The Witless Protection Program by Maria DiRico

Title: The Witless Protection Program
Series: Catering Hall Mystery #5
Author: Maria DiRico
Source/Format: Purchased; Mass Market Paperback
More Details: Cozy Mystery
Publisher/Publication Date: Kensington; March 26, 2024

Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Mia Carina has steered her Italian-American family’s Astoria, Queens, catering hall, Belle View Banquet Manor, into becoming the borough’s premiere party site, and nothing could make her happier—except her boyfriend proposing. There’s just one presumed-dead obstacle in the way . . .

A strong, independent woman and respected entrepreneur, Mia never imagined she’d pine for a marriage proposal. Yet lately, with her beloved Shane, she’s on tenterhooks. It’s especially surprising, considering Mia’s first husband, Adam, was a philandering grifter, assumed lost-at-sea after a boating disaster. But everyone knows what happens when you assume . . . While working a huge wedding expo in Manhattan, Mia is shocked to spot the man who nearly destroyed her life. The one who’s supposed to be sleeping with the fishes. But she loses him in the crowd. And when it happens again the next day, it’s time for an emergency meeting with the family—and the Family . Because if Adam is alive, Mia is still married . . .Everyone wants Adam dead. Everyone except Mia. She’s dealt with enough police for a lifetime. Mia needs to be a divorcée, not a widow. But someone out there disagrees, and if Mia doesn’t discover who, she may never be free to marry Shane—or anyone else . . .

While compiling a list of 2025 books I wanted to read, I decided to check a couple of the series I was reading and discovered the next book of Maria DiRico’s Catering Hall Mystery series had come out in March of 2024. Titled The Witless Protection Program, it turned out to be the first book I read in the New Year.

The Witless Protection Program felt like a definitive conclusion. It began with a full circle kind of moment, essentially where (or with whom) the series started: with Mia spotting who she believed to be the husband who had vanished (and was presumed dead) after wrecking her life, which, if she was right, presented a variety of challenges for her future plans. As far as cozy mysteries go, it was a page-tuner. There was a lot of “why” and “how,” which needed to be answered, and DiRico did a good job of establishing the circumstances which brought these characters to this point—where tempers threatened to boil over with each new and terrible revelation of just who Mia had been entangled with. She had her family and a solid support system of people willing to go to bat for her as well as a partner who was always in her corner. And they were there every step of the way, as she navigated one of the more personal mysteries of the series. All the while, the story managed to bring together the other threads of the overarching plot and relationship arcs into a somewhat chaotic but also satisfying end.

As an aside, if you’re like me and interested in all of the delicious food the character ate, then you’ll find four recipes in the back of the book, including one for Ricotta Sugar Cookies.

 

The Friday 56 (252) & Book Beginnings: The Witless Protection Program by Maria DiRico

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. **Note: Freda @ Freda's Voice is taking a break from The Friday 56; Anne @Head is Full of Books is hosting for now.**

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Mia Carina has steered her Italian-American family’s Astoria, Queens, catering hall, Belle View Banquet Manor, into becoming the borough’s premiere party site, and nothing could make her happier—except her boyfriend proposing. There’s just one presumed-dead obstacle in the way . . .

A strong, independent woman and respected entrepreneur, Mia never imagined she’d pine for a marriage proposal. Yet lately, with her beloved Shane, she’s on tenterhooks. It’s especially surprising, considering Mia’s first husband, Adam, was a philandering grifter, assumed lost-at-sea after a boating disaster. But everyone knows what happens when you assume . . . While working a huge wedding expo in Manhattan, Mia is shocked to spot the man who nearly destroyed her life. The one who’s supposed to be sleeping with the fishes. But she loses him in the crowd. And when it happens again the next day, it’s time for an emergency meeting with the family—and the Family . Because if Adam is alive, Mia is still married . . .Everyone wants Adam dead. Everyone except Mia. She’s dealt with enough police for a lifetime. Mia needs to be a divorcée, not a widow. But someone out there disagrees, and if Mia doesn’t discover who, she may never be free to marry Shane—or anyone else . . .

Beginning: “Tavern on the Green was as lush and elegant as Mia always dreamed it would be.”

56: “Mia emitted a furious growl. She then ran down the back stairs, brandishing the bat.”

Comments: My first read of 2024 was Maria DiRico's The Witless Protection Program. This is still one of my favorite cozy mystery series. What are you reading this week?

Music Monday (309): Tennis, ALT BLK ERA, Al Green

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: A number of great songs released last week, like Lady Gaga's Abracadabra for example. One of the other ones that I happened to like was Weight of Desire by Tennis. I love everything about it including the visual style of the music video.

Adri: As I thought I would, I've been enjoying ALT BLK ERA's new album, Rave Immortal. My pick for today is Hunt You Down.

Andrea: Hi all. This week I'm listening to Lets Stay Together by Al Green. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

What I've Been Listening To: November and December 2024

Since I took an extended break at the end of 2024, it’s a given that I’ve accumulated something of a backlog of music, which I haven’t written about yet. So this post is overdue.

Tempest is new to my playlist, but she’s an artist I intend to watch. I adored her EP, The Ranch. Its R&B through and through combined with some pop and rap (particularly on the titular track) with some lyrics about relationships and self-worth (Worthy, Don’t Need You, etc.).

Then I was in the mood for hyper-pop and pop with a dreamy ethereal vibe so I checked out a couple of albums and a collaborative EP. First was My Twee Monsters by Tracey Brakes. This one ticked all the boxes with the exact vibe I was looking for with heavily autotuned vocals and upbeat, almost chaotic beats. Then I got the dreamy music I wanted with Night Tapes’s album, Assisted Memories. There was something soft almost grainy about the style, which made me think of old films—an impression which was furthered by the visuals and artwork—while the themes of the songs went much deeper and were often contemplative. And, switching back to hyper-pop (and rock) I listened to Soul Kiss by Frost Children and Haru Nemuri. Honestly, Soul Kiss was one of my favorite collaboration EPs of 2024. The artists’ styles and vocals meshed really well here, and my only gripe is that I wish it was longer.

Up next, I listened to Mars Argo’s EP: I Can Only Be Me. It only had three songs, but I loved all of them. If you know anything about this artists, then this collection of music will feel very relevant.

And last, but certainly not least, SZA released the deluxe edition of SOS before 2024 was over. Lana was excellent. It added an additional fifteen songs and, tonally, was different from SOS. It was cohesive, but not repetitive. It didn’t stray too far from what I’ve come to expect from SZA, but everything was done well and with creativity, making it a fun foray/return to SOS. And, oh man, did I love every second of it.

The new singles added to my playlist include: Best Friends by Banks, Obsessed by Olivia Rodrigo, Lizard People by Chi featuring Deto Black and Mowalola, Don’t Smile and Bed Chem by Sabrina Carpenter, In the Morning by Dorian Electra, and Need Dat Boy by Lil Nas X .

Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986)

I’m not a ballet aficionado, but I enjoy them from time to time. That being said, few movies make me think of winter and the holidays as much as the various recordings and retellings of The Nutcracker. There was this one version, though, the motion picture—as the title proclaims—released in 1986, which I watched, paused, and then resumed watching almost an entire year later with my co-blogger, Adri.

Nutcracker: The Motion Picture is fun. Because it’s not a stage production, it does interesting things with its lighting, the angle of the camera, the transitions between the scenes (the switch between perspectives, the shrinking and growing). There’s no audience, but the grownup version of Clara is the narrator. It’s on the stage, but it’s clearly a motion picture with that format in mind. But it also holds onto its influences, with set backgrounds and moving aspects designed with a distinctive (and flat) illustrative quality. The character’s don’t speak, but instead tell the story through dance and expression.

Again, I’m no aficionado, I’m just a viewer, and this is my opinion. Have you watched Nutcracker: The Motion Picture?