At Death's Dough by Mindy Quigley

Available: October 28, 2025

Rated: 5 strawberry tarts

Valentine's Day is here! Geneva Bay is basically a giant block of ice and Delilah is doing everything she can think of to drum up customers to get them through what remains of the slow winter season. Her plans to put on a romantic Valentine's Day dinner go a bit awry but when the local chamber comes up with the idea of doing a gangster themed town tour, Delilah thinks things might be looking up after all. To Delilah's dismay, talk of gangsters interests more people than she though it would and for all the wrong reasons.

I've really enjoyed this series. The setting is awesome, I feel completely transported to this beautiful lakeside town and it's so easy to lose myself in the story. There were also some legit belly laughs in this book. Even in situations where nothing funny is happening, there would be a humorous observation by the main character that made me laugh out loud. Another interesting thing about this book is a historic angle that involves doing genealogy research at the local historical society. I kind of wish there had been a bit more of that because it made for such a dramatic beginning of the story.

Delilah is a pretty unique main character, she's a control freak and she loses her crap every so often. There are times I find myself thinking she's kind of a jerk and then I realize, that's probably exactly what I would do in the same situation. Her imperfections make her so relatable and it makes me appreciate her friendships more too. Delilah can be a bear, but her friends love her anyway.

The mystery is tough to figure out. There are a lot of people who could potentially have had a motive, and when you think about what's happening there could be more than one different motive, each suggesting its own set of potential suspects. In the end though it all comes down to one specific piece of logic with points the finger directly at only one person. But does she figure this out before it's too late to stop them? Read this book and find out!

Thank you to Mindy Quigley, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.