. Losing your identity in a relationship is not something you want or need.

Fiction books can give you mad insight. Six Feet Deep Dish gives us a glimpse into some real life situations with a somewhat satisfying end. The ending is more like the real world, which is nice to see.

I hope y’all take the time to read this book and delve into someone else’s troubles, if only for a few days. It can put your life into perspective. Fiction books put you in others' shoes. They help you grow and become better humans. Invest in stories; they need you and you need them. And maybe enjoy them over a slice of Chicago style deep dish pizza.

Until next time,
Xoxo~Christilisa

Delilah, chef and lover of cheese, and Sam, her crunchy granola boyfriend, decide to open up a pizza restaurant in a small town outside Chicago where Delilah spent her childhood summers with her Aunt Biz. Town lore has mob connections running rampant, but Delilah doesn’t believe it’s as big of a thing as most do. It’s a small town, what could happen??

Well… someone being murdered during the soft opening of her restaurant, that’s what.

Delilah and her staff are determined to find out who did the deed while also cooking up fresh pizza pies and petting Delilah’s chonky cat, Butterball.

I don't read a lot of cozy mysteries, so I'm not sure of what to compare it to, but I found this to be light and enjoyable.

There were some parts that were ridiculous--almost to the point of having to suspend disbelief--like when Delilah, the main character, was just off interviewing suspects and the cop was like "hey, you, cut that out." But then she made some pizza and everything was smoothed over and she wasn't arrested for impeding investigation of intimidating witnesses. Is that just the vibe of cozy mysteries in general?

Other than that, I liked reading it. The characters were silly and fun. Butterball, the cat, was the shining star.

It did keep me guessing as to who the murderer was and I was so glad for that! I’ve read a few mysteries lately that I figured out quickly and that was a let down.

Six Feet Deep Dish is the first book in Mindy Quigley's Deep Dish cozy mystery series. It follows Delilah as she is opening a new restaurant in a lake town in Wisconsin that caters to Chicago's elite. It's starts out with Delilah getting in a huge fight with her fiance and financial backer Sam the day of her soft opening. Then someone at the opening is murdered and her Aunt is found holding the murder weapon.
Delilah grows a lot during the book, becoming a better team player and learning to relay on her friends/employees to help solve the mystery. I still found it weird how she just gets over the end of her engagement so quickly and is already flirty with the local detective hours later. That was jarring to me and unrealistic. It kind of put me off the character until almost the end of the book.
The mystery was a bit clunky to me, but I did like the spotlight it put on elder abuse and issues people face as they get older and need round the clock care. Lots of recipes and a fun read.