Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust | Mindy Quigley | Cozy Mystery Review

After reading the first book in Mindy Quigley’s Deep Dish Mystery series, I couldn’t pass up book 2! If you’re new to cozy mysteries, check out my post on Cozy Mystery 101 where I talk about what cozy mysteries are and why I think they are one of the most approachable and inclusive genres for readers of a variety of preferences! You get all the intrigue of a murder mystery, without the darkness.

About the Book | Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust

Setting

The Deep Dish Mystery series is culinary cozy series, and it always includes recipes (which a fun twist in how they are presented that I don’t want to spoil!) at the end. Set in the fictional town of Geneva Bay, Wisconsin (though I’m convinced this is based on Lake Geneva and Williams Bay, Wisconsin, which is an area I am very familiar with as my dad has a place there), you will fall in love with the lakeside community and especially the leading lady, Delilah O’Leary!

Background on the Series

Having lived and worked in restaurants in Chicago, Delilah moved to be closer to her elderly aunt Biz and open a Chicago-style pizzeria in Geneva Bay. In the previous book Six Feet Deep Dish, we saw Delilah open her pizzeria while going through the end of her engagement to her ex-fiancé Sam (plus dealing with a murder). We were also introduced to the handsome detective, Calvin Capone!

Plot Overview

In Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust, Delilah is working hard to keep her pizzeria in Geneva Bay afloat after she broke up with her fiancé (and the financier of the restaurant) Sam a few months prior. The end-of-summer Taste of Wisconsin festival is the perfect way to bring in some loyal customers, particularly among locals who will hopefully frequent the restaurant all winter long.

Delilah is working hard to perfect her recipe, which is a play on local Wisconsin culinary delights—bratwurst, cheddar, and pretzel crust. Her best friend and co-owner is getting a bit tired of tasting each new version of the pizza, but both are determined to show up the contest. Winning would get her publicity she needs, but the cash prize wouldn’t hurt when it comes to financing payroll!

Meanwhile her ex, Sam, has found a new love interest Jordan, the owner of a healthy juice bar in town. Jordan is also entering the contest. Meanwhile, Sam and Delilah are still working out how to best share custody of Butterball, the cat they both love. But while Delilah tries to perfect her recipe, she notices her aunt Biz seems more unhappy than usual. Why is she pushing Delilah away?

Delilah barely has time to worry about that because someone gets poisoned at the juice bar by a tainted smoothie, and someone close to Delilah’s crew is the prime suspect. Accusations fly, suspects are everywhere, and Delilah needs to get to the bottom of it all before another person gets murdered!

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My Thoughts

I loved the first book in the series, but I actually thought this one was even better. Delilah is settling into her new life, single, owning a business, caring for her aunt, and trying to work out how to grow from the end of her relationship. The staff of her pizzeria is a bit less prominent in this book, and while I missed them, I was glad to spend more time with Delilah and seeing her grow as a character.

The first book spent a lot of time establishing the fictional town and dynamics among the central characters. This allowed the second book the breathing room to lean more heavily into the mystery. We were introduced to a few new characters, and the setting with the Tase of Wisconsin coming up and the celebrity judge (who happened to have an unpleasant history with Sonya) was a lot of fun.

The juxtaposition between Delilah and her cheesy, meaty, buttery deep dish fare with Jordan’s green smoothie empire was really interesting. Delilah handles the new love interest for Sam like a champ, doing her best to support her business (and try to like kale juice) and also respect their relationship. All of this is reflected in Butterball, who despite Sam’s diet plan (and Delilah attempting to follow it), doesn’t seem to be helping Butterball at all. In fact, he’s still packing on the pounds and is grumpier than usual!

The mystery had lots of twists and turns and stayed light and breezy. Quigley adds her signature humor throughout and I found myself laughing along with the characters multiple times. We definitely had some good red herrings. I’ve been enjoying the small bits of mafia tie-ins throughout the series. It’s a nice callback to Chicago history (and maybe current events…). I wasn’t sure who the culprit would be, and I liked that finding out the motive helped everything snap into place. I also really enjoy the dynamic between Detective Capone and Delilah. It isn’t over the top, or unrealistic. It never overshadows the main mystery, it compliments it.

With a dash of mafia activity, an unhappy cat on a diet, and some interesting storylines around Delilah’s aunt Biz and her evolving post-break-up relationship with Sam—this book had my heart! I also loved seeing how Delilah and her best friend and employee Sonya worked together and came up with their recipe for the festival.

A must-read culinary cozy mystery!

About the Author | Mindy Quigley

Mindy Quigley is the author of two cozy mystery series: the Deep Dish Mysteries and the Mount Moriah Mysteries.

Her short stories have won awards, including the 2018 Artemis Journal/Lightbringer Prize. Her non-writing career has been stranger than fiction, taking her from the US to the UK, where she worked as the personal assistant to the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep, and as project manager for a research clinic founded by the author J.K. Rowling.

She lives in Virginia, with her Civil War history professor husband, their children, and their idiosyncratic miniature Schnauzer.

• Listen to an interview with Mindy on The Cozy Corner
• Listen to an interview with Mindy on Get Cozy Podcast
• Watch an interview with Mindy on Write Around the Corner

About Book 1 | Six Feet Deep Dish

Fresh mozzarella, tangy tomato sauce, and the perfect recipe for a delicious first entry in Mindy Quigley’s Six Feet Deep Dish, a delectable new series…

Delilah O’Leary can’t wait to open her new gourmet deep-dish pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin―a charming resort town with a long history as a mobsters’ hideaway, millionaires’ playground, and vacation mecca. Engaged to a hunk with a hefty trust fund, Delilah is poised to begin a life that’s just about as delicious as one of her cheesy creations.

Just before opening night, though, Delilah’s plans for pizza perfection hit the skids when her fiancé dumps her and leaves her with a very large memento from their relationship―Butterball, their spoiled, plus-sized tabby cat.

Delilah’s trouble deepens when she discovers a dead body and finds her elderly aunt holding the murder weapon. Handsome local police detective Calvin Capone, great grandson of the legendary gangster, opens an investigation, threatening to sink Delilah’s pie-in-the-sky ambitions before they can even get off the ground. To save her aunt and get her pizza place generating some dough, Delilah must deliver the real killer.

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Thanks to St Martin’s Press for my copy. Opinions are my own.