Cozy mystery with good food descriptions, as always with this series. It felt a bit short, like things went by kind of fast and some stuff got lost in the mix, which is why the lower rating (

there wasn't really a resolution to her bf saying "I love you" for the first time... She just never says it back or even brings it up with him???

).

🎧  I like the narrator for this series. She does a good job with the material and the different voices are distinct.

🌶️ 0/5 These books never have any spice. They are decidedly cozy mysteries, nothing approaching romance. I can't remember if there's even any kissing. There is an implication that sex is happening off page at one point but that's it.

🏳️‍🌈✊ I love that there's just like, no white characters in the whole core group lol. They are a diverse lot, racially/culturally. Filipino, Latine, Korean, and (I can't remember which country🙈--they might not say in this book?--but it's a majority Brown and Muslim one). And the MC's best friends are lesbians. The mayor and her wife are queer too (

although there is always the problematic "kill your gays" aspect of one of them being the murder victim...

). They're also almost all pretty solid working middle class, small business owners but still have to hustle, types.