I really loved this installment! It was kinda the pulling together of everything and a sorta reunion of some of the past characters Mia had met up with. Something just made me think it’s sounding like it’s the end of the series but I haven’t heard anything official. If it’s the end, everyone went out with a great ending well, maybe not everyone but the key players all seemed happy.

And only Mia Carina could have all this craziness happen before and even at her wedding, lol. Tons of fun, suspense and even more hilarity to be had, so definitely don’t miss out on this book. I totally recommend reading the series from the start to get the complete character experience.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Kensington Cozies via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

The Witless Protection Program by Maria DiRico is a combo mafia/cozy mystery story featuring Mia, a widowed woman in love with a co-worker. Shane claims love for her as well, but the proposal she wants is slow in coming. Each time she believes now is the time, but it never is. He is a romantic guy! Then finally it happens. Since Mia is part owner of a go-to event center, catering, wedding planning, etc. business known as Belle View, her partner wants to start planning immediately. Mia wants somethings simple, sadly her definition doesn’t match that of Cammie, her partner. This one little difference provides plenty of hilarity in between searching for the murderer of her husband, who had been supposedly dead already, for several years. To compound the hilarity, her grandmother buys them a house, the owner of which had died recently. He was a cartoonist of some note, apparently, and had a cult following that made everything pretty complicated, gumming up the street with memorials, for instance. Then there were the break-ins. It got complicated and comedic.

What a fabulous setting for a book: Queens, New York, and an extended mafia family. The head of the family, Donny Boldano, Sr, is attempting to take the family businesses legitimate. There are two factions of the “family,” one who likes the mob as it is and one who wants it all legit. This lends another dimension to the entire story. This is the first of this series I have read, but it won’t be the last. These people are authentic and very funny, albeit much of the story has a serious tone to it. I highly recommend it for some light-hearted reading with a mystery involved as well as all the rest. Thanks, Maria DiRico!

I was invited to read The Witless Protection Program, by Kensington Books. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #KensingtonBooks #MariaDeRico #TheWitlessProtectionProgram

Don't worry if you haven't read the earlier books in this fun cozy series- it will be just as enjoyable as a standalone, Mia, who works with her family (and THE family) at their catering hall is once again on the case, this time because her ex, who everyone thought was, ahem, gone, is back. But there's more to the story. The mystery is entertaining but I've always liked these books for the characters. who are a hoot. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Really sorry to see that this is the last one.

This is the fifth in the Catering Hall Mysteries by Maria DiRico. Our mystery is about finding out who murdered Mia Carina’s supposedly already dead husband.

I found it well-written. The craziness kept me turning the pages to the end.
I liked the concept even though it wasn’t original. What made it original was the twists the author put on it. I love Mia’s grandmother.

I recommend this cozy. I received an ARC and these are my opinion.

THE WITLESS PROTECTION PROGRAM is the fifth book in the entertaining Catering Hall Mysteries by Maria DiRico. The mystery is light, but well written with several possible suspects and red herrings to muddy the waters. Though I enjoy the mystery, I come to the series for the quirky, sometimes zany, characters. Mia Carina, an Italian American with moxie, takes no guff from anyone. She seems to be heading for her own happily ever after when her past rises up and slaps her in the face. What follows are laughs galore and some fun reading. DiRico always delivers good humor with her mystery.

I am sorry to learn this is the final installment to the Catering Hall Mystery series. It is my hope that a novella or two will follow at a later date. I recommend this book and series to all who enjoy light history, humor, and strong female sleuths.

Thank you to #NetGalley #KensingtonBooks #KensingtonCozies #TheWitlessProtectionProgram
I requested and received a temporary ecopy of this book to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love diving into Maria DiRico's (AKA Ellen Byron) cozy Italian catering series. Any of Ms. Byron's books always feel like you're returning home to a group you've known forever and they welcome you with open arms like you never left. She always has the best protagonists who take no guff from anyone (despite how frightened they feel in doing so) and stand up for what's right. I especially enjoy the humor she weaves into these fun cozies. The big Italian family and snippets of Italian are what keep me coming back for more.

I am grateful to Netgalley and Kensington cozies for this ARC.

This is the 5th and final book in the Catering Hall Mystery series. I'm sad to be leaving Mia behind but I've had the best time reading this entire series. Mia needs to be concentrating on her upcoming wedding with Shane, a task that's hard to do when she discovers her supposedly dead jerk of a husband is still alive. I laughed until I cried reading this book. The mob, Mia, Shane, Cammie and Mia's Nonna will all be missed immensely by this reader. If you're looking for a witty, lighthearted, entertaining cozy this series is a must read.

“The Witless Protection Program” is the fifth and sadly the last book in Maria DiRico’s Catering Hall Mystery series. While I am sad to see the series end, I was very happy with the way it ended – a perfect way to tie up the series. This is one of the funniest mysteries that I have ever read – I pretty much laughed from the beginning to the end while reading it. The setting and premise of this series is great – Mia Carina belongs to a well-connected (i.e. mob related) family but she herself is not involved in crime and has worked hard to make the family’s catering hall, Belle View Banquet Manor, a top place to hold functions. When the series started she was struggling to rebuild her life after a disastrous marriage and the disappearance of her husband – this series brings that storyline to a close as well as her relationship with her boyfriend Shane – both storylines are nicely wrapped up. Many of the characters in the book are over the top but that adds to the fun of the book. The main mystery is well done with just the right amount of suspects and there are a couple of other nicely done smaller mysteries within the book. Finally, the very ending of the book is a perfect way to end the series. All in all well done and while I wish the series could continue I couldn’t have asked for a better ending.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Mia Carina is our main character and she runs the Belle View Banquet Manor which specialises in hosting large parties and weddings. Mia's own wedding to Shane is supposed to be taking place there soon, but the discovery that her supposedly deceased first husband is actually still alive means she needs a divorce in a hurry.

When he turns up dead Mia, and just about everyone she knows, is a possible suspect for doing the deed. There are red herrings galore and a convoluted mystery which ends up with quite a surprise result. As the bookcover shows clearly there is a wedding which is hilarious if a little over the top.

A fun read with some lovely characters. Four stars.

Cute but slow

This is the first book I have read by this author. It s light read, similar to something Janet Evanovich might have written. I liked the plot, but it was a little slow for me and after reading the first half I skimmed through much of the second. The characters were good but stereotypical. There certainly wasn't much nuance. You have the Italian family that was in the mob, feisty grandmother that wore tracksuits almost exclusively (this character reminded me quite a lot of one of Evanovich's characters). There was an assortment of bimbos and a jerky ex-husband who had a whole slew of people who wanted to kill him. And then there was the deceased cartoon artist with a big following of strange but one-dimensional characters,

I did like it over all, but not enough to read any of the others in the series. Sometimes I am just in the mood for something light and funny. This was just a little too light for me with too much time spent on nothing.

"The Witless Protection Program” the 5th instalment in the A Catering Hall Mystery series by Maria DiRico. Sleuth Mia Carina has finally steered her Italian-American family’s catering hall, Belle View Banquet Manor, into becoming the premiere party site of Astoria, Queens. Now if only her presumed dead ex-husband would get out of the way...

I love Mia, her Nonna, Cammie, Shane and the rest of the side characters. I like where things are heading with Mia and Shane’s future too!

The author is one of my favorite as she knows how to keep the reader entertained as well as cate about the main characters and what happens to them.

The mystery is interesting and well plotted, I found myself guessing and second-guessing myself on whodunnit right to the very end. I couldn’t put the book down, read it in a day .

I highly recommend this book to all my cozy lover friends and I can’t wait for book six!

I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Kensington Books and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a hoot this series has been, and I hate to see it end but it has been fun! We watched Mia Carina as she moved back to Astoria, Queens, NY from Miami after Adam, her cheating husband, disappeared and is presumed dead. She has gotten into all kinds of mischief as she worked to help run Belle View Catering Hall for the Baldano Family head, Danny Baldano Senior. Now, she is engaged to her hunky boyfriend Shane and planning a wedding when Adam reappears, wanting to get back together. Yikes! Will he give her a divorce? Someone killed Adam and answered that question but who did it? Mia, Shane, and others are suspects. Wild adventures, trips across the country, fights with a strange fan group wanting memorabilia from the house her grandmother gave the happy couple, and other bizarre happenings pepper this tale, but all is finished in a spectacular ending with fun surprises and just plain craziness. Great read(s) for cozy mysteries lovers!
I received a copy for the purpose of an honest review. All thoughts are mine only.

Mia Carina is all set to marry the love of her life, Shane Gambrazzo, when lo and behold she spots her presumed dead nightmare of a first husband, Adam Grosso, in a crowd. With no fond feelings for the lying cheater, Mia prepares to confront him and soon after she does he turns up dead - for real this time! With the help of practically every Italian-American in Queens, Mia sets out to discover who did the deed - all so she and Shane can make it to the church on time! Lots of fun, with the return of many of the quirky characters we've previously met in the series, Ellen Byron's The Witless Protection Program was an absolute joy to read! Devotees of the series will love it, newcomers I recommend (you will NOT be disappointed!!!) to start with the first book in the series (Here Comes the Body) so you can get the backstory on the inner workings of Mia's family and also her Family, lol! A+++ and 5 stars!

Maria Dirico writes the funniest stories about Italian-American families from Astoria Queens. Mia Carina is the main character who runs a catering hall Belle View Banquet Manor a premiere party site in Astoria Queens. When Mia’s exhusband turns up dead everyone is a suspect and Mia has to find out who did it. Her boyfriend finally proposes at a Mets baseball game and she can’t wait to marry him. Her mom and grandma want a dressmaker to put together their wedding gowns to make one Mia would love to wear. There are so many things going on in Mia’s life while she is trying to plan her wedding she’s not sure it will come together and she will marry the man of her dreams. I recommend this book to everyone it is a very enjoyable and funny read.

The Witless Protection Program (A Catering Hall Mystery) by Maria DiRico

My Thoughts /

First and foremost, a huge THANK YOU to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, Kensington Books, Kensington Cozies and author, Maria DiRico for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review. Publication date is currently set for March 26, 2024.

Loads to tell you all about this one, and my thoughts are falling out randomly, so I'll try and make some sense of them all.

Author, Maria DiRico's bio (in part) reads, "Maria DiRico (the pen name of award-winning author Ellen Byron) was born in Queens, New York, and raised in Queens and Westchester County. She is first-generation Italian American on her mother’s side. On her father’s side, her grandfather was a low-level Jewish mobster who disappeared in 1933 under mysterious circumstances. While growing up in Queens, Maria/Ellen's cousins ran the Astoria Manor and Grand Bay Marina catering halls." So I can't think of a person better placed to write a novel set in Flushing - a neighbourhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queensland.

Being born in Australia, I'm not that familiar with the terms borough, or district, or Precinct, but, one word I am familiar with is Flushing - with thanks to Fran Drescher and The Nanny. "She was working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens, Til her boyfriend kicked her out in one of those crushing scenes……. The flashy girl from Flushing, the Nanny named Fran." You can thank me later for putting that earworm into your head today!

The book title and novel cover drew me in from first glance. With "Just Murdered" on the wedding car and that title, "The Witless Protection Program" it was screaming, read me!

Things got even better when I opened the book and scanned the contents page. Chapter 30, Chapter 31, Chapter 32, Recipes, (what! DING, DING, DING!!! 🔔 🔔 🔔) Acknowledgements, Notes. Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina, Ricotta Sugar Cookies, Breakfast Pasta and Italian Wedding Cake ---- oh, spare my cholesterol ridden arteries I'm in cozy mystery heaven!!!!!

It seems I've begun at what appears to be the tail end of this series. I've just discovered that there are four previous books. The definition of a good cosy for this reader is a simple plot that it just complicated enough to keep you guessing; a basic plot outline that has room for growth (and more stories); well-developed characters that offer the reader a unique perspective on an already overly full genre.

Since her father Ravello's recent heart scare - doctors had inserted a stent to unclog an artery blocked by a steady diet of Fettuccine Alfredo - Event Planner, Mia Carina has basically been running the catering hall called Belle View Banquet Manor. What makes this catering hall a little different from others, is that it's one of a few legit businesses owned and operated by the Boldano Crime family.

When Mia's long-time beau, Shane, proposes, Mia is jubilant and can't wait to organise the wedding. But things go awry when she spies, or thinks she spies, her dead husband, Adam, while working her stall at a wedding expo. She loses sight of him in the crowd, but when she spies him again the next day, it becomes more serious, because, if Adam is alive, she can't marry Shane. This nightmare calls for an urgent 'family' meeting. You can imagine what's going to happen when members of a 'crime' family come together; but Mia presses the importance of them finding her ex but keeping him alive. He keeps appearing and then disappearing. When, her ex is found dead in an alley in Mia's neighbourhood, and the police have implicated Shane in his murder, Mia and her family rally together to clear his name.

Can Mia and her family solve the mystery of Adam's murder? You'll have to read this one to find out!!

#TheWitlessProtectionProgram #NetGalley

Aaaah. I am sorry I have not started at the beginning of these series. But...
The Witless Protection Program has all the right ingredients to make it as a snazzy cosy mystery: Italian family, mafia history, love complications, cakes and weddings... and a cheeky grandma to boot.
If not for the mystery, read it for the snipy remarks and vocal ping-pong between friends, crazy Italian relatives, and enemies of all sorts.
A very nice read for the lovers of cozy Italian food, humour.. and yeah, mystery.

Mia Carina finally has her chance to marry ex=model and super hunk Shane, but there's one problem. Mia's long=thought deceased husband is spotted in Queens - very much alive. Many people want Adam out of the picture, but someone wants him dead. When his body is found behind Mia's house, the police and the Boldano family investigate. I would love to be invited to this wedding, just to see the outfits worn by the guests. Cute way to end this series.

The Witless Protection Program, the 8th and last book of Maria DiRico's A Catering Hall Mystery series, take this delightful series out with a bang. Mia's late husband suddenly shows up just as her already great relationship with Shane takes a positive twist. Of course, with the way life goes for Mia, not only are she and Shane prime suspects when the jerk is killed, but Ms. DiRico brings in twists and turns that keep the reader guessing and laughing. Nothing is ever easy in Mia Carina's world, but what a fun ride for us!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Cozies for allowing me to read and review and ARC of this wonderful farewell novel. I will miss the gang from Queens, but I know Maria DiRico still has tons of fun planned for us.

#NetNalley, #KensingtonCozies #KensingtonBooks #ACateringHallMystery #MariaDiRico

Mia Carina's family is going straight -- and the mob boss who owns the banquet hall where she works is proud of what she's been able to accomplish. When she and her friend Cammie go to the wedding expo to promote their business, Mia thinks she sees a familiar face -- that of her late husband, Adam Grosso, who is supposed to have died in an accident at sea. But if he's dead, how can she trust her eyes?

The next day she attends a baseball game with her fiancé Shane and sees Adam again. But he disappears just as quickly. Now she's called a meeting with both her family and the Family to try and find Adam. But she doesn't expect it when he shows up at her home late at night. He says he won't divorce her, and she wants to marry Shane. But not enough to kill Adam. Although there are others who would happily see him dead...

Then there's the problem of the House. Her grandmother had purchased the home across the street from hers as a wedding gift for Shane and Mia. Unfortunately, it's filled with memorabilia from the person who lately lived there -- a comic artist -- and he has followers who want it declared an historical site, so now Mia has that fight on her hands as well.

Between trying to run her business, save her new home, and try to find suspects in the latest murder, life is killing her. How could things have gone so wrong so fast? And how can she set them right in time to marry the love of her life...

This is the fifth book in the series and I have loved them all. I've become attached to the characters, even the quirky ones like Cammie and her long-suffering police detective ex-husband, Pete. Mia is sharp, independent, and takes care of her family as well as running the day-to-day operations of her business. Unfortunately, she wishes she didn't have to find her husband to get a divorce. It's kind of hard to get married when you're still married to your supposedly late husband.

Where has Adam been all this time, by the way? He feeds her one story and someone else another. And when she goes looking for clues, all it does is give her more questions, along with finding out just how low a snake she really married. She wants him out of her life, but not dead. If she can only convince the higher-ups of that...

But this book is a fun ride. Probably the best in the series so far. There's a lot going on, and not all of it surrounding Adam and his whereabouts. Enough action to keep you reading -- and I read this in one night; that's how good this book is. (Now I'm tired and barely functioning, but hey--).

When we discover the killer, it really does come as a surprise. And I loved it. But that's not the end of the story. There's more to come, and it's delightful. Please keep this series going, as it's one of my favorites, and it's so much fun to read. Murders included. (Plus, great recipes in the back). Highly recommended.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

While working at wedding expo, Mia can help but long for her own proposal and the chance to plan her own wedding. But at the expo, Mia feels like she’s seen a ghost. The ghost of her ex-husband to be exact. The man who was long thought dead.

Soon, Mia finds out exactly why Adam has returned from the dead. While Adam claims to want Mia back, and all Mia wants is to be divorced and rid of him. Apparently, someone else is in total agreement with Mia, as they have killed Adam.

With both herself, Shane, and others in her family, who have reasons to want Adam dead, Mia must find the killer. After all, if she wants to marry Shane, they both need to be on this side of the prison fence.

With Mia‘s “Family” connection, crazy things are always happening when things go awry. Making this series chock full of crazy characters, who really want to help Mia out. Though it’s Mia‘s own family that brings the warm fuzzies and crazy actions. A fun and enjoyable, cozy mystery series that will keep you on your toes.