Kielbasa Killer, The

Formidable Sleuthing Duo…
The first in The Kielbasa Queen Mystery series finds Lydia managing the family business whilst waiting to open her own. Busy juggling everything and everyone, Lydia is shocked to discover the body of their meat supplier inside their smoker, a sausage pricker thrust deep into his neck. With Lydia now the prime suspect she must don her amateur sleuthing hat fast to find a killer and, with the help of her grandma Mary, the pair soon form a formidable sleuthing duo, Fast paced and frothy with a cast of likeable and eccentric characters, this is a promising start to a new series.

I’ll be honest, I was drawn to this book because I love Kielbasa…and I’m glad I love it because this turned out to be a fun cozy!

Being the first in a new series, there are a few things that need to be fleshed out better, but I always let book two be the one that lets me fully decide on the overall love for a series. I’m hoping we’ll see a little more detail into Lydia and her life for us to get settled into visualizing the time and setting a little more. But either way, I am back for book two and can’t wait!

The Kielbasa Killer by Geri Krowtow is the first book in the Kielbasa Queen Mystery series. This was a super fun who-dun-it! It sure kept me guessing. I really liked the characters, especially amateur sleuth Lydia Wienewski and her cohort Grandma Mary. I liked how they thoughtfully followed the clues they discovered. This is a great beginning to the series.

Lydia Wienewski has taken over her family business during her father’s recovery from a stroke. Easter is only days away and Lydia is making sure the community has all of the hams and kielbasa they will need to feed their families. She adds extra kielbasa to the smokehouse in the family's backyard. When she goes to pack up the meat Lydia trips over something on the floor, and unfortunately discovers her meat supplier dead.

This first in a series book by Geri Krotow follows Lydia’s snooping to clear her and her family of killing Lousie McDaniel. I loved this story. The characters were interesting and developed well. The plot moves at a steady pace and I was engaged from the first page. The setting of spring in Buffalo, NY is very similar to the area I live, including the large Polish population and is a part of the story. When I finished this book I was ready for more of Lydia and her family and friends. Her Grandmother is fabulous! I will definitely look for Book 2. I recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Geri Krotow and Severn House for the advanced copy of this book. The Kielbasa Killer was 100% my type of cosy murder mystery novel and I’m looking forward to further books in the series. I’ve never read anything set in the Polish American community before so I really loved gaining that insight and I just love Mary as a character!

A new to me author and cozy series, a solid mystery i thoroughly enjoyed. There's not a lot of books set in the Polish world and this one was well done made me learn something new.
A solid mystery that kept me guessing, likeable and fleshed out characters.
I want to read other books in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The 1980s setting is really well done. It is done subtly to remind you every so often when it is. The Weinewski family is a wonderful family and Lydia is working hard to keep everyone going. I really appreciate the way people around Lydia support her. The mystery was well done. There weren’t that many clues about who it was, but I was pleased by the end of the book. The Polish food and culture was a good interesting addition to set this cozy mystery apart. I really enjoyed this one.

If you like magical little villages with scenic coastal views, you will not find these in this cozy mystery set in Buffalo NY. But instead you will find that the nostalgia of this cozy little community in 1980s Buffalo NY more than makes up for the lack of scenic views with genuine realistic characters and a lot of heart.

In the Kielbasa Killer, Lydia is busy running her dad’s shop Wienewski’s Weiners and Meats over the busy Easter weekend when she finds the dead body of their meat supplier. Even worse, the body is found in the family smoker, making Lydia and her family the prime suspects. Inspired by their favorite detective shows, Lydia and her grandma, Mary, team up to catch the killer and clear the family’s name in this delightful cozy mystery.

I did not know anything about Cheektowaga or Buffalo before reading this book. I’m from Chicago with lithuanian and German ancestry, so a mystery involving polish American food immediately interested me. This book felt like I was stepping right into Lydia’s family and close community. The writing is so descriptive and immersive, that when I would take a break from reading this book I’d be surprised that it was summer in Illinois and not Easter in New York! It really transports you.

The plot itself was also really fun, and fast paced. Lydia and Grandma’s investigating skills were surprisingly good and more importantly laugh out loud hilarious! Grandma Mary was my favorite character for sure, she was so funny and feisty! Reminded me of my own grandma. There is a small amount of cursing/bad language in the story, which I found refreshing, but some people may not like. Also I really enjoyed Lydia leaning on her family and her high school best friends for help, it made me wonder who I would pick to solve a murder with me. This was a really well written cozy mystery and I enjoyed it very much.

Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

'm half Polish; did you honestly believe I would pass on a series called the Kielbasa Queen and a title like Kielbasa Killer? Although she has several series in print, this was a new author to me. In this first Kielbasa Queen murder mystery, we meet Lydia Wienewski, who lives in a very Polish community near Buffalo, NY. The story is set in 1982, a time I remember well (I was 17 in 1982, and grew up in a very Polish community in northern NJ; see why I had to read this book?). Lydia has recently returned home from attending baking school out of state, and her father has recently suffered a stroke, so she's deferred her plans to open her own bakery and is running the family butcher shop. Kudos to Ms. Krotow--except for one fact, she nailed what it's like to live in a Polish family in a Polish town. She even got the cross-cultural marriages correct: int hat part of the country, and in my own family, several Poles married Italians, just like Lydia's Italian grandmother married her Polish grandfather. The one mistake: Poles do not eat meat on Holy Saturday, and the author has Lydia and her family eat lasagna that night; she specifically does not say meatless lasagna. It's a Polish thing: we don't eat meat Good Friday or Holy Saturday, and we don't eat meat Christmas Eve. Other than that, I could have sworn I was reading about my family and neighborhood in New Jersey. As to the mystery, it's not the hardest to solve, Minor typos: Chapter 1, it would be a cinch to do it, not a clutch to do it. Minor inconsistencies: Chapter 5: she's just found a dead body and for some reason, she thinks her family are the main suspects (there's no way in heck they are, despite the location of the dead body upon discovery, but again this is used as a weak ploy to get our amateur detective investigating), and all she can do is barely resist the urge to swivel in a vinyl chair? We get it, Ms. Krotow, you've got all the details right, you don't have to hit us over the head with actions like this that would make no sense to someone really panicking over fear of an imminent arrest. I also disliked her assumption that the reason she was being told she shouldn't investigate the murder was because she was a woman when it's because she's a civilian; again, another weak plot point in my eyes. But despite these and a few other little things, I enjoyed the book. It's so evocative of a time and place I know well, and remember fondly, that it was taking a time machine back with Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher. Recommended

New author for me. Loved reading this book. Had good memories reading it. My grandmother was the same way. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did