This quick little read, really more of a novella, is cleverly written and entertaining. Pushing all of the “cozy English village” buttons, it has the added interest of some deliciously described meals!

A Dinner to Die For is a charming little story set in the quaint town of Cherringham. The mystery was solid, but what really made this book for me was the setting and the characters. They epitomize everything a good cozy should be. My only issue with this story was that I hadn't read the previous installments in the series, so I wasn't as aware of the characters and their backstories as I'd have liked to be. But I will be rectifying that as I plan to start from the beginning and read the rest of the series as soon as possible. I'd highly recommend this lovely little series to anyone who loves a good cozy read.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

4 stars

Jack and Sarah enter into their next adventure in this new book by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards. A restaurant called the Spotted Pig is run by husband Jack who is the chef and his wife Julie who is the dining room hostess. When they are present in the full dining room, suddenly the door bursts open and the chef of the new restaurant Bayleaf comes in carrying a box. Her name is Anna Garcia.

Anna is vehement and pulls a dead rat out of the box and tosses it on some diners’ table. She accuses the Spotted Pig’s chef of stealing her recipes and sabotaging her establishment by placing the dead rat in it. She then storms out after issuing threats.

Sarah’s mother was the unfortunate diner on whose table landed the rat. After telling Sarah of the evening, Sarah calls Jack and asks him to come over to discuss the issue. Jack and Sarah decide to do a preliminary investigation.

While Jack goes to dine at the Bayleaf, Sarah does some online research on Anna Garcia. Jack has coffee after his meal with Anna. She tells him the story of what went wrong in New York. She is certain that someone is sabotaging her efforts in Cherringham and gives Jack examples. Meanwhile, Sarah finds out some interesting tidbits from the internet.

Jack sees Sam running away near the restaurant after another act of sabotage. He tells Sarah. It seems there are an awful lot of secrets about the town.

Then a fire is set at the Bayleaf. Inside is Sam who says he ran over to see if he could help; that he saw someone inside the building. Anna and her sous chef Paddy clearly don’t believe him. The evidence seems to be building for Sam being the saboteur, but Jack thinks something doesn’t add up.

The owner of the restaurant, Karl Desmond, has secrets too. He has had a series of restaurants, each offering a different type of food. Some are out of business and some aren’t. Why did he tell Sarah that he didn’t know Paddy when he was in the opening photographs as shown on the internet?

While the people behind the scheme to close Anna’s restaurant down came as no surprise, this is still a nice little mystery. Cozies are not my specialty, but I liked this one- it was particularly good - and will read more of them as they are published. I liked Jack and Sarah. Their particular skill sets worked very well together and they get along well, too.

I want to thank NetGalley and be-ebooks for forwarding to me a copy of this delightful little book to read and enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and be-ebooks for a digital galley of this short story.

If you are in the mood for a quick mystery short story that has all the goodies you want from a well written mystery novel, look no further than the collection of cozy mysteries in the Cherringham series. This one is called A Dinner to Die For and at 117 pages you will get a nice little puzzle to solve in the space of a few short hours. Sometimes books feel as if they labor to finally get to the magic 200 page finish line. I never worry with this series from authors Matthew Costello and Neil Richards about a book wandering around the countryside just so pages will pass by. This is the third Cherringham cozy mystery I've read - and definitely not in order - so that's another thing you don't have to worry about. The main characters are already in place so that each story simply picks up with whatever event is currently happening in this English village in the Cotswolds. Each book has a brief description of the series, a blurb about the story, a brief introduction to the two main characters, and a brief biography of both authors and how they collaborate while one is based in the US and one in Britain.

In this story there seems to be real animosity between Jake, the owner of the Spotted Pig pub and Anna the head chef at the new restaurant in Cherringham. The rivalry for tempting upscale dining customers turns very ugly and soon escalates out of control. Jack Brennan and Sarah Edwards are trying to solve this mystery before someone is seriously hurt.

This was a pleasant afternoon read for me. I like this mystery series, especially when I want to read something that doesn't make me imagine a dead body in every room and two in the upstairs hall. Very laid back yet still well written so you get good characterizations for returning and new characters alike. These stories are set in one of my favorite areas of England so it is always a time to slow down and take some deep breaths when I start one of these stories.

Excellent! A tasty mystery from Cherringham.