Chef Delilah has a lot on her plate: a breakup with her fiancé, her new Chicago pizza restaurant, her beloved aunt who isn’t herself and needs extra care…and a murder on the night she opens her dream restaurant. Her dream might just die because she doesn’t have the money to fund this undertaking without her fiancé’s backing, she can’t open for business with crime scene tape surrounding the place, and there might just be a murderer out there who could harm her. What’s a girl to do? Solve the crime, of course.

The story is sprinkled with a lot of great characters: Auntie Biz, Sonya--a great sidekick, Daniel--the bartender, Rabbit--the ex-con, and a very intriguing detective named Capone.

This was a fun mystery with misdirections that kept me wondering who-did-it?

A whirlwind of a first in a series. I love the characters and story... and Butterball. This didn't feel like the first book in a series. The author did a fantastic job of getting the reader up to speed on the world building all while moving the plot along at a nice pace.

Delilah is living her dream and opening her own restaurant in the cozy, lakefront town of her childhood. All goes sideways on the day of her first soft open. First, she and her very laidback fiance have an epic argument over her very Type A personality and he takes off... breaking off their engagement (she thinks) and taking the purse strings that financed her restaurant with him. Then her elderly aunt's caretaker is murdered behind her restaurant during the soft open! We meet a tremendous supporting cast - from her super talented fellow chef friend, Sonya, to her devoted and talented employees, Daniel, Melody, and Rabbit, to her quirky great aunt, Biz, and her tubby kitty, Butterball.

The author paints the image of a beautiful lakefront town well and has developed interesting characters. I really enjoyed this book... and it didn't have magic or talking cats! A rare feat.

**six feet deep dish -- CLOSER RE-READ**
Narrator: first person, Delilah O'Leary
Supporting characters: Auntie Biz, Sonya,
Series #: Deep Dish Mysteries #1
Magic?: No
Animals: Big orange cat, Butterball
Location: Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, "a charming resort town with a long history as a mobster's hideaway, millionaires' playground, and vacation mecca"
Sub-location: Pizza restaurant
Recipes: YES! Delilah & Son Chicago-Style Deep Dish, Daniel's Emergencia Medica Cocktail, Auntie Biz's Pissaladiere, Red Hot Mama Pizza
Notes on the puns of the title: Yeah! I'm into it!
Copaganda/police involvement: "handsome local police detective Calvin Capone, great grandson of the legendary gangster" WHAT. -- This man has "pillowy lips" and I'd like to perish every time I have to read it.

I thought this was really good! I enjoyed both being introduced to new characters and the foods described on the page. This book did make me crave pizza, but unfortunately it made me crave the nice homemade kind, not delivery, so I did not get my wish fulfilled. There's also italicized Spanish in here, which is really just like -- we know it's Spanish! We can look it up if we need to! Stop translating it!

I'm going through my notes now and it's like. There's also a bunch of weird fatphobia, there IS a lesbian jewish character BUT her whole family is lawyers which is like :/// So, I don't know. Some tokenizing is happening here and also there's a lot of anthromorphizing of animals in cozy mysteries, but there's a LOT of it here. Please stop letting your cats eat cheese. They are carnivores.

So, I don't know. We're going to go for 2.5 stars, rounded up for review sites, and I feel. Ehhhhhhh about it. Excited about the recipes though!

Delilah O'Leary's plans to open a pizza restaurant in the resort town of Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, seem doomed from the start. A serious fight with her rich fiance, Sam Van Meter, threatens to cut off her funding. Then shortly before opening night, her great-aunt's caretaker is shot to death outside the restaurant, with Aunt Biz holding the murder weapon, a literal smoking gun. Enter Detective Calvin Capone, great grandson of the legendary mobster, who had moved from Chicago to join the Geneva Bay police force. With the restaurant closed, Delilah enlists her trusted employees to do some sleuthing of their own when they're not promoting their luscious pizza by giving samples to community members. Red herrings are about as abundant as anchovies, but the amateurs make as much progress as the professionals in uncovering past secrets and debunking alibis. Delilah's overweight cat, Butterball, also provides essential clues. Readers of cozies will certainly realize that romantic attraction between Delilah and Calvin will definitely be on future menus. Perhaps Quigley will slow the pace a bit and take time to develop some of the interesting supporting characters from Delilah's pizzeria. Some of them supply the recipes that conclude the book, a standard ingredient in food-themed cozies.

One Sentence Summary: Just as Delilah, her wealthy fiance, and her restaurant crew are about to open their deep dish pizza restaurant, tragedy strikes and Delilah’s elderly aunt is found holding the smoking gun, making it up to her to ensure the investigation clears her aunt’s name.

My thoughts:

Six Feet Deep Dish might just make you crave pizza, with maybe a side of mystery. There’s a lot of food and cooking in this book, but it was very nicely balanced out with Delilah stumbling her way through an investigation. Delilah was a pure delight throughout the book, and I adored her love for her and her fiance’s overweight cat, who had a very nice role in this book. As the first book in a new cozy culinary mystery series, it really delivered on all fronts, and had some nice surprises.

As Six Feet Deep Dish opens, Delilah and her fiance Sam are about to host a soft open for their upscale deep dish pizza restaurant, but things start to go awry and Sam takes off since he can’t stand confrontation, leaving quite a few things in limbo for Delilah and her employees. But it gets worse when there’s a murder and Delilah’s elderly aunt Biz is found holding the gun. Of course Delilah must clear her aunt’s name, and of course the detective in charge must be absolutely handsome, and potentially single. Even if Delilah herself may or may not still be engaged.

At the beginning, I felt lukewarm towards this book. I couldn’t help but see some big similarities to my longtime favorite cozy culinary mystery series. It was a little off putting, but I was invested in the mystery. And I’m glad I kept reading because there were some really nice deviations and some good twists and turns. This is set in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, a resort town for the wealthy, which offered a delightful playground for both the mystery and the characters to breathe. I liked how the disparity in wealth created problems and offered a rich setting that hopefully has much more to offer in future books. It played well with the mystery as they often went hand-in-hand, but I liked that the focus wasn’t on the wealthy residents, nicely bringing it and the main cast down to Earth.

My favorite part of Six Feet Deep Dish were the characters. There was a surprising amount of diversity, but I liked that their characterizations never relied on stereotypes. They were free to breathe on their own and show their own colors. Delilah was a lot of fun, caring a great deal for her people while stubbornly continuing to investigate. The detective, Calvin Capone, sometimes felt a little slow, but he was really quite brilliant, and there was a lot of depth to him. Watching him and Delilah was a delight and I can’t wait to read more about them. But my favorite has to be Aunt Biz. She’s elderly, but she’s still sharp, and she and Delilah clearly have a special relationship.

Six Feet Deep Dish holds an intriguing mystery, one I wouldn’t necessarily say I solved quickly, though that’s mostly because I’m a poor guesser. But I liked how some things were withheld, and I could feel them so I could just enjoy the ride instead of madly trying to figure out whodunit. There were a lot of moving pieces, a lot of threads Delilah doggedly followed. There were also some surprising twists I didn’t expect, and I really liked how it wrapped up, especially since it harkened back to the beginning, offering a full circle idea while also definitely leaving a door open. But I really appreciated how the story nicely balanced Delilah running a new business and Delilah trying to clear her aunt’s name.

Six Feet Deep Dish is a delicious cozy mystery with some great characters, an intriguing setting, and the promise of more twisting and turning mysteries. While the beginning reminded me too strongly of another mystery series, I liked how it spun off to really come into its own and offer something that delighted me. I look forward to getting to know Delilah and her crew better and see what future books have in store for them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Delilah is opening her dream pizza restaurant with her rich finance until he leaves her and their cat Butterball. When a murder occurs and her aunt is holding the murder weapon, will this be the end of her restaurant before it even opens? This author has written an interesting story with a fun plot line and a lovely cast of characters.

I really liked this book. Great true to life personalities. A perfect cat! A pizza parlor is not the normal setting for a cozy mystery but I love that it's different. I can't wait for the next book in this series.

Fun cozy mystery that will have you looking up cooking terminology. It is engaging and will hold your interest. Characters are quirky and include a snarky "type A" female chef. The recipes at the end are a nice bonus. No book report here, please read the cover and other reviews for details. I was provided an advanced reader copy at my request and was under no obligation to write a review. Many thanks to the author, St.Martin's Press &NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. Enjoy!

I absolutely loved this book. It was more edgy than most cozies but that's what I loved about it. I felt the storyline was original. Great characters. Perfect setting. I love Butterball the cat. I'm excited for what the author has in store for the next installment.

I received a free copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

Six Feet Deep Dish
by Mindy Quigley
Pub Date 23 Aug 2022
St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Paperbacks
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers




I am reviewing a copy of Six Feet Deep Dish through St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley:



Delilah O’Leary is excited about opening her new new gourmet deep-dish pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin—a charming resort town with a long history as a mobsters’ hideaway, millionaires’ playground, and vacation mecca. Delilah is engaged to a hunk with a large trust fund and is posed to begin a life that’s just about as delicious as one of her cheesy creations.


But just before opening night Delilah’s plans for pizza perfection hit the skids when her fiancé dumps her and leaves her with a very large memento from their relationship, Butterball, their spoiled, plus-sized tabby cat.


Delilah’s trouble only deepens when she discovers a dead body and finds her elderly aunt holding the murder weapon. Handsome local police detective Calvin Capone, great grandson of the legendary gangster, opens an investigation, threatening to sink Delilah’s pie-in-the-sky ambitions before they can even get off the ground. To save her aunt and get her pizza place generating some dough, Delilah must deliver the real killer.



I give Six Feet Deep Dish five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

From the first opening paragraphs of this book it will hook you into the story with its colorful characters and the cat. The cat's behavior is at times hysterical and that may be because I have a cat and could totally relate to how he was behaving. The aunt's attitude and perspective reminded me of the grandmother found in many Evanovich books featuring Stephanie Plum. In fact I believe if you like the Evanovich ones you will find this one just as delightful with the sleuthing of the chef to solve the murder and getting into many adventures. I found the twist delightful at the end of who was responsible for the murder.

Six Feet Deep Dish is about Delilah, who is getting ready for the opening of her deep dish pizza restaurant. Opening night is going great until she gets in an argument with her fiancé, he disappears, then one of the guests turns up dead. Not a great first impression! Delilah decides to “help“ the police solve the murder and of course gets more involved than she should. This books is a fun read, funny, has good characters, and an interesting plot. Nothing too complicated, but definitely entertaining! I think it is the first in a series and I look forward to reading the rest of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of the book.

I like new mysteries set in Wisconsin I jumped at this mystery. It started off slow but then picked up.

Delilah O’Leary is about to open her new gourmet deep-dish pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin. Engaged to a Sam who is financing her, Just before opening night, though, Delilah’s plans fall through when she and her fiancé fight and he leaves her which puts her finances on the skids. Things get worst when she discovers a dead body and finds her elderly aunt holding the murder weapon. Handsome local police detective Calvin Capone, great grandson of the legendary gangster, opens an investigation, threatening to sink Delilah’s pizza opening plans before they can even get off the ground. To save her aunt and get her pizza place generating some dough, Delilah looks for the real killer.

As I said the murder mystery also got off to a slow start, but it was pretty interesting and kept me on my toes once it got going. I was also thankful that Detective Capone wasn’t a decent detective and was actually doing a good job of trying to solve the mystery but just happened to be a little slower than Delilah half of the time.

Once the story got going, I found it to be a good entertaining mystery, and I can’t wait for the next book. Hopefully Capone will show up as a regular love interest.

Great cooking show- made me want to buy a stand mixer 😄. Good mystery, great characters, fun side plot involving cats…

One of the better new cozy series I have started in a long time. This book made me want pizza something awful though so I had to order some while reading.

Delilah O'Leary has moved to the small town of Geneva Bay, WI to open a deep dish pizzeria. She moved because the small town has fond memories for her and to be closer to elderly aunt Biz, whose memory seems to be declining rapidly. On the night of her soft opening, Biz's caregiver is murdered and Biz is left holding the murder weapon, which she happens to own. As Delilah worries about her restaurant's future, she decides she needs to solve the murder so she can stay in business and keep her aunt out of jail. Except it turns out the caregiver has a lot of enemies and the suspect list just keeps growing.

There are a lot of laugh out loud parts of this book. The author's descriptors are clever and I appreciated her writing style. Deliliah and Sonya are definitely people I would want to be friends with and that is how I would define a good story. I hope for more in this delicious new series

Six Feet Deep Dish is the first in a new series by Mindy Quigley and it is off to a great start.

Delilah with the help of her fiance Sam has opened a new pizza restaurant and is prepping for the grand opening. Everything is going well until Sam dumps her, a dead body is found, and Delilah is left wondering how she will afford her restaurant which Sam was bankrolling. Sam also leaves behind Butterball, an adorable and demanding cat who might just be my favorite character.

To be allowed to open her restaurant and get it to start generating money, the killer has to be found and fast. The problem is that Delilah and her aunt are at the top of the list of suspects .As Delilah does her own investigating, she realizes the list of possible suspects keeps growing. Will Delilah be able to solve the murder while not getting in trouble with the lead detective who just also happens to be a relation of none other than Al Capone.

I really enjoyed this book, the characters, the banter between Delilah and Capone, Delilah's relationship with her aunt. Add in some delicious sounding pizza and I couldn't stop reading. I was convinced I had figured out the murderer and was quite surprised to find out who actually did it. I cannot wait for the next book in this series. I love cozy mysteries and am always looking for new series to follow.

I voluntarily accepted a copy of this book from St. Martin's Press. All views are simply my honest opinion.

Pizza and a cozy mystery? Yes, Please!
Mindy Quigley's book does a wonderful job of bringing her story to life for readers. This book is a wonderful read with pizza, characters, and a mystery for readers to solve.

My thanks to St. Martin's Paperbacks and NetGallery for a digital copy of this book for my review. I look forward to the next Deep Dish Mysteries!

I enjoyed this book, and thought it was nicely done for the first book in a series. The characters were lovable and relatable. The plot moved along at a good pace.

Pizza and a mystery, must I say more? This was a fantastic read with a great group of characters, a cute fuzzball, pizza shop grand opening, and a possible budding romance. An excellent start to a new series that I will definitely be adding to my shelves soon!

I am excited to have found a new series! The book has my two loves: cats and pizza. While I enjoyed the mystery, I most enjoyed hearing about the chef and amateur sleuth, Delilah, open a restaurant. The romantic portion is also a new approach, which I appreciate. I look forward to buying the second book!

In a Wisconsin town full of good and bad memories of gangsters, the elite rich, and vacationers Delilah first loses her fiancee then has to solve a murder before she can open her new deep dish pizzeria. And she does!