Yeah, you read that right. At long last, nearly forty human years after the fact, the Golden Girls has its own book series. It's a cozy mystery series of course, with murder and cheesecake all at once. In this first book, Rose has to put together the perfect wedding for her "niece" from St. Olaf, impressing the town elders and the future in-laws at the same time. In the meantime, Dorothy's endless quest for a decent date has led her to a Tom Selleck look-alike and a frozen corpse. Of course, they have to find the killer before they can celebrate with a wedding, and before Dorothy takes the fall for the crime.

Listen: I am overjoyed by this absolute gem of a book. The plot is cute, the vibe is 80's, and the dialog is both hilarious and spot-on. In the first few pages, I worried that there were far too many adjectives and descriptions in this book, but I soon began to appreciate how they made it feel as though I were watching an episode of The Golden Girls. I heard every line as though it were spoken by the cast, and saw every piece of wicker as it was described. I would read a dozen more of these, and I'm going to recommend them to everyone I know.

A note to the publisher, who graciously allowed me an early copy: the ARC I read has a lot of typos. Like, so many. Obviously I'm not judging the finished product on this, but I do hope this isn't it.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage..

Reading this book felt like I was watching an episode of The Golden Girls. I could hear their voices in my head and it made me laugh out loud a bunch of times. I cannot wait to read the second book!

ARC review • pub date 04.15.25

If you know me at all, then you know I am utterly obsessed with the golden girls. They are my comfort and my happy place. If I’m awake, they’re playing on my tv. They have been a part of my life as long as I can remember!

I also have a huge love for mystery books, so when I saw that my two favorite things were put together, I couldn’t request it fast enough! And it absolutely delivered 👏🏻

Dorothy tries out a new video dating service, and ends up connecting with a guy named Henry who seems absolutely perfect for her. At the same time, Rose is planning a St Olafian wedding for her niece at the family’s hotel in Miami. While touring the hotel, they stumble upon a frozen corpse in the freezer- right next to the cheesecake for wedding festivities. But it isn’t just any corpse, it’s Henry! Now the girls are on a race to solve the murder as Dorothy is the #1 suspect.

This book was just what I needed and I loved it so much! I hope there are more books to go along with it in the future!

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Hyperion Avenue / Disney Books for my ARC!

While I haven't watched all of The Golden Girls episodes, I've seen enough to know the characters and I do adore them.
Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read an advanced copy for review.

I'm guessing the plot in this book is not based on an episode, but it certainly reads like a long episode minus a laugh track. I can hear the characters vices as I read their lines and visualize their home with little prompts with making for smooth reading.

I'm not good at solving the " who done it" types of mysteries. I can't spot a real clue from a misdirect unless it's right on the nose. I just wait for the big reveal at the end, for the " bad guy" to explain or characters to fit it all together with the clues were important and for the wrong things I thought were clueless to be ignored. 😅

This books is sweet and focused on love. Love for Rose's love for family, and traditions, as well as new young love and Dorothy trying to find a new love and not letting age get in her way. And of course Blanche always needing to be adored, and Sophia's love for her daughter and friends and not holding back on her quick remarks we love her for.

I recommend this book for people who love the show.

ARC REVIEW
Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this.

As a life long Golden Girls fan i was so excited to read this. It was cute but but it, unfortunately, fell short. Some part read like AI wrote it. Multiple spelling, grammar and format issues made some parts hard to read. The murder seemed like a semi forgotten sub plot in places. It's based more on Rose and honestly, after a while all of the St. Olaf traditions got annoying.

I was so excited to see this title appear as I’m an avid Holden Girls fan and it did not disappoint!

Murder by Cheesecake follows the girls through several capers at once. Rose is exhausting herself and het time in assisting her niece Nettie with her nuptials, all the while ensuring that she follows the strict St Olaf wedding traditions that the elders have stressed must be a part of the wedding. As such, this creates quite the laughs and mishaps as only Rose can have explaining her Norwegian roots. The story couldn’t be complete without cheesecake, so as Rose is preparing the decadent desserts for the wedding and housing them in the hotel’s freezer, she comes across something she will never forget! Dorothy, Sofia, and Blanche to the rescue to help sort everything out and get Rose and Dorothy out of a pickle.

Rachel Ekstrom Courage revived the girls from their respite from the television show, adding in anecdotes and pop culture from the eighties that throws you back into their world of Miami and the capers the girls always found themselves in. It was a wonderful escape that she created which stirred my inner nostalgia for the binging of the Golden Girls episodes. It’s a must read for Golden Girls fans! I look forward to more from the series!

Wow. I loved the Golden Girls, and now, combined with my love of murder mysteries while reading, I felt like I was watching the show. I could hear their voices and see their body language. It kept me hooked and wanting more. It made me feel like I was one of them. I would definitely recommend it! I cannot wait to read the next in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.

As a fan of The Golden Girls, I wanted to love this book, but unfortunately, it fell flat. I've seen all of the episodes multiple times, including many when they aired (if I was allowed to stay up and watch).

Even though I could hear their voices as I read, all four women felt off from what they would have been had this happened in the Golden Girls universe. While I appreciate the nods to the 80s, it felt like something was missing. Without giving away too much of the plot, the continuous focus Rose had on sticking with St. Olaf traditions seemed far too forced, especially since in many of the episodes of the show, all four women were quite open to the changes in the world, with a nod to the past. I don't feel like Rose would've felt that following every tradition was so important. It also made the book feel like it didn't move as quickly as it could have because of her internal thoughts about how important these far-fetched (even for St. Olaf) traditions were.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this before its official release and the fact that it was a fun, easy read. It was an excellent palette cleanser between heavier books. This book wouldn't necessarily stop me from trying another Golden Girls-themed cozy mystery; it just wasn't exactly what I hoped for (more mystery, less filler, please).

What a treat to read this Golden Girls cozy mystery! Over the years, there have been numerous rumors circulating regarding a potential reboot of the show with a new cast and possibly new characters. As an avid fan of the TV series, I approached this novel with cautious optimism. However, I am pleased to report that this novel successfully captures the essence of the beloved show and where the ‘reboot’ should live on!

As RuPaul Charles would say…. bring back my girls.

Murder by Cheesecake is structured in a manner reminiscent of a two-part episode of The Golden Girls. Rose is planning a last-minute wedding for a family member, while Dorothy explores a new VHS-dating service. However, the plot takes a dramatic turn when a dead body is discovered at the wedding venue, leading the police to focus in on their prime suspect - Dorothy.

The novel skillfully combines the humor and charm of The Golden Girls with the suspense of an episode of Murder She Wrote. The dialogue is reminiscent of the actresses' performances, and the characters' actions and conversations feel authentic to the original series. I even found self reading the dialogue in the cast’s voices, sometimes even pausing for the audience to laugh! One minor inconsistency that I noticed was Sophia's use of a cane. While this may have been explained in the beginning of the book, I skimmed back through trying to find an explanation but was unable to discern the reasoning behind that choice for the character.

I can’t wait for the rest of the world to get their hands on this book and I eagerly anticipate the release of the remaining novels in this series, which truly captures the magic of our beloved Golden Girls!!

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Net Galley and Hyperion Avenue for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

When I saw this book advertised I was so excited, TheGolden Girls and cozy mystery.Two of my favorite things. Sadly much like putting skittles on pizza it just didn’t work for me.
The author did a great job capturing the unique tenor and tone of each character. At times I could each of the actresses’ voices while reading the dialogue. The cute and quirky things that made a 30min episode work just felt like too much for a 300+ page book. The mystery was lackluster and felt a like an afterthought in all the St Olaf chaos.
This book had some great moments but I just didn’t love it.

This book is exactly what you'd think it would be. I worried I might forget which Golden Girl was who, but the ladies came back to me pretty quickly as the writing nails the relationship dynamics and personality of each Golden Girl. Fans of cozy mysteries and the Golden Girls will enjoy this very much. I think this book would make for a good palette cleanser between more serious or heavy reads. Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this title.

Oh boy did I go in wanting to love this book. Cheesecake in hand (on plate?) I was delighted to dive back into the world of Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia. Unfortunately, Rachel Ekstrom Courage never seemed to peg the voices of the girls and while her writing was top notch, something was lost in the translation from award winning sitcom to cozy mystery. I'm sure this book will be absolutely delightful for Golden Girls fans, but it just didn't strike the right note for me. Please blame the reader and not the author.

I wanted to love this so much. I love cozy mysteries and I love the golden girls. Unfortunately the golden girls were lightning in the bottle that could only be captured once and that was by the original writers. While the author does manage to get a little bit of the humor in, it just doesn't have the same punch. Golden girls themed novels may have to be actually short stories because I think they're more successful and short form.

The author "tells" more than "shows" which was part of the magic of the GG. You didn't need to know Dorothy's inner thoughts to know she was frustrated. You could see it in her mannerisms and face and think that's what's tough here. Instead of describing situations and ideas we were just flat out told "this is what this person is thinking". It was written third person Omniscient and should have been third person limited. Or just first person and told from the perspective of an outsider (the audience if you will).

Additionally, the focus was on the wedding and all the details of all the St. Olaf traditions which I thought "ok maybe these will be important to the plot or the mystery solving". Nope. It did nothing to further the plot.

Then there was the missing dress which I think the author forgot about until a throwaway remark at the end.

Gosh, what a fun read. Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage has it all! Mystery and The Golden Girls! Don’t skip this one.

I trued but the editing was terrible. Run on words made this story so hard to get into that I was so busy trying to figure out what had happened that I couldn’t enjoy the story. Sorry to say it wasn’t a great read for me.

This is the absolute cutest book for Golden Girls lovers. A true cozy mystery, and the author captured all of the personalities so well. I can't wait for more books in this series!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge Golden Girls fan and was ecstatic when I learned of this cozy mystery series. If you’re a big fan of the show, this book is a must read! I’m not sure if it was just the way the book loaded into my kindle or because it was an ARC but there were several typos I found and many instances where several words were strung together without spaces. It did not affect my enjoyment of reading the story though. It was fun to visualize the story happening like one of the tv episodes complete with reading the girls dialogue in their voices. 😄

Story: Roses’s younger cousin Nettie travels to Miami with her fiancé Jason with plans to elope. Rose has been a mother figure to Nettie and wants her to have a St. Olaf style wedding complete with all of the traditions (some more peculiar than others). Rose goes into full on wedding planner mode to prove to her family she is still a St. Olaf girl at heart even though she’s been living in Miami for quite some time. All is going well for Rose and the girls as they help plan Nettie’s wedding until Dorothy decides to use a video dating service to secure a date for the wedding. After meeting with Dorothy, her potential plus one turns up dead, found next to the wedding cheesecakes. The Miami police point their finger at Dorothy as their prime suspect. Will the girls be able to help her clear her name? You’ll have to read to find out!

The best thing I can say about this book is that it was about the Golden Girls characters. After that, it was one typical wisecrack after another, one St. Olaf joke after another. Nothing tied the story together for me at all. It was a struggle.

I hope that if the author intends to make this a series, she presents the reader with a more solid plot before she indulges in the expected back and forth among the characters. It would be hard to find someone who didn't love The Golden Girls TV show, so there have to be countless people who are looking for a solid story involving the characters.

This wasn't a "golden" story for me.

Appreciation to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I couldn’t wait to read a mystery involving the Golden Girls and was thrilled when Netgalley gave me the opportunity to read it before it came out. The concept was great but the writing style just didn’t hit for me. I read a lot of cozies and prefer there to be a more involved mystery and less filler. It was a little hard for me to get into but there were lots of fun parts.

This was a fun and enjoyable mystery read! I loved following some of my favorite old ladies on an adventure of mystery & murder! The story really did capture each lady perfectly and it was fun and silly and the mystery was great!