A Room with a Pew (Lucille Mystery) by Peg Cochran

Book four in the Lucille Mystery Series continues with the laughs in this cute cozy series that features a mature Italian-American woman and her extended family and friends.  Lucille follows in the footsteps of her namesake, Lucille Ball, and teams up with her Ethel, best buddy Flo, to get into all sorts of crazy adventures, all with the goal of solving a murder mystery.

The folksy narrative voice is from Lucille's perspective (3rd person limited narration), and the humor comes mainly from her sarcastic tone, silent prayers to saints, eternal dieting attempts, and a penchant for stealing vehicles of all shapes and sizes.  Don't take any of it seriously, despite the author putting in one medical problem, here and there, specific to mature readers.

 Book One

This is book four in the Lucille Mystery Series.  Here are all the books to date in the series:

1. Confession is Murder
2. Unholy Matrimony
3. Hit and Nun (Reviewed on this site)
   
4. A Room with a Pew

Book Two

A Room with a Pew (the title is cute but it has very little to do with the story) begins on Thanksgiving day with Lucille catering the holiday dinner for her family and friends.  Lucille is proud of her ability to handle the busy holiday:

...she may not be one of them executive types she read about in magazines all the time who wear pantsuits to work and order their lunch from fancy restaurants, but she knew how to roast a turkey and she knew how to care for her family.

Book Three

She is also proud of her ability to sort out criminals and crimes, despite always landing in a heap of trouble with her friend Flo.  The bad guys in this book are particularly bad, and the ladies have some very close scrapes to escape from.  There are family problems to deal with along the way, of course, in her working class family.

The series is a light read not just because of the humor.  The writing is kept simple with lots of dialog and minimal description.  There is a regular cast of characters, but the author is very good at bringing the reader up to speed on them, in case you haven't read the other books in the series, or you've read them a long while ago.

The author's other cute cozy mystery series - Gourmet De-Lite

From the book's description, A Room with a Pew:

Lucille Mazzarella is back, and this time she’s investigating the murder of her own poor cousin Louis. Tracking down a killer might lead the fifty-something housewife into the clutches of a Godfather she never wanted to meet.

When Lucille discovers the body of her cousin Louis in the church parking lot, her first thought is that he may have skipped one service too many, but when the cops shock her with the news that Louis was killed by a professional hit man, she realizes the Almighty had nothing to do with the deed.

Even more shocking is the discovery that the victim, who never had a penny to his name, had socked away a huge wad of cash. As Lucille and her best friend Flo follow the money trail, it leads them from a seedy strip joint to a high-stakes gambling ring and all the way to the mob.

As the thugs close in and threaten to end Lucille’s detecting days for good, she’s tempted to give in to the most dangerous crooks she’s ever faced, but then she remembers she’s got a little family thing of her own that means more.

Here is a direct link to the book at Amazon.com

Please visit the author's website.  Follow the author on Facebook.

The Wedding Soup Murder (Italian Kitchen Mystery) by Rosie Genova

Victoria, the Italian-American protagonist of this cozy-murder-mystery series, is back home with her family in New Jersey.  She's been put to work in the family restaurant, next to her ex-lover, and under the stern eye of her Nonna, her Italian-immigrant grandmother.

She crossed her arms, pressing her lips together in a tight red line of warning.  It was a line I knew better than to cross.

...if Nonna sensed weakness, she'd zero in for the kill

This is the second book in the Italian Kitchen Mystery Series.

1. Murder and Marinara (reviewed on this site)
2. The Wedding Soup Murder

 The first book in the series is reviewed on this site, too.

The series looks set to continue, and that is no surprise.  The books are well-written and well-edited, and hit all the right notes for the genre.  We have a murder mystery lightened by some humor and a bit of romance.  The setting is refreshing, and Victoria's Italian-American family is fun to spend some time with.

The family's restaurant is centrally located in a beach community, a community peppered with Italian-Americans and Italian food.

The summer season was in full swing as Tim and I headed out of our small beach town of Oceanside Park.  It was a Saturday in July, and thousands of families had begun their yearly pilgrimage to the shore.

We are expertly introduced to the various characters who will later make up the murder victim and suspects.  The country-club setting and the busy kitchen provide many unique characters, and plenty of moments for fun.  All the characters ring true.

Victoria, a single thirty-something novelist, is torn, just like in the first book, between her feelings for her ex-lover and her anger at how he betrayed her in the past.  Their interplay is entertaining, with some snappy dialog.  Victoria is also pursued by a mysterious, hot carpenter.  I'm not a big fan of long drawn-out will-they-won't-they storylines that run over several books, so I'm hoping this storyline will be decided one way or another soon. 

Our protagonist narrates the story, with hindsight, tempting us with nuggets of information, forewarning us of events to come.  She has a dry humor, and is not adverse to laughing at herself.  Victoria has a writer's curiosity about people and events, which gets her into trouble, of course. 

Her sounding board and co-amateur detective is her sister-in-law.  She is also the one who goes on Victoria's adventures with her, getting into difficult scrapes, and landing in sometimes very dangerous situations.

Curious about Italian Wedding Soup?  Here is a two-minute lesson on how to make it:

These books are not heavy literature.  They are light, fun reads, cute-cozies, but with a few tear-tugging parts here and there.  I think the books might be most enjoyable for those who live in the area where the books are set, or who have family members who have something in common with Victoria's family.

As an extra bonus, the author includes three recipes of dishes mentioned in the book:  Wedding Soup, Beef Ragu, and Ricotta Cookies.

From the book's description (spoilers!):

Victoria Rienzi came home to the Jersey Shore to write a new book, learn the family restaurant business, and practice the fine art of Italian cooking. But when delicious dishes are paired with murder, Vic has a little too much on her plate…

When Vic asked her nonna for more responsibility in the kitchen, she didn’t mean forming a thousand tiny meatballs by hand for the family’s famous wedding soup. The dish is to be served at the reception for a close family friend at the exclusive Belmont Country Club. And once there Vic has to deal with a demanding bridezilla and clashes in the kitchen—between the staff and servers, between two egocentric head chefs, and between the country club president and…well…everyone.

The wedding comes off without a hitch—until the body of the club’s president is found on the beach below a high seawall. Now Vic will need to use her noodle to find out who pushed whom too far…before she’s the one who lands in the soup!

The Italian Kitchen Mystery Series is published by Obsidian, a Penguin Group USA subsidiary that specializes in cozy mysteries.

Direct link to The Wedding Soup Murder at Penguin

Here are direct links to The Wedding Soup Murder and Murder and Marinara at Amazon.com:

Visit the author's website, and her Facebook Page.

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

Murder and Marinara (Italian Kitchen Mystery) by Rosie Genova

Murder and Marinara is the first book in The Italian Kitchen Mystery Series, a cozy-murder-mystery and romance series set on the Jersey Shore, in the state of New Jersey in the United States. 

The series' protagonist is Victoria Renzi, whose pen-name is Vick Reed.  Vic has a pen-name because she is the author of a series of cozy-murder-mysteries that feature the amateur sleuth Bernardo Vitali.  Vic is our first-person narrator of the book, guiding us through her adventure with a dry sense of humor.

Vic's family is Italian-American.  They have owned and run a family restaurant, Casa Lido, in a New Jersey seaside community for two generations, and hope to have a third generation take over the business.  But Vic and her brother, a local policeman, have other ideas.

The book starts quickly, expertly setting the scene, and introducing us to the various characters in the Renzi family, and to people linked with the family restaurant.  After eight years living and writing in New York City, Vic returns home to research a book.  She must face not only her high-pressure family, but her ex-lover, too.

The matriarch of the family is Nonna, grandmother, who is the eighty-year-old founder of Casa Lido.  Nonna is a formidable woman, who resembles her strong-minded grand-daughter, leading to many fun clashes between the two women. 

Vic understands her Nonna, as she tells her supportive brother, Danny:

I don't need a translator, Danny.  I am well versed in Nonna-ese.

And even Nonna's silences are well-understood by Vic:

Nonna stared out the the front window, no doubt putting a curse on Parisi.

Vic grits her teeth in the face of her tough Nonna, but Vic has enough self-understanding to admit that Vic has an "inner Nonna" herself.

The Renzi family jumps off the pages with life, easy to visualize and easy to understand.  If you are from that area of the world, you will probably enjoy the story even more, since the locations and people will be instantly recognizable to you.

The story moves along swiftly.  It is a solid, by-the-book, cozy-murder-mystery:  clean, fun, comforting, with light humor and light romance.The murder that occurs is a disaster for the Renzis so Vic gets involved in the investigation to help her family.  Vic questions suspects, ruminates on the case with a side-kick, and eventually resolves the case with an exciting finish.

What is not resolved at the end of the book is Vic's love-life, which true-to-life, is more difficult to resolve than murder.  Vic is not lacking in interesting, handsome men to complicate her life, but the reader will have to wait for the next book in the series to see if any man will get more than a foot in the door with cautious Vic.

Murder and Marinara is full of lots of love for the Jersey Shore and for Italian food and for Italian-American culture, which is why I requested a review-copy.  There are even recipes at the end of the book, including the titular Marinara Sauce.  This is a book for Italophile cozy-enthusiasts!

From the book's description, which gives a bit too much away:

Hit whodunit writer Victoria Rienzi is getting back to her roots by working at her family’s Italian restaurant. But now in between plating pasta and pouring vino, she’ll have to find the secret ingredient in a murder....

When Victoria takes a break from penning her popular mystery series and moves back to the Jersey shore, she imagines sun, sand, and scents of fresh basil and simmering marinara sauce at the family restaurant, the Casa Lido.  But her nonna’s recipes arent the only things getting stirred up in this Italian kitchen.

Their small town is up in arms over plans to film a new reality TV show, and when Victoria serves the show’s pushy producer his last meal, the Casa Lido staff finds itself embroiled in a murder investigation.  Victoria wants to find the real killer, but there are as many suspects as tomatoes in her nonna’s garden.  Now she’ll have to heat up her sleuthing skills quickly…before someone else gets a plateful of murder.

First in a new series!

RECIPES INCLUDED!

Book 2 in The Italian Kitchen Series is Wedding Soup Murder.  Here is the book's description, which has spoilers:

Victoria Rienzi came home to the Jersey Shore to write a new book, learn the family restaurant business, and practice the fine art of Italian cooking.  But when delicious dishes are paired with murder, Vic has a little too much on her plate…

When Vic asked her nonna for more responsibility in the kitchen, she didn’t mean forming a thousand tiny meatballs by hand for the family’s famous wedding soup.  The dish is to be served at the reception for a close family friend at the exclusive Belmont Country Club.  And once there Vic has to deal with a demanding bridezilla and clashes in the kitchen—between the staff and servers, between two egocentric head chefs, and between the country club president and…well…everyone!

The wedding comes off without a hitch—until the body of the club’s president is found on the beach below a high seawall.  Now Vic will need to use her noodle to find out who pushed whom too far…before she’s the one who lands in the soup!

RECIPES INCLUDED!

The Italian Kitchen Mystery Series is published by Obsidian, a Penguin Group USA subsidiary that specializes in cozy mysteries.

Direct link to Murder and Marinara at Penguin

Here are direct links to Murder and Marinara at Amazon.com:

Visit the author's website, and her Facebook Page.


Here is E-How's 90 second guide to making Marinara Sauce (I think Nonna would approve):

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.