A Side Dish of Death (Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries)
by T. C. LoTempio
About A Side Dish of Death
A Side Dish of Death (Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – Connecticut
Publisher : Beyond the Page Publishing (February 25, 2025)
Print length : 257 pages
Digital ASIN : B0DW4JDTH5
When a celebrity chef is murdered, Shell McMillan has to cook up a plan to trap the killer of a man for all seasonings . . .
With adopt-a-cat month in full swing in Fox Hollow, pet shop owner Shell McMillan decides that hosting a night of murder mystery dinner theater will be a fun way to raise funds for the cause. But she didn’t realize that the celebrity chef she’d hired for the event would turn out to be a tyrannical snob, or that her scoundrel of an ex-fiancé would turn up with his own shady agenda. Still, the show must go on, and as the lighthearted plot on-stage unfolds, the scene off-stage turns decidedly darker when the chef is found murdered.
Rather than question an entire roomful of possible suspects, Shell determines that looking into the victim’s past will lead her to the culprit more quickly. What she finds is that the chef had left behind a disreputable past and a trail of disgruntled people, including a long string of women he’d wronged and a host of others who may have been out for revenge. But as Shell closes in on the killer, the killer is closing in on her. And she’s discovering that while too many cooks can spoil the broth, being a murderer’s next target can really ruin your appetite . . .
Dollycas’s Thoughts
It was a dark and stormy night as residents of Fox Hollow gathered for a murder mystery dinner theater fundraiser for Adopt-a-Cat month at the Fox Hollow Inn. With a hurricane brewing outside and the roads flooding most of the ticket holders arrive but they may be spending more time at the inn than they planned. Shell’s mother Clarissa is in charge of the event and “pulled out all the stops” to bring in Chef Reynaldo Venery from the popular cable show Culinary Surprise to be in charge of the meal. He was not popular with the staff or anyone else at the inn for that matter. Shell had her own surprise when her ex-fiancé Patrick arrived at the event after receiving an invitation from her mother but that wasn’t the only reason he was there.
When the actors for the mystery theater part of the night are kept away due to the storm, Shell jumps in and finds guests ready to step into the roles. As the show plays in the dining room a real murder has been uncovered in a storage room. Chef Reynaldo Venery is dead. While the storm rages on Josh calls in reinforcements but Shell is already on the case and finds out the chef has left plenty of wronged, disgruntled, and unhappy people in his wake. She just needs to find out if any are stuck with everyone at the inn and try to stay one step ahead of them. She does not want to be the killer’s next target.
I love how cats were the focus of the event and that Purrday, Princess Fuzzypants, and Kahlua, were its ambassadors along with a visiting Ragdoll cat, Serendipity. There was also an adoption room with more cats including a little escape artist, the feisty Dahlia, who ended up having a pretty important role. Purrday and Princess Fuzzypants had their moments of heroism too.
In addition, to the wonderful felines, our favorites are back although they are all pretty busy trying to track down the killer. Shell’s ex-fiancé Patrick showing up added some drama and humor. The weather turned this into a closed-room mystery. The killer had to be at the inn. While Josh was working to follow the evidence Shell focused on researching the chef and potential suspects online. I was surprised by how much she found out and that during a hurricane didn’t crash the wi-fi. I had a suspect list of my own but someone was on my radar from the start, I just needed more backstory. So when the clues started to click and the showdown began I was thrilled that I was right. I was also happy with how the takedown went and how in the end all my questions were answered.
I did have one thing that gave me pause and just pestered me to the end. Phones were taken away from 2 characters and weren’t returned within the story but the phones were being used in later chapters. I am sure this was an editing error in the advance copies and hope it was corrected in the final book.
A Side Dish of Death was a charming cozy mystery filled with delightful cats and their people and friends. While I enjoy catching up with the humans in these stories the cats really do steal the show. Clarissa is already thinking about her next project and you know she believes wherever Shell and Gary are “the bodies naturally follow”. I am excited to see what these characters get into next.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to Beyond the Page Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
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About Toni Lotempio
While Toni Lotempio does not commit – or solve – murders in real life, she has no trouble doing it on paper. Her lifelong love of mysteries began early on when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew mystery at age 10 – The Secret in the Old Attic. She and her cat pen the Nick and Nora mystery series originally from Berkley Prime Crime and now with Beyond the Page Publishing. They also write the Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries and the Tiffany Austin Food Blogger Mysteries, also available from Beyond the Page. A new series, Cozy Bookshop Mysteries, debuts from Severn House in July. Catch up with them at ROCCO’s blog, www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com, or her website, www.tclotempio.net
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Also written by T.C. LoTempio
New Series!
Coming July 1, 2025
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