Dominoes, danzón, and death

Never has a cozy mystery blended cooking, anthropology, and murder so perfectly. Miriam Quiñones-Smith hosts a Miami-based cooking show, but the delectable dishes will have to wait until she solves two mysteries--one involving bones from a construction site, and the other a murdered tour guide. Each case threatens someone she cares about, from her boss to her husband and his family. Anyone who enjoys series like TV's Bones will love the anthropological aspects of the novel, which feel well informed and realistic, down to the complicated politics surrounding the unethical treatment of Indigenous people's remains. The breadth of Reyes's fourth "Caribbean Kitchen Mystery" (following Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal) gives narrator Frankie Corzo space to let her talents shine. Corzo invites listeners fully into the community, from the dynamics of Miriam's biracial household to Florida's food scene and the messy academics of a local college. She even gets to perform the recipes at the end of the novel, creating a mouthwatering cooking show-like experience. VERDICT A delicious and fun cozy mystery. Listeners will want to take their own foodie adventures in southern Florida, feeling sure Miriam will have put away the crooks.--Matthew Galloway

A trio of threats disrupts a food anthropologist's "beautifully chaotic" life. Miriam Quiñones has developed several ways of meeting the challenges of living in a multicultural, multigenerational household. The "Spanish to Mami--English to Papi" rule helps ensure her children will grow up bilingual. Treats like cream cheese and guava pancakes give Manny and Sirena access to Caribbean foodways, and playing dominoes with Abuelo helps them learn Caribbean games. But juggling her job at UnMundo television network with the demands of her family can be a stretch, particularly when friends depend on her skills to solve a variety of puzzles. Within weeks, her husband, Robert, needs her help uncovering the source of a cache of bones unearthed at his country club construction site, her sister-in-law wants to know why a skeleton in board shorts washed up near a friend's house, and her mother-in-law needs help identifying the anonymous party who's sending her threatening letters. Worse, Delvis Ferrer, the director of Miriam's television show, is accused of killing a tour guide who tries to interfere with their taping. To cope with these multiple demands, Miriam adopts a strategy highly unusual among amateur sleuths: She turfs the murder investigation to the police, makes perfunctory jabs at the skeleton puzzle, and dodges her mother-in-law repeatedly. Her most concerted effort is unraveling the enigma of the bones, but even there, she devotes as much energy to fending off microaggressions as she does to solving the crime. A hodgepodge of history and mystery that leaves crime-solving in clear second place. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.