This is book reads exactly like an episode of the Golden Girls. The St Olaf-isms were funny but there were LOTS AND LOTS of them! More wedding than mystery solving but over a cute, nostalgic read.

*this file has some spacing issues that made some parts hard to read but I didn’t reflect that in my rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Ekstrom Courage and Hyperion Avenue for this ARC!

As a millennial who grew up watching Golden Girls reruns on Lifetime, getting approved for this ARC on NetGalley was an absolute serotonin boost. The moment I cracked it open, I was transported right back to that Miami kitchen - cheesecake and all. For longtime fans, this book feels like catching up with old friends in the middle of a delightfully silly, cozy mystery. I could practically hear the theme song playing as I read.

That said, if you’re not already fluent in the quirks of Blanche, Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia, this might not hit quite the same. The story leans heavily on nostalgia, and without that connection, the plot may feel a little thin. Some of the classic St. Olaf antics - while charming in small doses - start to wear out their welcome when they become the main event.

Plot-wise: Rose is helping plan her niece’s wedding in Miami (yes, complete with wacky St. Olaf traditions), Dorothy is spiraling about being dateless and turns to old-school dating VHS tapes (iconic), and after one cringeworthy date, her suitor turns up dead - at the wedding venue, no less! With Dorothy as suspect number one, the girls jump into sleuth mode, threatening to throw the whole wedding into chaos.

It’s zany, it’s warm, it’s exactly what you’d expect if someone turned a Golden Girls episode into a lighthearted whodunit. Is it the most robust mystery out there? No. But if you're in it for the vibes, the laughs, and a trip down memory lane with your favorite gals? You're in for a treat.

I tried my best but had to bail...it started off so cute and I loved that I could actually hear the characters come to life through the words on the pages but the story quickly bored me and I finally threw in the towel at about 37%. I really wanted to love it and audibly screeched when I was approved for the ARC but I couldn't force it any further. It appears to be a series so I hope to try again with book #2.

Thank you to #netgalley #hyperionavenue for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A cozy mystery centering around the Golden Girls was like a match made in heaven for me. I love these four ladies so much, and have for years! Putting them in the genre that always gets me out of a reading slump and is always a fun read is perfect.

After Dorothy’s date ends up murdered at the hotel Rose’s cousin was planning to have her wedding at, Dorothy becomes prime suspect number one in the case of whodunnit. The ladies have to keep her name clean, and try to keep the wedding running on smooth sails amidst the constant chaos of discovering a murder.

This was a super enjoyable read, that captured the ladies’ voices and characters perfectly. Thank you NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the ARC.

A Golden Girls murder mystery?!? Shut the front door and give me a slice of cheesecake! 😍 I'm here for all the 80s nostalgia! I had a grand ole time reading this book and could picture each of the GGs perfectly. The author did a FANTASTIC job of bringing each of the beloved characters to life and capturing their personalities to perfection! The suspense was fun as the GGs raced against the clock to find the killer - in typical GG fashion, of course!

If you've never watched Golden Girls, you might be a little lost on all their quirks, but I still think you would greatly enjoy this one! It leans heavily on sweet, naïve Rose and her family from the Norwegian farming town of St. Olaf, Minnesota as her young cousin gets married to the son of a local Miami -based family. As Rose takes it on herself to create a wonderful St. Olaf wedding in Miami, a snag gets caught when a man is found dead in the freezer (next to Rose's cheesecake) at a pre-wedding festivity. The real kicker - the man was Dorothy's date just a few days prior and is now the main suspect.

Thank you so much to Hyperion Avenue for the advanced copy! 🖤
Overall: 3.5⭐/0🌶

I love the Golden Girls and love mysteries. This novel captures the personalities of the 4 "golden girls" so very well. It brought back so many fun memories of watching the many episodes of Golden Girls. I enjoyed the fun storyline and the cozy mystery. I look forward to more from this author.

Rose is hosting a wedding in Miami for her cousin and extended family from St Olaf...and everything is a mess. The families can't get along, and between the St Olaf wedding traditions and the groom's family snobbery, Rose is convinced she can't pull it off. All the girls come together to help Rose, but when Dorothy's wedding date ends up dead in a freezer, making all of the guests suspects, the bride is ready to flee the city. Can the girls solve the murder and get the lovebirds married before it's too late?

I wanted to love this book and I very much....liked it? The Golden Girls part -- great, awesome. Everyone was totally in character...except maybe Rose. The St Olaf stuff was too much and it made me so incredibly irritated. We all know Rose is a fun-loving character so that didn't sit right with me. As for the murder...it wasn't very murdery. Like, if you accidentally skipped a page, you wouldn't have known it happened. The ending was good though. Like I said, I liked it...I just didn't love it. Will I read the next one? Of course I will, who are you kidding?

Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage is a nostalgic, fast-paced, and hilarious tale that is an absolute delight to read.

Cute and cozy. I could hear the Golden Girls' voices in my head as I was reading it. Fun start to the series.

This was a fun read! Reading this was like being thrown into an episode of the Golden Girls with an added mystery twist.
A little long in some spots, some good plot twists.

Rose is super excited when she finds out her cousin from St. Olaf is coming to Miami to get married. Not only does this give her the chance to reunite with family, it allows her the opportunity to recreate a home away from home. After all, St. Olaf is something the homesick Rose has been missing for years, almost a much as she misses her beloved deceased husband, Charlie.

As Rose preps to reenact the St. Olaf experience, Dorothy goes on date with a good looking man she met through a dating service. But when the pair meet in person, the easy connection the two had over the phone just feels strained. Before Dorothy can probe further, her date vanishes. No stranger to heartbreak, Dorothy still can’t help but to feel a bit disappointed and deflated.

But as the ladies all pitch in on the nuptial preparations, the unexpected happens when Dorothy’s date is found dead in the cheesecake. They say good desserts can be to die for, but this is taking things entirely too literally. With no other suspects to speak of, Dorothy becomes the main focus of the investigation. Can the ladies come together to not only plan the perfect wedding, but to help clear Dorothy’s name?

Much like cheesecake itself, Murder By Cheesecake is a silly, guilty pleasure of a novel. Fans of the Golden Girls series will no doubt revel in the delicious combination of humor and mystery. Author Rachel Ekstrom Courage does a great job of capturing the essence and voice of the classic Golden Girls experience-the book itself feeling like one long unseen episode complete with quirky Rose-isms and Sophia’s sassy one liners.

The first in a new cozy mystery series, Murder By Cheesecake breathes new life into an old series with the promise of more delicious dilemmas to come.

I'm thrilled about this cozy mystery series featuring the Golden Girls! I can’t express how excited I am for this book and the series as a whole—I really hope there will be many more installments.

Reading this feels like watching an episode of The Golden Girls, which typically features two storylines. On one side, you have Rose, who is working diligently with the girls to plan a wedding ceremony for her cousin Nettie, following St. Olafian traditions in Miami. On the other side, Dorothy is on the lookout for a date to accompany her to the wedding.

What happens next is shocking for the girls: a dead body is discovered in the hotel freezer, right where Rose's cheesecakes were stored. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I’ll leave it at that.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The characters are true to themselves, making it a story you should read rather than listen to; you’ll want to hear the voices of the characters in your head. The author has done a remarkable job of staying true to the personalities of the characters from the TV show. All four ladies are exactly as we’ve seen them on TV.

The mystery and adventure in this book were exceptional. Even if you've never watched The Golden Girls, I believe you will still enjoy this book. If the characters weren't based on The Golden Girls, I would have probably rated the book four stars. However, the humor and charm of the girls elevate it to a five-star read. I can't wait for the next book in the series, and once it is released, I will definitely get a physical copy.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.

Just like watching an episode of golden girls.

Fit super well with the characters and the show. It dragged on a little, but overall was a really fun ride to take with some old friends!

Was so thrilled to have a book with the Golden girl ladies. The nostalgia of it all. The book did not meet my expectations. There was too much drawn out over the wedding and the dead guy. I felt I got bored with the writing style and wanted many times to DNF it. There were some cute funny parts but this book was not for me

⁕ 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐤𝐞 : 𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐳𝐲 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 | 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥 𝐄𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 ⁕
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ④ /𝟻 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜
𝙿𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜: 𝟹𝟹𝟼
••••

ＡＲＣ ＲＥＶＩＥＷ

💭 𝚖𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:

🅟🅘🅒🅣🅤🅡🅔 🅘🅣!!!🅜🅘🅐🅜🅘…
𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒞𝒶𝒷𝒶𝓃𝒶 𝒮𝓊𝓃 ℋℴ𝓉ℯ𝓁

HOLD ONTO YOUR PURSES & CHEESECAKE LADIIEESSSS!!!
because things go from crazy to worse when Dorothy is accused of murder and she, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia have to navigate family dynamics, St. Olaf wedding customs, and a seedy Miami Big Sugar underground to solve the murder mystery.

Classically witty and funny! A true cozy mystery!

Rose is overwhelmed and wants everything to perfect for her niece and her soon to be husband, but with his over controlling family things take a turn and an even more shocking turn when the body of a man turns up in the hotel freezer during the wedding party.

Through the chaos the girls must take the case into their own hands to save Dorothy once the man in the freezer turns out to be her date from the day before…

YIIKKKEEESSSSSS!!!

The book was everything I thought it would be and more. Full of Sophia’s over the top sarcastic ways, Roses mindless behavior, Blanches good ways to pull a man lol and Dorothy’s blunt honesty to chill everyone out!

I truly love the Golden Girls and receiving this advanced copy felt so special to me!

I felt as though I was watching the show as I was reading and enjoyed the humor and laughs it gave.
The Golden thing was that their love and friendship was brought out beautifully throughout the book as well.

I feel that Rachel Eckstrom Courage really executed the ladies well and that they all would be so proud of the product that was made.

I can’t wait to read the next 9!!

⁕ Publishing Date: April 15,2025
⁕ MURDER BY CHEESECAKE is brought to you by Rachel Ekstrom Courage and Hyperion Avenue Books!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of this book. I will never not love anything with the Golden Girls in it! The banter we all know and love is there and I can literally hear their voices as I read! The nostalgia is nostalgiaing! Not as for the plot, I was sad we got more of the wedding the the cozy mystery! For me the wedding should have taken back stage a bit more, yes it was important for the plot and story, however I felt like the cozy mystery should have been center stage. Will I read the next one? Yes!

Sweet, Sassy, and Full of Surprises!
Murder by Cheesecake is a fun, clever mystery with all the sass and charm of the Golden Girls. The characters are hilarious, the plot is twisty, and the cozy vibes are strong. I felt like I was watching this play out in real time with the girls! If you love witty banter, friendship, and a good old-fashioned whodunit—with cheesecake, of course—this one’s a must-read!
⭐️ ⭐️ Thank you Hyperion Avenue for allowing me to read my newest favorite book! ⭐️ ⭐️

3.75✨
This was a cute concept. I’ll definitely read the rest. The writing was a little off but I loved feeling like I was in an episode of The Golden Girls. I’m happy somebody decided to do this.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc of this!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was an honest review.

Before starting this book, I was a little hesitant. In the Golden Girls first mystery series, I wanted the characters to be true to the ones you see on television, I am a big fan of the series and they did not disappoint. There were several moments that made me laugh out loud. I enjoyed the pace of the story, and there was always some shady activity. It was a bit weird but still enjoyable to read about Rose and her St Olaf wedding traditions with her cousin. The fact that Rose blamed Dorothy for the murder of the victim did not sit well with me at the beginning of the story. There's no way Rose would react in that way and she would have supported Dorothy at all times.

Firstly this book was very on par and comedic for the Golden Girls. It was funny, silly, and a little bit serious when it needed to be. Every scene felt like it could've come directly from the tv show.