by Cynthia Chow & Mindy Quigley

This week we have a review and giveaway of the latest Deep Dish Pizza Mystery by Mindy Quigley, along with some fun holiday recipes from Mindy. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase it from Amazon.

Sleep in Heavenly Pizza: A Deep Dish Pizza Mystery by Mindy Quigley
Review by Cynthia Chow

Despite Delilah O’Leary’s vow to never again cater an event offsite after a rather traumatizing murder, the money to provide a variety of noshes for Adrian and Daffi Hoffman’s Chrismukkah house party was just too good to resist. So that’s why Delilah & Son pizzeria is at one of the glitziest properties in Geneva Bay’s resort when one of the guests seems to go missing, only to be found later buried in the middle of the town’s snowman building contest. Even before the death, Delilah was already feeling a bit bah-humbug, as her sister Shea had once again declined an invitation to visit while their usually cranky aunt revs into over-the-top Wisconsin holiday cheer. Delilah is therefore completely off guard when she unexpectedly meets her brother-in-law and niece at the Chrismukkah party, and that was even before Jonathan Savage becomes a person-of-interest in the case. Delilah’s boyfriend Calvin Capone being the investigating lead detective only makes things more uncomfortable, especially since she is still disappointed that he hadn’t even asked if she would spend the holidays with his family on a Christmas cruise.

It seems that they’re not the only ones overdue for long-overdue discussions though, as everyone seems to be keeping secrets. Delilah overhears Delilah & Son’s back-of-the-house-everything-else employee Rabbit Blakemore having a rather combative conversation with one of the hosts of the Chrismukkah party, while Jonathan also seems to have too close a relationship with Daffi Hoffman. Her daughter Hadley, the sorority big “sister” of Delilah’s niece, is aggressively flirtatious with the pizzeria’s bartender, whom their hostess had been inching toward making a move on for months. There’s not a lot of good cheer going on, which is why Delilah doesn’t hesitate to use her Trojan Horse chicken soup to coax out information from the police department and an assortment of suspects.

This fourth in the series juggles its abundance of characters skillfully, all while keeping the main plot moving forward to a satisfying end. Taking place during the holidays, these Wisconsin characters must deal with family reunions that are often fraught with tensions that should be resolved with mature conversations but rarely ever are. Rest assured that ultimately Delilah and her pizzeria family do resolve their issues as befitting the season, enhanced more than a little by good food and friends. Delilah continues to evolve as a character and much is revealed about her through her interactions with her relatives. This is the perfect read for the holidays, filled with Wisconsin traditions and snowy activities. Those looking for a cozy, food-filled, and very seasonal read will delight in this entertaining, well-written mystery.

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

Cynthia Chow is the branch manager of Kaneohe Public Library on the island of Oahu. She balances a librarian lifestyle of cardigans and hair buns with a passion for motorcycle riding and regrettable tattoos (sorry, Mom).

Holiday Recipes (from Sleep in Heavenly Pizza)
by Mindy Quigley

Tear-and-Share Christmas Tree Pizza Bread

Not everyone celebrates Christmas, but no matter your background or religious affiliation, the people of the world are united by a common love of melted cheese. Hence, we developed a crowd-pleasing holiday recipe that’s essentially pizza, but in a festive guise. At Delilah & Son, we always have extra pizza dough knocking around, but if you’re making this at home, you can use any brand of good-quality pre-made dough.

It may seem strange that I’m recommending using mozzarella sticks for this—the kind you put in a kid’s lunchbox—instead of some fancy artisanal cheese. But for this recipe, you want to keep the moisture level low so the dough balls stay crispy.

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 40 mins

Ingredients
· 7 mozzarella sticks
· 1 pound refrigerated pizza dough
· Egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 tbsp water)

Tear-and-Share Christmas Tree Pizza Bread

· 1/4 cup melted butter
· 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
· 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
· 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
· 1 tablespoon fresh basil, cut into a thin chiffonade
· Marinara, warmed (for serving)

Instructions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 450°. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut mozzarella sticks into 1-inch pieces and set aside. If you’re me, you’ll need one extra mozzarella stick so that you can peel off some cheese strands, drape them over your top lip, and walk around the kitchen pretending you have a cheese mustache until Delilah notices and tells you to get back to work.
Step 2
On a floured surface, divide pizza dough into two equal pieces. Stretch and roll each piece of dough into a long rectangle, then cut the dough into 2-inch squares (you’ll need 30–35 squares).
Step 3
Wrap a dough square around each piece of mozzarella, forming a tightly sealed ball. Arrange the balls seam-side down on the baking sheet in the shape of a Christmas tree. You can, of course, make other shapes if you prefer. What you do with your balls in the privacy of your kitchen is your own business and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Brush egg wash on those doughy little balls and bake them until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.
Step 4
Meanwhile, whisk together the melted butter, Parmesan, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Brush your balls again! This time with the butter mixture. Sprinkle the basil on top. It’s important to serve this warm so that the cheese will have maximum gooeyness. Add a side of marinara for dipping.

Sonya’s Bubbe Ilene’s Imperfectly Perfect Latkes

No Hanukkah celebration would be complete without latkes, aka potato pancakes. Like a lot of grandmas, bubbe Ilene never measures, unless you count “handfuls” and “pinches” and “schmears” as measurements. The most important part in this recipe isn’t getting the quantities perfect, it’s eating and enjoying the latkes with your friends and family.

Step 1
Take a lot of potatoes and some onions; shred them in the food processor. Mix them with a couple of eggs, some flour, some salt, in no particular order.
Step 2
Drain it all in a colander and squeeze out excess liquid before frying them in oil. A lot of oil.
Step 3
Blot on paper towels to get rid of extra oil.
Step 4
Serve with sour cream or apple sauce (or both). Eat. Enjoy.
Step 5
Call your mother. She wants to know how you’re doing.

To enter to win a copy of Sleep in Heavenly Pizza, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “heavenly pizza” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen December 21, 2024. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify.

Mindy Quigley is the author of two lighthearted mystery series. Her latest, the Deep Dish Mysteries (Minotaur-St. Martin’s Press) was a Woman’s World book club pick and has been featured in Parade magazine. She lives in small-town Virginia with her Civil War history professor husband and their children.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.