It 'cannoli' be a thoroughly convivial caper! This is an easy comfort read, containing just the right amount of mystery and intrigue to keep the pages turning, without making you jump out of your skin too much. Add just a hint of romance, for the perfect touch of spice.
On a sweeter note, it's been ages since I read this book, but the thought of the sweet, creamy dessert it's named after still has my mouth watering. Expertly evocative stuff.

This is such a fun series, and I had a great time with this cozy mystery. I loved the plot, the twists and turns, and the characters!

This is the 2nd book in the Italian Chef Mysteries and it's a winner. Tessa is an interesting protagonist... she's widowed and getting ready to open her own Italian restaurant, which was she and her husband's dream. The story moves at a steady pace and it's well written. The characters are likable and I can't wait to see them develop more. Luscious food and an interesting mystery make for a fun read.

This is the second novel in the Italian Chef Mysteries. I did not read the first novel but was easily able to keep up with the storyline. This was a great cozy mystery with a nice twist that was centered around food and a bookstore so it was a great combination!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the gifted e-book.

I'm in "book love" with Tessa Esposito and her family and friends!  In the second book of the series, Tessa is ready to open her restaurant, "Anything's Pastable" - her and her late husband's dream come true.  Her cousin Gabby has her own dreams realized when a best-selling author books a signing at her bookstore.  When a "mean girl" from Gabby's past is murdered, Tessa must work to solve the mystery and save both their dreams before becoming the next victim!

The mystery kept me up, reading long into the night! There were twists and turns to the story that I enjoyed.   I loved the descriptions of Tessa's restaurant and the food. Tessa does not "run into danger" and I enjoyed the friendship between her and Gabby.  The book can be read as a standalone and was easy to catch up on past events.

I'll definitely be reading book #3!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

First off, the food mentioned in this book will have your mouth watering. When the publicist of an author doing a signing at Gabby’s bookstore winds up dead in the bookstore, Tessa and Gabby play sleuths once again to find the killer. This was a very fun read full of delicious sounding food. Looking forward to the next in the series!

It Cannoli Be Murder by Catherine Burns

Tessie Esposito is hoping to drum up reservations for her restaurant’s grand opening   A book signing with best selling author, Preston Rigotta, should help.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery.  Great characters.  Tess & Gabby made a great team even though their investigating was over the top at times.  Don’t read this book when you are hungry.  The food and cooking was so well described I could smell them food.   I recommend this book.

So I have to tell you all, cannoli is my absolute FAVORITE dessert ever & I am not even a sweets girl, but I'd kill for a cannoli, anytime, anywhere lol Obviously, that made this one a must read for me, and it did NOT disappoint. 

A perfectly cheesy cozy that had a storyline I really enjoyed, with fun characters who kept the story going. & any story with recipes along with it is just a pleasure!

Princess Fuzzypants here:  There were a lot of things I like about this book.  While I had vague suspicion about the killer, I had been convinced it was going to be someone else.  It came as a total surprise as did the motive.  I enjoy when a book can take me in one direction and then double back to keep up the suspense.  It also had a cracking good finish.

The story itself was interesting.  The publicist of an exasperating famous author dies by cannoli in the book shop of the person she bullied through school.  Since their dislike for each other was well known, and Tess, her cousin, supplied cannolis for the book signing, both of them are prime suspects.  The book shop and the restaurant Tess is slated to open in a few days look doomed if the real villain is not uncovered.  The cop assigned to the case seems unwilling to look any further so Tess decides she should investigate herself since it went so well for her the last time she got involved in a murder.

Up to this point, I am willing to suspend disbelief and go along with the tale.  But she does some things that strain credulity beyond belief and mark her as a candidate for the Darwin Award.  It bothers me when a heroine does something so dumb that the reader has to question the sanity of the character.  Tess does a couple of these bone headed moves so when she does get into some genuine danger, it doesn’t have the same impact.  Which is a shame.  

She has so much promise as a widow opening an Italian restaurant that was the dream of her and her late husband.  She has a cousin who is a cop who keeps warning her off even at the risk to his own career but she goes from one head shaking moment to another.  It is one of those things that detracts from my enjoyment.

Four purrs and one paw up.

FANTASTIC BOOK! 

This is a series I’m definitely going to keep buying as soon as new books are released. 

Catherine Bruns wrote another page turner of a mystery that brings us back to 
Harvest Park for another mystery. Tessa is realizing her dream of opening up a restaurant while also helping out her best friend’s book signing. When someone turns up dead with cannoli nearby, suspicion is directed towards Tessa since hers were served at the signing event. 

With wonderful characters and a riveting story, I couldn’t stop reading this book once I started. Who needs sleep, right? 

If you’re looking for a great new series, I highly recommend picking this one. I promise, you won’t be disappointed! 

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in return for leaving an honest review.

In this second book of the series Tessa's dream of opening her own restaurant is coming true.  She's getting ready for her grand opening and stressing about having enough reservations on said day.  Even though she's busy she agrees to cater her cousin's bookstore event where famous author Preston Ricotta will be doing a signing.  Things are going well until his publicist makes an appearance, it's none other than a rival from high school who made her cousin's life miserable.  What was suppose to be a huge night for her cousins bookstore turns into a horrible evening with an author who leaves angry.  When Tessa finds the body of the publicist the next day while retrieving her phone from the bookstore it doesn't look good.  There is cannoli by the dead woman and the cops suspect it is what killed her.  Tessa knows someone is trying to make her look guilty and decides to do her own investigation.  She knows she must do everything thing she can To clear her name especially before the upcoming opening of her restaurant.  Follow along as she looks for clues, finds out secrets, and figures out just who had it in for the woman!

Installment two in the Italian Chef series is out and it is a sweet read like the cannolis in the story. 

Tessa Esposito returns in book two with a grand opening for her new restaurant looming. Even with the pressure of a restaurant launch, Tessa agrees to provide the sweets for her cousin Gabby's bookstore.  Gabby needs the famous author, Preston Rigotta, to draw a crowd and help boost sales or her bookstore may be forced to close its door.  Despite the turn out, things turn sour when Preston's publicist, Daphne, appears and is a high school rival of Gabby and Tessa's.  Unfortunately, the petty rivalry of youth has not been buried. 

Despite the clashing of personalities at the event, Tessa's cannolis are a big hit. She hopes their popularity will translate into future reservations for her restaurant.  Gabby's pleased with the sales from her bookstore's event and sees a brighter future for her business. This hope is quickly dashed the next morning when Preston's publicist and their high school rival is found dead in the middle of the bookstore with a cannoli nearby.  

Now, Tessa and Gabby are prime suspects and there's a new detective in town who isn't so eager to clear their name.  It's up to Tessa to get to the bottom of the crime and find out who wanted Daphne to die. 

There is some subtle love interest in this series that might heat up in future installments.  Long time friend, Justin, has been a rock to Tessa since her husband died.  However, I'm in Camp Vince because A. in my mind, Vince is hotter, and B. Justin seems more in the friend zone.  

Regardless of my votes for the love interest, I definitely vote for you to go read this second installment in Catherine's new series. It's a fun read with some delicious recipes in the back that bring out the Italian chef in all of us.

Loved it . The best part of this book is title , cover and concept. What i liked
• the language is simple , easy to read. 
• cover is soo pretty 
• story line is easy to understand.
enjoyed the rush and suspense it's exciting.It’s brilliant, its devious and it lifts the book to a whole different level.

3.5 stars! This is the second book in the Italian Chef Mysteries series. I enjoyed this one more than the first book, and hope that the author writes more books with these characters! The only downside is that when I read these books I crave all the Italian food, and this one gave me major cravings for cannoli.

I want to start off by saying I LOVE the title of this books. Punny cozy mystery titles make me smile and sometimes giggle uncontrollably. I picked this title as an eARC from NetGalley because of the title. Upon starting it was obvious this was #2 in a series. Luckily, as I read on it didn't seem to matter, the author often let the reader know when something was referenced in the first and told us a little of what we needed to know if necessary. 

Tessa, is working on organizing her restaurant, Anything's Pastable (another pun!), to get ready for opening in about a week. She is nervous but excited, she's taking reservations for opening night but none have booked yet. Her cousin, Gabby, runs a book store in town and is having an author signing and Tessa has agreed to help make and serve refreshments. Gabby is also nervous and excited for the author signing because it's an author she idolizes and hopes that this will drum up business as she's seen a decline recently. The night seems to start off well, even if Tessa thought the author was being pompous and treating Gabby like a servant, until Gabby's high school bully, Daphne, walks in, turns out she's the author's publicist. Daphne hasn't changed a bit. At this point I thought it was 50/50 if it was Daphne or the author that would turn up dead. (If there's no dead body within the first five chapters of a cozy it's going to be a slow ride.) Daphne was nasty to Gabby and Gabby "accidentally" spilled her wine down the front of Daphne's shirt, causing Daphne and the author to become upset and leave. Gabby and Tessa close up for the night and go home, albeit a little disappointed that the end of the night wasn't as successful as the beginning. In the morning Tessa realizes that she forgot her phone at the book store and asks Gabby to go back to the store with her to get it. Gabby apparently drowned her sorrows in wine the previous night and wasn't up to it. She gives Tessa a spare key because she can't find hers. Tessa arrives to the store finds her phone...but wait there's a trail of cannoli down the aisles...a dead body!

So the ride along this cozy mystery was fine, it wasn't too slow and it wasn't too fast. There were some weird relationship quirks that I didn't find terribly realistic. Gabby's constant crying about having to close her store because her reputation is ruined after a person was murdered in her store seemed over the top. In almost every murder mystery I've ever heard of it's always been the opposite. Murder piques everyone's interest and they are able to get more business from the intrigue. At every interaction with Gabby after the murder she whines about it though. I understand it's her business and livelihood but it was too much. The way Tessa and Gabby teamed up and took it into their own hands to solve the murder also seemed unrealistic. I've read so many cozies and I know the main character is always an amateur detective who has no business looking into the murder investigation but somehow solves it but every other story makes it work. This one it was just like why are they crossing so many lines? It was also hard because Gabby's brother and boyfriend are cops. While in other stories this is a way to help with realism and get information in this story they just seemed to pop up conveniently to scold the women into minding their business but yet give them information they needed? It was strange. 

Cozies are a nice fun fluff mystery so I wasn't extremely bothered by the criticisms I had. Luckily in the end everything was tied up with a nice bow. Tessa and Gabby's respective businesses had success and weren't blamed for the murder at all and even helped another suspect get his life on track. I'm curious to know what happens next in Tessa's life because they lined up a couple of romantic relationships for her but none of them worked out for her in this book. If you've read every other cozy on the shelf I would recommend this one. If you're just getting started I've got some others for you to check out. 

P.S. there's recipes in the back of this and I am definitely trying the biscotti!

There is really no way to describe how much I enjoyed It Cannoli Be Murder, the second installment in Catherine Bruns’s Italian Chef Mysteries.  As much as I loved the first book in the series, Penne Dreadful, It Cannoli Be Murder was even better.  From the opening pages to the picture-perfect ending, this is a book to be savored.

Chef Tessa Esposito is busy preparing for the grand opening of her restaurant, Anything’s Pastable.  She nonetheless agrees to cater dessert at her cousin Gabby’s struggling book store Once Upon a Book, where bestselling author Preston Rigotta will be signing his latest suspense novel.  Rigotta, it turns out, is a demanding prima donna whose imperious attitude creates immediate tension at the event.  Making things worse, his recently-hired publicist, Daphne Daniels, is Gabby’s high school rival, who, it seems, is intent upon gaining favor with Rigotta by demeaning both Gabby and Tessa.  Gabby retaliates by “accidentally” spilling her wine on Daphne, thereby further offending Rigotta.  Despite the problems, all of Rigotta’s books are sold and the signing appears to be a success. However, the next morning, Tessa discovers that Daphne has been murdered in Once Upon a Book, and suspicion immediately falls on Gabby.  Eager to help her cousin – and clear her own name in the process – Tessa begins to investigate.

This book is charming from minute one.  Tessa is both complex and relatable; strong, yet vulnerable; compassionate and resourceful.  Gabby is a loyal friend, and Gino, Vinny and Justin are all extremely likeable and nuanced.  With this second book, we delve more into each of their backstories, making them even more endearing.  Even Tessa’s cat, Luigi, was charismatic in his own right.  And while I identified the perpetrator early on, this did not detract from the delightful twists and turns in the mystery.  And the recipes included at the end of the novel sound delicious.  I can’t wait to try them.  

But for me, the most compelling part of this novel is its emotional punch.  Tessa’s grief at having lost her husband (prior to the first book) draws you in and touches your soul in a way that is rare for books of this genre.   Catherine Bruns once again has created a cozy mystery novel that is so much more.  It Cannoli Be Murder is a book I will treasure for years to come.  Needless to say, I can’t wait until the next installment in this wonderful series.

Note: I received an ARC of It Cannoli Be Murder from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press. The above is my honest review.

This was such a wonderfully compelling mystery from start to finish!

In this second instalment of the Italian Chef Mysteries, It Cannoli Be Murder, the reader meets protagonist Tessa Esposito, a trained chef and the proud owner of 'Anything's Pastable'. While she’s preparing for her restaurant's grand opening she agrees to make sweet treats for bestselling author, Preston Rigotta’s book signing at 'Once Upon a Book', the bookshop owned by her cousin and best friend, Gabby Mancusi to help her draw in the crowd. When Preston's publicist and Gabby's high school nemesis, Daphne Daniels rocks up, sparks fly. Visiting the bookshop the next day to collect her phone, Tessa happens across Daphne's dead body...

The author, Catherine Bruns, has executed this story with such a fresh take that it was nothing short of hugely enjoyable. An engaging and affable cast of characters and a well-thought-out, solid mystery resulted in a novel chock full of twists, red herrings, and suspects that kept me totally engaged in the shenanigans. I was desperate to continue reading until the fulfilling conclusion.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy reading well-crafted cozies and I am already looking forward to the next instalment in this marvellous series. Very highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request, from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I was approved for this book by Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for my honest review. This was my first cozy by Catherine Bruns and I wish I had found her sooner. This story takes us back to the Quant town of Harvest Park and to another murder that main character Tessa finds herself in the middle of. I was kind of surprised when they revealed who the killer was, but after thinking about it, it made sense. I was also glad that we got a little bit of back story, especially since I hadn't read the first book in this series. The only draw back to food related cozy mysteries, this one included, they make you hungry for whatever the food is in the book. In this case, pasta and cannoli were talked about a lot since Tessa is in the process of opening her restaurant, Anything Is Pastable! I love that name!!! There are also recipes included in the back of the book which I cannot wait to try.(hint hint cannoli) To me, that's one of the great perks about cozy mysteries. You always get recipes to try that are from the book or you'll get diy projects to try. Always an extra little incentive. Now there were a couple places that the book felt a little rushed, but it in no way took away from the story. If you love cozy mysteries as much as I do or if you've always wanted to try one, pick this up. You won't be disappointed trust me!!

This mystery was so much fun! I loved Tessa and felt for her as she builds her life without her husband. She's strong and inspiring! I loved her relationship with Gabby and the close connections of family. And the descriptions of food made me so hungry. A wonderful entry into the series.

This is the second book in the Italian Chef series.  Tessa and her family are back for the reopening of Tessa's long awaited restaurant - Anything's  Pastable.  Tessa's cousin Gabby's bookstore is struggling but she is hoping to boost sales with a book signing by a bestselling author.  Tessa caters the event and all seems to be going well until  Daphne, an old high school nemesis, and the author's publicist, appears and stirs up bad memories and grudges.

Unfortunately,  Tessa discovers the publicist dead on the floor of Gabby's bookstore the morning after the event with a stray cannoli by her side.  Because of an argument between Gabby and  Daphne the night before,  Gabby becomes a prime suspect.  True to form, Tessa and Gabby take it upon themselves to prove Gabby's innocence, and of course, get into all kinds of trouble doing so, as the possible suspects and their connections with Daphne multiply.

This book is not to be missed and I look forward to many more in the series.