Food to Die For

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Have you ever thought about what you’d eat for your death row meal? I have, and let me tell you, it’s not a kale salad.

In no way am I dissing healthy food. My daughter works on an organic vegetable farm, and our family eats baked tofu cubes the way other people eat Pringles. But when it comes to food that fills your heart as well as your stomach, most of us want to indulge. Food is a way to connect with what makes us alive—the pleasure of a profound sensory experience that is available only to the living.

Sure, there are other ways to animate the human spirit. Dancing with your toddler in the living room. Sniffing the sweet scent of a rose petal. Watching Idris Elba punch a lion on the big screen. When you have big feelings, though, whether the elation of your best friend’s wedding or the agony of your first break-up, you eat them. You don’t smell your feelings or dance your feelings, you eat them.

It’s no wonder, then, that food mysteries have remained poised atop the bestseller lists for decades. The same way that a boot kick of lemony acid can cut through the cloying sweetness of a meringue, a little soupçon of corpse really livens up the scene in a culinary cozy. Think of these books as paintings. Food is the foreground, the thing that catches our eye, reminding us of the joys and pleasures of life. Death is the shadow that brings all the colors into sharper relief.

This deep connection between food and life and death makes food an appealing subject for cozy murder mysteries. The more indulgent the food, the more deeply it connects to the human soul. And those deep connections are why my most recent book, Six Feet Deep Dish, is set in a restaurant that specializes in depth—namely, Chicago-style deep-dish pizza.

Here are five more lighthearted mysteries sure to rank high on your decadently deadly reading list:

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette

Set in the Hallmark-movie-cute town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, this sweet mystery introduces Bronwyn Crewse, who reopens her family’s ice cream shop. Crewse Creamery serves up handmade ice cream flavors, some standout supporting characters, and a pleasingly tricky whodunit. Plus, it comes with recipes, including cherry chocolate chunk amaretto. Chocolate, ice cream, and booze in one recipe? Get in my belly!

The Bacon Burger Murder by Rosie A. Point

USA Today bestselling author Rosie A. Point fires up the grill with this tale of warring burger joints. Let me treat you to a line from the book’s opening paragraph, detailing the protagonist, P.I. Christie Watson’s, lunch: “crispy bacon over a burger patty smothered in melted cheese, trapped between two soft halves of a sesame speckled bun.” <<cue drooling>>

If you like my Deep Dish Mysteries, Point’s other series, set in a New York pizza parlor, will give you a taste of how that iconic regional pizza style pairs with a big, cheesy slice of murder.

Goodbye Cruller World by Ginger Bolton

A cute series, taken to the next level by amazingly punny book titles, a compelling backstory for the heroine, and the addition of a sweet kitty character named Deputy Donut. I’m also big on charming Wisconsin towns, having set my own series in a similar place. This book features a wedding catered with a wall of donuts. Did you read those words, people? WALL. OF. DONUTS.

If you can’t get enough of donut-themed mysteries, you should also check out Jessica Beck’s 57-book series, the Donut Shop Mysteries. (Yes, 57 books featuring everyone’s favorite ring-shaped sugar bomb. That is not a typo.)

Curses, Boiled Again!: A Lobster Shack Mystery by Shari Randall

This Agatha Award-winning mystery takes place in a quintessential New England town, and serves up that most quintessential of New England dishes—the buttery, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth lobster roll. The book’s plot, centered around a high-profile food competition, sets off at a quick pace, and the believable characters carry it forward from there. But the special sauce is the excellent writing and scrummy seafood descriptions.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Joanne Fluke wasn’t crowned the Queen of the Culinary Mystery for nothing. Each volume of her long-running Hannah Swensen series serves up decadence by the truckload. Fluke manages to keep the mysteries as fresh as the yummy treats Hannah serves in her Eden, Minnesota bake shop, The Cookie Jar. I struggled to choose just one for her books for this list, but if we’re talking pure decadence, putting white, milk, and dark chocolate layers in a cheesecake, has to take the, um, cake.

What would you choose for your last meal? Let us know in the comments!

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