Long Island Iced Tina

art-theft, family-dynamics, murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, small-business, restaurant, Italian-customs, the-mob, verbal-humor, situational-humor***** Take a dramatic Italian family in Queens and stir in some mob connections, a step-mother from the pit, a late pregnancy cousin, art theft, murder, and you get a hilarious cozy mystery. This one works perfectly as a stand alone and anything more being said would be overkill as well as in spoiler territory. Laughed my way through it! I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

I have really been looking forward to Long Island Iced Tina, the second book in Maria diRico's new Catering Hall Mystery series and it did not disappoint. I found myself cheering Mia on in her investigation and booing several of the suspicious characters that she encountered in her complex search to clear her best friend's father of murder charges. The victim, his second wife Tina, was such a flagrant narcissist and jerk that no one was too concerned with her death but the negative publicity murder near the catering hall could cause had already peaked Mia's concern even before Ron's arrest. As always, humor and warmth bring balance to the danger and Maria DiRico in both author personna's (Ellen Byron was already one of my cozy authors favorites when this series came out.) can turn intensity to outright laughter through her depiction of these senior New Jersey Italian ladies or with Mia's newest endeavor, learning to drive. Poor Jaimie. Time at the catering hall is always interesting whether through the special people who work there or through Mia's interaction with the newest hire, the incompetent son of one of the area mafia heads. The complexity of the background of the murder almost had my head spinning but it also held my attention throughout this unputdownable tale. I requested an ARC from NetGalley and am excited to share how much I enjoyed it. I am already looking forward to the next book in the series!