Murder in the Upper Crust

Pizza chef and detective Delilah returns in Murder in the Upper Crust, the sixth Deep Dish Mystery, a detective series set around her pizzeria in a Wisconsin vacation spot. (I previously covered the third book, Public Anchovy #1.) I found this one of the best of the series, possibly because the recurring supporting cast is trimmed down a bit. Delilah comes to better accept how she handles things personally as she copes with a new chief of police (who’s hilariously Wisconsin) the lack of time alone with her police officer boyfriend her best friend’s concern over introducing her girlfriend to her controlling mother the return of her tech-bro ex and his new flame and oh, yeah, a wellness influencer who’s a patronizing con artist (but I repeat myself). Someone is found dead in a poison garden where a wellness retreat is being held, while everyone was meditating in individual domed pods. It’s a very modern take on the old-school house party setup familiar to cozy mystery readers. The girlfriend/mother storyline isn’t as fleshed out as I would have hoped, but the mystery is intriguing, with plenty of villains and twists. It kept my interest throughout, and the food sounds delicious, as a...