Dear Fellow Reader,

The holidays are rushing up on us. I knew this would happen; it always does. December is but a passing glance.

Do you listen to audiobooks? I might have talked about this before. I have a terrible time listening to fiction audiobooks. For some reason, non-fiction ones are fine but when I listen to fiction all I can think of is that I can read them faster. Yes, I know you can speed up the audio, but still. But I keep trying. Also, I didn’t know when I would listen to them. I know that people listen to them while doing all sorts of things around the house and garden, but I just don’t think of it. In December I am trying to make myself knit for 15 minutes a day. (I have several projects going and lots of yarn to use.) I decided to combine the two activities. I knit and I listen. So far it is going okay. I am not sure that I like the book that I picked. It is not horrible, but I keep wondering why there needs to be so much description. It is a book by an author that I have read before and liked. I think that when I read, I skim over parts but when I listen I hear it all.

Yes, I do end up knitting for longer than 15 minutes but by committing to 15 minutes a day, I might finish a few projects…

 Public Anchovy #1 by Mindy Quigley is the third in the Deep Dish Mysteries. I have reviewed the first two books ( Six Feet Deep Dish and Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust). I enjoyed them and enjoyed the newest book in the series. I was given a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Delilah O’Leary’s focus is on keeping her restaurant open. Winter is the slow season in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin. To keep going, she hopes to get catering jobs to supplement her restaurant business during the long winter. As the story opens, she is loading up to cater a party for le crème de la crème of Geneva Bay’s society. They are catering the Friends of the Library’s fundraising gala. The theme for the event is “Speakeasy Soiree”. Delilah is providing a menu of Chicago-themed food like Delilah’s signature deep-dish pizzas and Prohibition-era cocktails. The party is being held at Pam Philips’ house, which is located out on Bluff Point. (A key element – it is the house isolated out on a point.)

On the way to the party, Delilah receives a call from Isabel Barney, the head librarian, asking her to create and serve a “free from” pizza for one of the special guests. The pizza must be free from gluten, animal products, dairy, and no tomatoes. (Does she know what a pizza is, was the question.) This means that Delilah needs to make a stop at her house. Because of that stop, Delilah was picked up by Pam Philips’ boat and taken to her house. This throws her plans off and she is running late for the event. But her staff is at the house getting everything ready. When she gets to the kitchen and goes into the box to get her mixer, she finds the box empty. There is a mixer she can use in Pam’s kitchen but still, she finds it odd. Wouldn’t you have noticed that the box was empty on the way over in the boat?

The evening starts with drinks and canapes. Lola Capone, the mother of Delilia’s almost-boyfriend, Detective Calvin Capone, is the musical entertainment for the evening. Delilia goes out to check and see if all is going well and discovers that Calvin is his mother’s piano player. This is a surprise but Delilah decides just to ignore him and she will make it through. All is going well when the speeches start. And then a guest falls down the stairs and lands at the bottom of the staircase dead. Did he die from the fall? At the same time the party attendees are in shock from the body at the back of the room, a storm is raging outside. Most of the people who left right away get home but some of the party attendees are stuck in the house. A tree falls and blocks the driveway and with all the emergencies, the police cannot make it to the house until morning. As the night wears on, Delilah finds more and more suspicious things happening. There is another murder in the house and an attempted murder of Delilah’s best friend and sous chef. Can Delilah and Detective Capone solve the mysteries before everyone leaves in the morning when help arrives?

Another good cozy mystery by Mindy Quigley. Since I have read the books in order it is hard for me to say if reading them out of order would make a difference. I think it would as far as the almost romance of Delilah and Calvin goes. Also, many of the characters are the same (Delilah’s kitchen staff). I would suggest that you read them in order and that isn’t just my always-present desire to read all series in order.

Have a happy holiday season. I hope you find ways to make it last as long as possible.