Our Thoughts Precisely: Four Parties and a Funeral

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Four Parties and a Funeral by Maria DiRico

Title: Four Parties and a Funeral

Series: Catering Hall Mystery #4
Author: Maria DiRico
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Cozy Mystery
Publisher/Publication Date: Kensington; March 28, 2023

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Agatha Award-winning author Maria DiRico returns with the fourth book in the Catering Hall Mystery Series, starring Mia Carina who is coming to grips with being back in Astoria, Queens, and running her Italian-American family's catering hall, Belle View Banquet Manor but a TV casting call is about to put murder in the spotlight . . .

The June events schedule at Belle View is busting out all over--proms, graduations, and of course, weddings. There are unexpected bookings too, including a casting call for the pilot of Dons of Ditmars Boulevard. But soon, Mia's fears about the cheesy reality show are confirmed . . .Belle View quickly becomes the site of a sea of wanna-be goombahs and phony girlfriends, and some of Mia's friends insist on getting in on the action. The production company owner and his executive producer ex-wife--who's also very minor British royalty--have assembled a motley crew that does as much infighting and backstabbing as the on-screen "talent." Even so, it's a shock when a dead body is found in the pool house of a local mansion rented by the show . . .Murder might boost the ratings. But Mia intends to make sure the killer gets jail time, not airtime . . .

One of the cozy mysteries I was anticipating this year was Maria DiRico’s Four Parties and a Funeral. It’s the follow-up to It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder, which was one of my favorite reads of 2021. That book…I adored the characters, the mystery was engrossing, and, generally, I had a great time with it. And, so far, its sequel is one of my favorite reads of 2023.

Four Parties and a Funeral picks up after the events of It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder. The holidays are over, it’s June, and the familiar cast and crew of Belle View (a catering hall)—Mia, Shane, Ravello, Cammie, and others—are busy. However, they quickly get embroiled in the over-the-top hijinks of reality show filming with a side of murder. I liked the way the story gradually built up to the mystery as well as the actual introduction of the crime. It was seamless. By then, there were a handful of characters who had the potential to be a suspect, because the situation was, for the most part, tense and competitive—especially between the cast of the show as well as the production team behind the camera. Added to all of that, the book also delved into the various relationships between the usual cast, giving each one some time to develop further. And I was pleased by how those aspects were sprinkled throughout the story, heightening the emotional stakes alongside the present danger.

Maria DiRico really delivered with another witty and entertaining story—full of the same charm, family drama, and sleuthing as its predecessor.

About the author....

Maria DiRico (the pen name of award-winning author Ellen Byron) was born in Queens, New York, and raised in Queens and Westchester County. She is first-generation Italian American on her mother’s side. On her father’s side, her grandfather was a low-level Jewish mobster who disappeared in 1933 under mysterious circumstances. While growing up in Queens, Maria/Ellen's cousins ran the Astoria Manor and Grand Bay Marina catering halls.

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