Catering Hall Mystery

After her philandering husband's boat went down, newly single Mia Carina went back to Astoria, the bustling Queens neighborhood of her youth. Living with her nonna and her oversized cat, Doorstop, she's got a whole new life-including some amateur sleuthing . . . Mia is starting work at Belle View, her father's catering hall, a popular spot for weddings, office parties, and more-despite the planes that occasionally roar overhead on their way to LaGuardia and rattle the crystal chandelier. Soon she's planning a bachelor party for a less-than-gentlemanly groom. But it goes awry when the gigantic cake is wheeled in and a deadly surprise is revealed . . . Since some of her family's associates are on the shady side, the NYPD wastes no time in casting suspicion on Mia's father. Now, Mia's going to have to use all her street smarts to keep him out of Rikers Island . . .

In the second installment of Maria DiRico's new Catering Hall Mystery series, Mia Carina is back in the borough of Queens, in charge of the family catering hall Belle View Banquet Manor, and keeping her nonna company. But some events-like murder at a shower-are not the kind you can schedule . . . Mia's newly pregnant friend Nicole plans to hold a shower at Belle View-but Nicole also has to attend one that her competitive (and mysteriously rich) stepmother, Tina, is throwing at the fanciest place in Queens. It's a good chance for Mia to snoop on a competitor, especially since doing a search for "how to run a catering hall" can get you only so far. Mia tags along at the lavish party, but the ambience suffers at Nicole's Belle View shower when a fight breaks out-and then, oddly, a long-missing and valuable stolen painting is unwrapped by the mom-to-be. Tina is clearly shocked to see it. But not as shocked as Mia is when, soon afterward, she spots the lifeless body of a party guest floating in the marina . . .

Astoria, Queens, is decorated within an inch of its life for the Christmas season, and Mia Carina is juggling her job at the Belle View catering hall with a case of murder... Mia's busy with a full schedule of events at the family business-among them an over-the-top Nativity-themed first birthday party and a Sweet Sixteen for a teen drama queen. But her personal life is even more challenging. Her estranged mother has returned - and her lifelong friend Jamie has discovered a shocking secret about his past. He's so angry that he starts hanging out with Lorenzo, who claims to be his long-lost brother - even after it becomes clear that Lorenzo's story is as fake as a plastic Christmas tree. Then a body turns up among the elves in a Santa's workshop lawn display, and amateur sleuth Mia has a buffet of suspects to choose from. Amid the holiday celebrations, she intends to find out who's the guilty party...

In this fresh and witty cozy mystery series set amid an extended Italian-American family in Astoria, Queens, catering hall owner and amateur sleuth Mia Carina must solve a murder on the set of a reality show. The June events schedule at Belle View is busting out all over-proms, graduations, and of course, weddings. There are unexpected bookings too, including a casting call for the pilot of Dons of Ditmars Boulevard. But soon, Mia's fears about the cheesy reality show are confirmed . . . Belle View quickly becomes the site of a sea of wanna-be goombahs and phony girlfriends, and some of Mia's friends insist on getting in on the action. The production company owner and his executive producer ex-wife-who's also very minor British royalty-have assembled a motley crew that does as much infighting and backstabbing as the on-screen "talent." Even so, it's a shock when a dead body is found in the pool house of a local mansion rented by the show . . . Murder might boost the ratings. But Mia intends to make sure the killer gets jail time, not airtime . . .

Mia Carina has steered her Italian-American family's Astoria, Queens, catering hall into becoming the borough's premiere party site, and nothing could make her happier-except her boyfriend proposing. There's just one presumed-dead obstacle in the way. A strong, independent woman and respected entrepreneur, Mia never imagined she'd pine for a marriage proposal. Yet lately, with her beloved Shane, she's on tenterhooks. It's especially surprising, considering Mia's first husband, Adam, was a philandering grifter, assumed lost-at-sea after a boating disaster. But everyone knows what happens when you assume. While working a huge wedding expo in Manhattan, Mia is shocked to spot the man who nearly destroyed her life. The one who's supposed to be sleeping with the fishes. But she loses him in the crowd. And when it happens again the next day, it's time for an emergency meeting with the family-and the Family. Because if Adam is alive, Mia is still married. Everyone wants Adam dead. Everyone except Mia. She's dealt with enough police for a lifetime. Mia needs to be a divorcee, not a widow. But someone out there disagrees, and if Mia doesn't discover who, she may never be free to marry Shane.