The Last to Pie: A Pies Before Guys Mystery
By Misha Popp
Crooked Lane Books
May 2024

Pies Before Guys food truck owner Daisy Ellery has set rules for the “special” pies she makes. They are never given to women nor the marginalized, clients are only accepted through a referral, they are never for her own personal gain, and she never accepts money. That is because these are murder pies, treats that she enrobes with her magical talent to kill only the designated recipients without leaving any forensic evidence. She has is willing to break one of those rules when she receives an anonymous email from JodieL, which includes pictures of her abuse and identifies her abuser as her policeman husband. The more Daisy learns the more she realizes that the corruption spreads to several of his fellow police officers, meaning that the only justice that can be merited out will be through her fatal bakery confections.

The ability to incorporate feelings and encourage behavior into their arts has been passed down to the women of Daisy’s family for generations, but while her mother and grandmother used their gifts with sewing and hairstyling, only Daisy has been able to magic in more lethal elements. Her motorcycle-riding friend Melly encourages Daisy to be more proactive in her targeting, but she finds that when attending domestic violence support groups that the women often are able to find ways to save themselves. Meeting Jodie only makes Daisy realize just how helpless the library volunteer is though, and when she goes missing Daisy and Melly realize that the time to act is now. That doesn’t mean that Daisy still doesn’t have time to bake a special pie for a cult leader though, or put an end to an abusive father. For all of these bad men in the world good ones still exist though, and Daisy has found a wonderful one in the farmer Noel. She has even felt comfortable enough to share her magical secret with him, although he would prefer that she not risk her life or imprisonment to save those she barely knows.

This series achieves the delicate act of balancing the dark themes of domestic balance with the cozy element of baking. Daisy’s romance with Noel is handled realistically, as while being completely honest and open is necessary for a healthy relationship, that also comes with the risk of his being unable to handle the danger she may encounter. The fact that during an argument the word “serial killer” is thrown out certainly doesn’t help, nor does their disagreement over the topic of ever having children. The previous installment in the series explored the fun but cutthroat world of baking competition, but here the Thin Blue Line and abuse takes the series in a darker direction. Thankfully the exuberant Melly always keeps things light with her enthusiasm for helping women and eliminating their abusers, riding in on her motorcycle just at the nick of time. Delicious-sounding recipes are included at the end, although readers will have to add their own homicide to one for Chocolate Orange Murder Pie. This continues to be a charming cozy mystery that sneaks in dark humor along with complex topics. The found family she has gained from working in the kitchen of a diner provide her with the comfort and laughs she needs, especially when one of their beloved suffers from a health crisis. Following Daisy’s growth as she accepts her gifts while choosing to follow her own path is so rewarding that readers will look forward to seeing where she goes next.

The Last to Pie by Misha Popp is a sweet magical realism/cozy mystery about a vigilante 🥧 pie maker. This is the 3rd novel in the Pie before guys series

Daisy helps women take care of their problems in the sweetest way possible... a homemade 🥧 pie.

When a local women needs help with her abusive policeman spouse, Daisy will stop at no lengths to help her

A fun, Dexter like novel that will have you craving your own homemade pie

I'm still rather bemused by this series. The characters are well-developed, the premise is interesting (murder by magic pies... cool). The plots are not always coherent and heavy topics are sometimes explained oddly. I think regular readers won't find this book to be very different from the first two.
Daisy is up against a crooked cop in this book. He is beating his wife and she needs help. But it's not just one cop and, in the end, Daisy and Melly may be fighting for their own lives in addition to the client's.

Three stars
This book comes out May 21, 2024
Follows A Good Day to Pie
ARC provided by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

This series really has a hit in this one. Characters and the magic are well established, and there is so much room for the action in this one. It's full of interesting plot and progresses the characters, including further developing their relationships, forcing Daisy to really think about her future and connections.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a ARC copy of this book. This was an honest review.

This book kept me glued to the page. There was a lot of suspense and tension. In spite of the story being fiction, the plot felt real in the sense that these things really happen. Daisy's pies have a kind of magic that makes the bad guy see the error of his ways. She can murder them with her pies. My favorite part of her story was her connection to her diner family even in times of trouble. The motivation behind Daisy's efforts to help save women that have been abused is heartwarming to me.

Daisy has the ability to bake magic into pies. Mostly she enhances positive feelings but she can also bake deadly pies - if the person was evil enough before. So if abused women ask for help she will deliver a murder pie.
This time she gets asked for help by a woman being abused by a cop who also lives in the same town. But before Daisy can deliver the pie the woman disappears. What happened? Of course Daisy has to investigate.
I loved this book and I really liked the idea of how she helped abused women. I felt with the characters: I loved quirky Melly and I really hated Troy. The mystery was gripping and had me at the edge of my seat.
This was the first book in the series that I read but now I will definitely go on reading the other books, too.

This series is getting better by the book! I could ot put this one down. Daisy's relatioship with Noel is getting more intense at the same time Melly is pushing he rway in to the picture. Diasy has always walked the legal line. Daisy comes from a long line of magical women. Women who can imbed their magic in their crafts. In Daisy's instance she bakes pies, specifically murder pies. She has built a business around providing women who have been abused with a pie that will kill the recipient, and only that recipient.

Daisy gets a request from a woman who says she is in danger and doesn't know if she is going to make it. After reaching out once, she vanishes. Daisy has a strict set of rules she follows, but this woman gets under her skin. She needs to know more and needs to save her. She breaks her own rules and starts searching for this woman. It is made more difficult by the fact tha the abuser is a police officer.

Noel is not supportive of this, although he wants to build a life with Daisy, he is pushing back on her. Melly steps up and helps Daisy with the interrogation. Daisy also grows closer to her diner family, which was erally cool to see.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Another excellent addition to this intriguing and entertaining series. Unexpected twists, solid mystery.
I was glad to catch up with the characters and it was a lot of fun.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Last to Pie by Misha Popp: I love this series! A pie vigilante is right up my alley. I really enjoy that this book (and this series) is a little darker and grittier than the standard cozy mystery.

Daisy Ellery is a quirky baker with a fun 1950s fashion sense, and she's a vigilante and assassin for hire. She uses her magical abilities to infuse pies with the power to rid the world of evil men. However, Daisy is cautious with this power. She has a referral protocol and will not go after the innocent. This time, she gets a request from a victim of domestic abuse that does not come through the established referral system, and the perpetrator is a cop. Daisy hesitates, not knowing whether the case is genuine or a setup designed to catch her. Then, the woman goes missing. In what may be her most dangerous case yet, Daisy tries to find out what happened.

Edgy and witty, this paranormal cozy mystery series is a lot of fun to read, and I am sad this is the final book. This series and FMC Daisy are not your typical cozy mystery or amateur sleuth. In fact, with her vigilantism and use of spelled baked goods to achieve her ends, the books turn the image of the typical culinary cozy mystery on its head.

The series and this book explore some serious topics and offer social commentary. This one was, for me, the darkest in the series, but, the cozy setting and humor interspersed throughout provide some balance. Daisy may be morally grey, but she has strong convictions regarding using her powers, and in this one, she reflects on her mission, grappling with guilt and responsibility over the missing woman. The books are inclusive, with a diverse cast and a found family vibe. The mystery is interesting, and there's some action and romance. If you're looking for something out of the ordinary, try these books!

*3.75 rounded up

This is definitely one of my favorite current cozy mystery series! This particular book felt a bit darker than the last two but still timely and really good. It was also a bit more thrilling/suspenseful and I enjoyed it a lot! Definitely give this series a try if you like cozy mysteries, especially with baking themes! This one is a bit different given the murder and magic but it's so good!

The Last to Pie comes out next week on May 21, 2024 and you can purchase HERE.

. . . .[I]f I did a cookbook, wouldn't killing it be my theme? I can see it now: Mango Mojito Murder Pie, ingredients mango, mint, and manslaughter. If you can't make your own magic, store-bought is fine.

An exhilarating addition to the PBG series. All of our favorite characters are back, showing growth, solving crimes, and saving the day. Lots of fun for fans of cozies.

The Last to Pie, the third book in Misha Popp's "A Pies Before Guys Mysteries," is an engrossing page-turner. Daisy Ellery, a pie baker with a secret vigilante mission, faces her toughest challenge yet. In Turnbridge, she finds family-like friends, but a mysterious client request without referral raises her suspicions.

The client’s abusive cop boyfriend complicates matters, and when the client disappears, Daisy must break her own rules to help. Popp’s storytelling shines with rich character development and a darker, more complex plot. The unique blend of magic and justice through pies makes this mystery stand out.

With suspenseful twists and mouthwatering pie-making scenes, The Last to Pie is a must-read for mystery lovers. Highly recommended!

I did skim through this book up until the end, but did not read the second half thoroughly. However, I am familiar with the entirety of its plot, so I can provide a complete opinion. I have to say, I enjoyed the storyline! The topics that were covered were important to discuss (mainly focusing on human relationships of all sorts, both healthy and toxic), even though some of the ethical aspects of even the positive characters can be quite debatable. The magical and mystery elements were also exciting.

The execution disappointed me though, as I could not stick with reading the book in full despite its plot. Some ways of expressing things were simply confusing or hardly interesting for me; the fact that I did not read the previous books in the series might have contributed, but I don't think that it's the main reason.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy. This was wasn't for me, but it could be great for other people. I didn't know it was a third book and it was difficult to follow with the characters :(

I did enjoy the writing style, the social commentary and how the MC justifies her work. The conflict was a bit too fast resolved for my taste though, and I found that the characters were a bit bland.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25/5 stars!

A third instalment of the Pies Before Guys mystery series? Yes please!

Daisy Ellery owns Pie Girl and sells her delightful pies at a diner and on campus at a local university. Her side hustle, baking magical murder pies, is back in full swing in this book!

When Jodie, a volunteer at the local library, reaches out to Daisy to bake a pie to put an end to her abusive cop husband, Daisy stalls to accept the request. Her business of killing abusers isn’t exactly legal and getting directly involved with law enforcement seems like a scary idea. Not to mention, Jodie isn’t a referral from a previous client. Daisy worries it’s a setup.

However, once she decides to make the pie, Jodie becomes unresponsive. Fearing the worst, Daisy and her friend Melly become amateur detectives to find out what happened to Jodie and whether she is safe.

This has been my favourite of the books so far in the series. Daisy is back from her time on Bake My Day and is back in Penny, her RV, selling her Pie Girl pies and making murder pies in her spare time. My main complaint of book two was that the Pies Before Guys murder pies took the back burner.

I really loved this story. As always, this really isn’t the typical cozy and there are content warnings for domestic violence, murder, forced pregnancy, police brutality, etc.

Thank you to Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“There are times I wish I made murder pies for people of my own choosing. Like today. ”
Here are reasons to read the mystery book:

3rd in the Series - In this 3rd book in the Pies before Guys mystery series
Pie Baker - we continue to follow Daisy who has a very special talent
Magic - She can imbue her pies with magic, and she uses that magic to help stop domestic abuse, particularly when it comes from men
Cops Wife - and in this book we follow a request from a cop’s wife, which is especially hard to navigate

First I have to say that if you haven’t started this series, I highly recommend. It is whimsical and fun. However, this book made me sad because the author has stated that this is the last due to how lucrative it is being an author. So if you love mysteries, let’s give her a boost and try this one out. The characters are special and there are unique touches everywhere. While this is not my favorite book in the series, I do love it as a whole and think you should pick this up!

I genuinely love this series.

The Pies Before Guys books, and this third instalment THE LAST TO PIE, are a perfect blend of cozy mystery and darker elements. Personally, I'm a big fan of cozies anyway, but I think this is the perfect "in" for people who aren't - who find the usual amateur sleuth, small town, cutsie occupation or hobby shtick to be too twee. You get all those cozy elements but with a twist - a protagonist who's pretty darn up-front (at least with herself, her allies, and the reader) about the fact that she's a serial killer. A killer of abusive men through the medium of magical retribution-filled pies, but still. Think Dexter meets Pushing Daisies?

THE LAST TO PIE is darker than the last installment, that took us down a Bake-Off style TV-show route, and puts Daisy back into her close-knit diner-based found family setting. I will admit, there were a couple of references to events in the first two book early on where I'd forgot details/characters, but it really didn't take away from my enjoyment of this story. It just made me excited to reread the whole trilogy if (when?! fingers-crossed!) another book comes out. So, even with those little mentions, I think THE LAST TO PIE could be picked up as a standalone or an entry point to the series.

Another brilliant installment in the Pies Before Guys series, and I really hope it continues for a long time yet.

My only complaint is that this is the last in the series. It’s such a delightful one—fulfills the Pushing Daisies vibes I’ve always wanted since it was cancelled—and I’d gladly read like ten more of these.