Miriam,Robert and their 4 year old son Manuelito move from a small NYC apartment to a house in in an affluent section of Miami called Cape Shore.
This begins the story in this 1st of the Caribbean Kitchen mysteries. This is a really fun read. The characters are great; Manuel is adorable, Miriam is a great " detective" and you will love her friend Alma. There is even an unlikable character...the mother in law of course!
The mystery was very good even though it was easy to figure out who the murderer might be.
There is a fair amount of Spanish language but it adds to the whole ambiance of the book. Even though I know just a little Spanish, Un poco. One still got what was said.
I really enjoyed learning about the history of Cuban cuisine and culture. I will definitely continue on with this series. Also got a new song for my Playlist mentioned in the book...
Great quote from book :
Dance, not Diet
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the Publisher. Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review this book which publishes on Oct 12, 2021

This cozy takes place in Miami. Miriam has moved back home from New York. She is now married to Robert and has a toddler named Manny. They moved into her mother-in-laws community. Miriam isn't sure how this is going to work and her husband is busy with a new job. Luckily her old friend Alma is there to help get her involved, including charity work, yoga, and other things.

Alma and Miriam are at a social function when when the woman sitting next to Miriam keels over dead. Soon, her friend Alma is the number one suspect. Miriam wants to help her friend, but she is dealing with a new job herself and concern that her husband is spending a lot of time with an old girlfriend.

I liked this story. Miriam is a food anthropologist and I enjoy reading about good cooks. The mystery kept my attention and the murderer and reason for the murder was a surprise. The book is easy to read. They only draw-back for me was all the Spanish words and phrases as I do not speak Spanish. However, the author usually told the user basically what the phrase meant so that was very helpful.

I normally love cozy mysteries. The description of this book and the cover is what drew me in. However, there should be a disclaimer saying there is a lot of Spanish in this book. Sure the English follows but it was quite hard to read. I'm Canadian and don't know Spanish so it made it harder to focus. I loved the Spanish culture, food, and the mystery. The strained marriage was spot on; I would've kicked that husband to the curb! I hope next time this author foregoes the Spanish for the English readers out there.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

#netgalley
#mangomamboandmurder

This is a cozy mystery set in Miami where Cuban food anthropologist Miriam Quiñones-Smith has recently moved to with her family, only to find herself soon immersed into crime. It´s an easy-to-read even if sometimes longish story which mostly deals with Miriam´s problems with her husband, mother-in-law and friends. The mystery only takes over towards the end of the book. Also not always easy to understand if you don´t talk Spanish - I could help myself with French and Italian. I liked that Latinos, strong women, xenophobia and LGBTQ+ characters appeared. Would have liked Miriam getting to work in her skilled job. Yummy Cuban recipes attached!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Mango, Mambo and Murder is the cozy mystery I’m always seeking! It hit the main points of a cozy for me: fun and immersive setting, great side characters, and a main character working to solve the crime. I was completely drawn in to the story and really enjoyed learning about the Cuban/Cuban American culture with Miriam, the main character. The setting in the Miami area was great with characters from different walks of life and backgrounds. Great mystery that was so much fun to solve.

Mango, Mambo and Murder releases October 12! Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced copy!!

Trigger warnings for death (hi, murder is in the title), potential drug use, potential infidelity, and a rude, overbearing mother in law.

This is the first book in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery Series and it was a showstopper! I love Culinary Cozy Mysteries this one added a unique and intriguing Cuban Spanish flare. The main character, Miriam is a strong, likable character, particularly I enjoyed the way she handles her relationship with her mother-in-law, who is often less than kind to her. The supporting characters are great additions to the storyline, I really enjoyed Miriam's best friend, Alma, and her son, Manny. While I quite enjoyed the story, but I found the mystery aspect to be lacking. This book is written with a large amount of Spanish included and I found that the bilingual writing made it tough at times, simply because I needed to translate at times.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Food related cozy mysteries are always my favorite and this one was no exception. It was so entertaining. For me the keys to a good cozy are the location, characters, sleuthing and the secondary story of the characters.

Location: Loved the Miami setting and Cuban culture, which is essential to the main characters background.

Characters: So many great characters, even the nasty mother in law.

Sleuthing/Mystery: The Murder happened early on but took awhile for the investigating to begin. This part could have been done better. I guessed the murdered early on and was underwhelmed with the motive. With all cozy series the sleuthing only gets better and better so I hope this gets more developed in book 2.

Secondary story: A series start has a lot to lay out and establish. Moving from NY back to Miami for her husbands job was the main event. I really loved following along as Miriam starts a job on a cooking show. The family gatherings were so realistic, I can’t wait to see what happens next for them.

Overall I enjoyed this book, especially the Cuban culture and food descriptions. Can’t wait for the series to continue.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy the characters and the mini Spanish class but sometimes it cuts the flow of the story and makes it a very slow paced story. I wish that Miriam was more independent and hold herself in a much stronger way that she could stand up for herself. I understand that the audience may be more catered towards readers who understand Spanish. I unfortunately do not. But i appreciate the culture that was shared in the novel.

Yawn-fest. The title has really good rhythm to it, but that’s about all that has rhythm to it.

Recently moved back from New York to Miami, stay-at-home mom Miriam Quiñones-Smith is settling into her new life of getting to know her new neighbours and wondering why her husband seems to have forgotten he has a family at home. Meanwhile, her old friend Alma Diaz drags her along to all her networking events and exercise classes. Guess Alma has missed her all these years.

Though the first death in the book happens pretty soon, the story drags on a bit after that with Miriam visiting the park with her son and cooking a meal for her husband. Well, Miriam has no reason to get involved, yet. She only sat next to the woman, barely spoke to her and everyone else seems rather unsurprised the woman just collapsed.

Then another woman collapses and dies at a seminar of a witch doctor / tea pusher. Miriam gets a little concerned, if not curious. The next morning she has a gig at a Latin breakfast show, where she catches a brief glimpse of the witch doctor. He denies he knew the woman that collapsed the previous day. Miriam is sure he is lying.

Meanwhile, there is another man behaving suspiciously in her life: her husband. When he finally gets home to spend time with his family, he also starts spending money like water. When asked about it, his reply is <i>”I can’t tell you the details.”</i> and <i>”You have to trust me.”</i> Seriously? The only reason you can’t tell your wife where the money is coming from is if it’s trough criminal activities. A really good pay-package that comes with the new job is no reason for secrecy.

Then Alma is arrested for involvement in the death of the first woman and finally, finally, the snooping can start. Or could start. Because Miriam has also gotten into her head that her husband is having an affair and that they are getting divorced.

*Eye roll*

Biggest redeeming factor of this book is that the police manage to solve the murder of the first woman too. For some reason, the death of the second woman is neglected.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ebook of this title in exchange for my review.

This is a new twist on the cozy mystery and a new author for me. I enjoyed the variety with the location and ethnocentricity of the story. However, if any book is going to be partially written in multiple languages, I would like to see translation for the reader. Especially if whole conversations are going to be in another language.

I thought the character of the mother in law seemed fairly accurate, but it was still very uncomfortable to read, same with some of the main character's interactions with her husband.

I would give this author another shot - there were things I really enjoyed about the book and the writing. But this wasn't a favorite.

A great addition to the cozy mystery genre. Miriam is an interesting character without being a stereotype of a "feisty Latina". She is strong and opinionated and loves her family and will be an interesting character to follow. Her status as an insider-outsider will be an interesting one to follow.

This was a really fun cozy mystery. I do love a good older-lady-solving-crimes-in-her-village mysteries (Miss Marple, Jessica Fletcher, etc) but I love that Miriam was an intelligent phd, 30s, food anthropologist. I love how naturally Spanish was woven into the text and how complex Miriam's personal life was. She was very relatable and thus sucked me right into the mystery. A great addition to the cozy genre.

This is a refreshing addition to the cosy genre which has been historically dominated by white female main characters. In this case, the main character/sleuth is a Cuban-American woman with a PhD in food anthropology who is married to a white man with a well-to-do racist mother. Together, they have a son who is being raised bilingual. The mystery itself is pretty pedestrian and not hard to figure out, but I really enjoyed the elements of Caribbean food and cultural traditions in Miami, and found the open depiction of racism against the Latin population refreshing. I also appreciated the author's extensive use of Spanish, which could be a problem for those readers who are not Spanish-speaking. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

4 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for providing me with a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Miriam and her family move to Coral Shores from New York for her husbands new job . Miriam spends a lot of time with her childhood friend, Alma, who gets her a job at a Spanish tv network doing a cooking segment. At a luncheon the women attend, a guest at their table collapses and later dies. The police suspect Alma but Miriam knows she is innocent.

I really liked the plot and the mystery of the book. Miriam is a great lead character and her son Manny is adorable. I loved Alma and the introduction of Miriam's aunt and uncle, along with her cousin. Miriam's mother in law on the other hand was horrible. She treats Miriam like trash. Miriam's husband isn't any better. He thinks his mother could do no wrong and doesn't see a problem with how she treats her and is generally never home to the point that Miriam thinks he is having an affair. The other problem I had with the book is that being that the character is Cuban, there is a lot of Spanish dialogue in the book, which I wouldn't mind if I understood Spanish or if there were a translation. Miriam had entire conversations with her son that I have no idea what was said. I really wanted to like this book more than I did but unfortunately it was a miss for me. I received this book from netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

Mango, Mambo, and Murder is the first book in Raquel V. Reyes new Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series. This was an enjoyable read. Occasional use of Spanish could be challenging, and the mystery was somewhat easy to solve, but neither detracted from my enjoyment of the book. The location, culture and career choice were different from the books I usually read. Well written, with good character development, it is a great first book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Miriam Quinones-Smith met and married her husband Robert in New York, where they also had a son. But when Robert's mother offers them a down payment on a new home -- near hers, of course -- Robert doesn't refuse and so they find themselves living back in Miami, where both of them grew up. Robert has asked Miriam to put her career on hold for a year while their four-year-old son grows adapted to his new life, and so she does.

But she doesn't expect her new life to become part of a Women's Club, and on her first visit there with her friend Alma, a real estate agent, a woman passes out and dies. Ruled an accident, it's soon apparent the woman was murdered. When another woman dies, it's a sealed deal. Now Miriam is caught up in a murder investigation, trying to raise her young son, and keep her marriage together. It's not as easy as it sounds...

PLEASE NOTE THAT BELOW ARE SPOILERS SO DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK:

I wanted to read this book because I thought it would be interesting. It wasn't. I soon found out that if I wanted to read it I would have to either a) learn Spanish; b) ask my Cuban neighbor to sit with me while I read the book so he could translate; or c) keep a Spanish-to-English dictionary next to me. None of these options seemed viable, so it made the book difficult. It was mainly because almost every other paragraph was in Spanish, so it quickly became frustrating to read. No one wants to read a book that frustrates or irritates them (at least I hope not). It doesn't help that she states she speaks Spanish to her son because she wants him to be bilingual (which is perfectly fine with me), but that she wants her husband to speak English to him so he learns both languages (which isn't going to happen because Robert is never around). (FYI, I not only have a Cuban neighbor, but an Ecuadoran as well, and they both speak English to me, and a Mexican uncle who has always spoken English to my family - just putting it out there).

I also wasn't interested in learning about her son's bodily habits and body parts. I already know how it works. I find that rather weird, to tell the truth. I also didn't like her hateful mother-in-law (and, for the record, I will state that I love my own mother-in-law; but since I have a backbone, I'd leave a marriage like this rather than be miserable). I guess I just don't like the 'evil nemesis' in books, and it's worse if it's a relative, because you know they'll be in every single book.

What really got my goat was the dinner scene, where her mother-in-law didn't set a place for her at the table, and expected her to sit with the children. The very worst in this book is the fact that her husband treats her like garbage. He never comes home, doesn't tell her of his new job, allows his mother to decorate their home, and hangs out with his old girlfriend. Because of this, Miriam spent the entire book wondering if her husband was having an affair. He's a jerk and she should leave him for his cousin, who actually spent time with her and treated her well.

To sum it up: I didn't like that over half the book was in Spanish (it kind of limits your readers anyway); I didn't like Miriam, who won't stand up for herself (nothing worse than a weak woman); I didn't like Robert or his mother. The way the characters are written is not applaudable, and I can only hope that in the next book there are changes. Sorry.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am sorry to say that I did not like this book, reading it felt like a chore. I had to force myself to read it, there was absolutely no pleasure for me to read this book. I hated all the characters, and honestly did not care what happened next. Had it been in a paper format, I would have sent it flying across the room, so bad it was (and I am definitely against book abuse!). Also, there should be a warning that it contains a lot of Spanish, which only added to my displeasure, as my Spanish is very poor, and having to check a truckload of words in a Spanish-English dictionary is not my idea of fun. I really wanted to like this book, but it did not happen. Sorry.

Mango, mambo, and murder is a cosy mystery rich with Caribbean culture, food and an enchanting Cuban-American sleuth.

I loved this cosy mystery and was immediately hooked. I enjoyed the fact that Carribean culture, food and Spanish language were woven throughout the book, which I felt made it a little bit more unique. I really enjoyed the mystery elements and the cast of great characters, whilstvthe ending was slightly predictable I still really enjoyed this. I am giving it 4 stars.

Synopsis

When a job opportunity comes up for her husband food anthropologist Miriam and their young son move from New York to Coral Shores, Miami (her husbands home town), her academic career is put on hold and she gets a job as a Caribbean cooking expert on a Spanish language TV show thanks to her friend Alma.

When they attend a Woman's Club luncheon a fellow attendee dies falling face first into her chicken salad and shortly afterwards another woman dies. Suspicions arise around a Cuban herbalist and anonymous tip pushes suspicion onto Alma.

Detective Pullman isn't happy to find Miriam at every turn, but soon enlists her help as eyes and ears in places he can't access. With her access into the Coral Shores social circles and Spanish speaking community Miriam finds herself becoming a sleuth.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun one! I loved the cultural aspect but hated the white mother in law. I enjoyed the mystery, the food, and the writing style. The strain on her marriage was interesting. If my husband acted the way hers did, I would have come unglued! Overall I liked this delicious cozy mystery!

I never trust a place like Coral Shores.
Miriam Quinones-Smith shifts with her husband and son back to Florida where her husband's family resides. She hadn't even finished unpacking when a series of events have women near her dying, her best friend being arresting and her husband acting suspicious. Miriam has to juggle multiple roles in a society that views her as an outsider, a hostile mother in law and all the while raising her son to be bilingual.
Miriam is such a head strong character when she needs to fight and yet she showed a lot of patience with her situation. The mystery element was nicely woven in the society of Coral Shores and how when I look back, the author was giving a lot of hints as to what the police were doing. I love a fast paced book where the main character is sensible. My heart was pumping, I knew something is coming and I wasn't disappointed.
I enjoyed the cooking part of the book. It used Miriam's degree and her culture. She had to navigate her new environment on her own and with her background, I don't blame Miriam for jumping into extreme conclusions. This extended to her husband. Actions matter more than words; he applied this to his short term and long term plans. I was getting frustrated with a lack of communication.
My other favourite character was Detective Pullman and how he dealt with Miriam.
This mystery will have craving for food and answers.