I have mixed feelings about this book. This is the first of the series that I have read and I loved the settings from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. I learned a lot about the Caribbean culture and food while reading this.

There were a couple different mysteries going on in this book and I enjoyed that they eventually tied together.

The mixed feelings with this book come with some of the content. There is a lot of Spanish included which I unfortunately do not remember much of so I felt I missed some things. There is also a lot of talk about colonialism. While I appreciate the need to discuss the injustices caused, it’s not something I want in a cozy.

This story lack the excitement I anticipated. Its intrigue level was on the medium side with a low engaging point, and it was mildly captivating.

A nice addition to the series that will be fine as a standalone. Know that there's a fair amount of Spanish- almost all of which is completely understandable even without any knowledge of the language because of the context (and points to Reyes for incorporating Spanish into the text). Also know that this has a bit more of a bite than the standard cozy as Miriam confronts issues of colonialism and discrimination. She's meant to be in the Dominican Republic with her son and parents for the holidays but has to cut her time there short because she's needed in Puerto Rico. And then there's a murder in Puerto Rico, taking her down the path into investigation. The mystery is well done with, yes some tropes but it's got mad atmospherics. And Miriam is terrific. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Get ready for a literary feast of Caribbean delicacies and a puzzle that's as complex as the flavors in every dish.

I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED every bit (or should I say bite) of this delicious and totally captivating culinary cozy mystery.

Boy, oh boy. One twist after another, one suspense after another, this book kept me guessing till the last bite. Don't get me started on all the delicious cuisines - I felt like booking a flight ticket to Puerto Rico right away and spend a couple of days roaming around with Miriam - before she left for Punta Cana, that is.

The denouement was a complete shocker. It became a bit clearer as to what was going on in the backstage but it was not until a chaotic scenario that Miriam realized what's at stake.

Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal by Raquel V Reyes is a delightful blend of mouth-watering recipes and spine-tingling suspense, set against the backdrop of South American culinary traditions. If you love culinary mysteries, I highly recommend you give this book a try.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.


I was looking forward to reading this book because I have read books 1 and 2 and enjoyed them very much. This was another cozy mystery.
I loved the story which was based in Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. I traveled to both places so it was nice to hear of the references. Also, as I was reading I found myself getting hungry and wanting to cook Spanish food.

I look foward to more in this series.

Unfortunately this is a DNF for me at 20%. I loved books 1 & 2 of this series and found the mysteries to be well plotted and the characters interesting and relatable. I was excited for book 3 but there is too much Spanish dialogue. Almost all dialogue between characters has several total Spanish sentences to the point I do not know what they are saying to each other and there is no sort of translation. I hate that this is the reason to not finish a story by an author I enjoy, but I am constantly feeling like I am missing important information and it is taking me out of the story. I will miss the opportunity to delve into a mystery with Miriam but the amount of Spanish speaking dialogue is killing the book for me.

ARC Review ~ Barbacoa, Bomba and Betrayal~

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When this popped up on NetGalley I was intrigued by the premise and I’m always here for anything that Includes food. This book is the third installment of the series and while I struggled with the first two of the series, this one was a lot better. Set in Puerto Rico, the author paints the Caribbean Island in a beautiful picture that urged me to visit and experience it all for myself. The book delves into racial and gentrification discussion and I was thankful for the perspective outside of my own, it really opens the reader’s eyes to what’s going on in that part of the world. The writing is a bit choppy and though promoted as a cozy mystery it falls more between cozy and general mystery.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for this ARC

I love this series, so I’m enjoyed reading this latest book of Miriam’s adventures. This time, she and her son go from their home in Miami to visit her parents who now manage a guest property in Punta Cana. But work calls so Miriam flies to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to film new episodes for her television program. These books are a wonderful combination of classic cozies, with food and also informative about Latin history, culture and, sadly, addressing social injustices with colonization and more current exploitations. This is an excellent series and one I highly recommend.

Such a good cozy mystery! Loved that the story was based in both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the use of Spanish throughout was very well done and the food references made me drool!

Thanks NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 stars: This is the third installment BIPOC Culinary Cozy Mystery in Reyes' Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series and Reyes' brings the heat once again. Reyes' has written incredibly likable characters and I love how the cast is so inclusive and diverse. I adore how Reyes weaves so much latinx culture into every book, effortlessly uses Spanish dialogue throughout and introduces latinx holiday traditions. Oh and the descriptions of PR and the DR are lovely. Most importantly, Reyes's mystery balances the clues, red herrings and suspects perfectly and will keep you guessing. But wait, one mustn't forget all the absolutely delicious food described throughout the book, which you can make using the recipes that are included. To get in at the beginning of this series, pick up Mango, Mambo, and Murder.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

In the third book of the Caribbean Kitchen mystery series Miriam heads to her parent's home in Punta Cana for some rest and relaxation before giving birth to her second child. Unfortunately her job soon comes calling to do some filming for her show while on the islands. Miriam begins to notice some shady dealings related to the vacation rentals her parents manage and other local businesses. Her friends Alma and Jorge come to visit as well. Miriam also notices some distressing details related to Alma's new boyfriend and Jorge's boyfriend goes missing. She is quickly drawn into these various mysteries and begins investigating.

I really love this cozy mystery series. Miriam is one of my favorite cozy leads. She is smart and warm to her friends and family. I love getting the details of the islands and the constant delicious references to local food! The mysteries in this series are always really interesting. I can't wait to read the next one!

A surprise visit to Miriam’s parents in Punta Cana should be filled with arroz con pollo and breezy days under the tamarind tree quickly becomes a search for a possible property saboteur. Before she can find the person damaging vacation rentals she has to go to Puerto Rico to film a three Kings Day special. An anonymous gift on New Year’s Eve screams stacker and the 400-year-old guesthouse creaks and moans like something is trapped in its walls. With her BFF Alma and their mutual friend Jorge are in town to keep Miriam distracted between filming cultural segments for the network. Will demon masks African drum beaters and dark alleys lead to Miriam’s demise or will the mysterious events come together to bring everyone home safe. This was a really enjoyable story full of mystery and suspense I would recommend it to everyone.

Barbacoa, Bomba and Betrayal is not your typical cozy mystery, not even your typical culinary cozy mystery. While there are some questionable deaths that are discussed, the central mystery here is not a murder. While this is the third book in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series, I don’t think it’s essential to have read the first two. The author provides enough backstory information for new readers.

Miriam is gifted a flight to the Dominican Republic by her husband so that she can visit her parents, who are caretakers for a small resort there. She and her son Manny fly there but shortly after arriving, Miriam finds out that her job (tv cooking show host) needs her in Puerto Rico for the Three Kings festivities. So off she goes to Puerto Rico, leaving Manny with his grandparents.

There is a lot of information about how Puerto Rico is being taken advantage of by American businesses/investors, pushing out the locals. This is due to tax laws favoring the investors. There’s quite a bit of anti-colonialist talk, so if that offends you, you may want to steer clear of this book. There’s also a whole subplot about some Bitcoin “bros.”

Also there’s an overabundance of Spanish in the book. Even if you know absolutely no Spanish, you will mostly get the meaning through context. Some of it is directly translated, but some of it is not. Trying to decipher the meanings (looking up words) or just having the sentence repeated in English, interfered with the flow of the story. There must be a better way to convey the bilingualism of the main characters.

Along the way you’ll learn a lot about the foods of the Caribbean, especially those with influences from African and Taino cultures, since Miriam is a food anthropologist. There’s a lot of repetition about Miriam’s pregnancy and her seafood cravings. There are some enjoyable side characters, Jorge in particular, many of whom are familiar from the previous two books.

I felt there were a couple of loose ends. Maybe they will be dealt with in a fourth book.

If you enjoyed reading about the various ethnic foods, don’t miss the recipes at the end of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I love that the author has taken what could be another delicious culinary cozy with gorgeous descriptions of food and bits of culinary history, especially about the African Diaspora, and turns it into very thoughtful writing about colonialism, gentrification, wealth disparity, the exploitation of Puerto Rico by outsiders, political activism, even bitcoin.

Via Miriam’s El Mundo interviews with Puerto Rican chefs and food producers, the author skillfully weaves in a wealth of information about food traditions, and history.

The writing is colorful and full of vivid descriptions of the places,cultural traditions, and people. I love getting to spend more time with Miriam’s parents and her extended family. Miriam’s two besties from Miami get to join her and help with the investigation.

The plotting was intricate - lots of moving parts with smaller mysteries - that the author skillfully handled. You get a very satisfying ending.

And while it shines a light on social justice issues, there are still plenty of warm, lighthearted and even humorous moments

I liked this book but I just couldn't get into the story. I didn't like the writing style but overall the story was good.

Just loved this! Amazing mystery. The fact that it combines culture and food with a mystery makes for excellent reading!

I adored this cozy mystery! The group of characters were fantastic, and I loved the setting. I enjoyed the plot twists and the mystery. It was well paced and well written!

Summary
When her husband, Robert, surprises her with a trip to the Dominican Republic to visit her parents, Miriam is thrilled! She’s pregnant and soon won’t be able to travel from Miami by plane, so this may be her last chance to see them before the baby is born. However, when she arrives at the vacation complex in Punta Cana where her parents work as caretakers, something seems to be wrong. Things keep breaking unexpectedly and she knows how diligent her father is about maintenance. Just as her curiosity is aroused, her work takes her to Puerto Rico for the week where even more sinister things seem to be afoot.

My Thoughts

This wasn’t really a traditional mystery where you have an established crime, a pool of suspects, and an amateur detective who goes around gathering clues. Instead, there is gentrification, historical and colonial injustices, wealth disparities, and political ineptitude tangled altogether with shady police officers, bitcoin financiers, money laundering, dognapping, disappearing boyfriends, social justice movements, and rumors of deaths. The reader follows as she tries to interweave all of the disparate strands, but Mariam doesn’t know for certain if anything is really wrong or if she is just being overly sensitive. It made for a fascinating mystery and a fabulous read.

This was the third in the series and I will go back and read the first two. The fact that I was new to the series didn’t make a difference to following and enjoying the story.

What Else I Liked

I loved the characters

Miriam is an intelligent woman, a former professor of food anthropology, who loves to geek out over her specialty “Food of the African Diaspora in the Caribbean”. She is passionate about her work, devoted to her family, and an extremely loyal friend. Her compassion and observation skills help make her a great amateur detective.

Miriam also straddles so many different cultures. She is the American-born daughter of parents who fled Castro’s Cuba. Her parents hope to retire in the Dominican Republic because it is as close as they can come culturally to the home to which they will never return. She has a cousin who is a political activist in Puerto Rico and an aunt who sees all political activism as “liberal” and therefore communist. Meanwhile, her husband and his family are very white and her mother-in-law is xenophobic and racist.

This book made me so hungry! The descriptions of what she ate were mouth-watering. Fortunately, there are recipes in the back of the book. I was intrigued enough by the food that I finally bumped Diasporican by Illyana Maisonet to the top of my wishlist.

This author paints very vivid images. At times it felt like I was reading an exciting travelogue. I feel like I could go to San Juan now and feel like I have already been there.

There is a lot of humor in the book! Jorge had some great lines, but my moment favorite came from Miriam: “It’s a tent. I’m a mango tent” (You have to read it in context to get why it’s funny, but thinking about it still makes me giggle)

I love books with well-rounded LGBTQ+ characters.

There is a lot of Spanish in the book, which I think makes the dialogue flow very organically. The majority of it is either clearly explained soon after it is spoken or it can be figured out by context for those who don’t speak Spanish.

I received this book as a free eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I acknowledge that I did not read book one or two of this series. This is book three of the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Easy to jump in but I probably wouldn't request another book where I hadn't already started the series unless it's book one. Miriam and Robert have been married 6 years, have one son, Manny, another on the way and a cute kitty named Camo. Robert surprises Miriam and Manny with a trip to Punta Cana to visit her family. Just after arriving, she discovers she needs to be on Puerto Rico in just a few days to film for her cooking show.

The first problem in the story is Miriam's parents place. Someone is sabotaging the restoration and wants them to sell the place. They receive multiple bad and 'planted' reviews, receiving letters, and things keep breaking. The second problem is on New Year's Eve, Miriam receives a mysterious package which makes her think she now has a stalker. Her bestie, Alma, and her friend Jorge keep her afloat whole dealing with multiple issues at once. And not all is as it seems with Alma's new man...

This is the third book in the series. It has great characters that are fun and free spirited. Love that it takes place in a Caribbean kitchen