I liked this book, although I thought the Spanish parts were a distraction. I don’t read or speak Spanish so I didn’t understand them. I like the characters. I thought the reveal of the killer was convoluted. #CalypsoCorpsesandCooking #NetGalley

multicultural, multigenerational, multiple-murder, murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth, new-beginnings, Miami Florida, cultural-anthropology, cultural-assimilation, cultural-exploration, cultural-heritage, culinary, family-dynamics, friction, friendship, cozy-mystery, mothers, verbal-humor, situational-humor, celebration, recipes*****

Miriam has a PhD in culinary anthropology and returned to the neighborhood in Florida where the population is of the islands off the south end of the state and the cuisine is fragrant and spicy. She has a lot of friends, but her mother-in-law is definitely not among them. Nor is the local homicide detective. The body in her front yard wasn't dead but was a particularly obnoxious bigot who blamed Miriam for everything that went wrong in her own family. Then a volatile chef involved in a cultural celebration to benefit the community falls from a staircase and another chef has an acute medical incident. All while Miriam is experiencing the effects of a new and unexpected pregnancy! Very busy story that just grabbed me and wouldn't let go!
The bilingual English/Espanol adds a lot to everything. The cultural aspects are a good learning experience, as are the food anthropology lessons and the recipes
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.

It was Halloween season at Coral Shores, a village in Miami and Miriam Quinones was settling nicely into her YouTube and UnMonda, cooking shows. Early one morning she finds an injured woman, who she knows, in her front yard. The police are called and as they investigate this incident, a murder occurs. Miriam is also at that scene and begins to do her own investigation. Are they related to previous crimes and will she be able to find the culprit before she becomes the next victim?
A cozy mystery with Spanish sprinkled into the dialogue throughout and recipes at the end of the book.
Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this e-galley of "Calypso, Corpses and Cooking".

Ms. Reyes pens an interesting cozy, heavily multi-cultured. Her main character, Miriam is Latino and is raising her young son Manny to embrace both cultures, giving him the best of both world. Her job is for a cooking show….but she is really nosy, pro-active really.
Embracing friends of different cultures, her full life of good friends eases the strain of a snobby mother in law.
When injured acquaintances and bodies start to pop up, she snoops with her friends and offers the police the information. A little carelessness lets the murderer get too close for comfort. I do recommend this book.
I enjoyed my ARC copy from NetGalley and offer my opinion freely

I loved this book! When I began reading and realized it was the second in a series, I quickly got the first one and read it, then continued with the advance copy. I liked the Latina information and the food and family descriptions. The author also was able to describe challenges in Miriam's relationship with her mother in law very nicely.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance read.

Kindle Copy for Review from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Miriam finds herself put in charge of the annual Women’s Club gala for the fall festival by her hard to please mother-in-law. She decides to do more of a casual menu than the high end cuisine that her mother-in-law wants.

She’ll have more to worry than the menu when a body is found by a fake tombstone. Who wanted the person dead and why?

A delightful read that will have you guessing till the end.

Possible Poisonings Mar Festivities…
The second Caribbean Kitchen Mystery and possible poisonings mar the festivities in Coral Shores. Miriam finds herself amidst the action. Can she get to the bottom of this stew before her own life is also submerged? With nicely drawn characters and a fun and frothy plot this is an enjoyable and entertaining cosy mystery and a worthy addition to the first in the series.

I thought this book was really good! I loved the main character in the book and thought that she was really relatable! Even though this book was a mystery, it felt like just sitting and talking to a friend, which I really enjoyed! This book is the second in a duology and I didn’t read the first book but I wasn’t lost or anything, so I was able to enjoy the book! I found myself completely sucked into this book every time I would start reading it since it was so personable, and the mystery aspect of the book kept me guessing till the end! Overall, this book was really great!!

I loved the first book from the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery Book series and this book was just as amazing! I loved the Latina representation in the book, and how it addressed real-life issues that POC encounter, such as racism, colorism, and microaggressions. I also like the recipes in the book!

Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking is the second book in the Caribbean Kitchen mystery series featuring local Miami celebrity Miriam Quinones-Smith.

It's Halloween, and Miriam has a lot going on with a booth at the local fair, 200+ trick-or-treaters to be ready for, watching her son Manny and his cat Camo, and someone writing "Help, Murder" on the side of her house. Was this a Devil's night prank or someone in trouble?

I love this series! Recently returned to the area, Miriam has lots of friends and family, plus her husband's family, who are hit or miss, plus friends from her new job, plus new people from the country club. This results in a lot of suspects, a lot of shady goings-on, and a lot of people who Miriam can call on for help. I love books with strong friendships and support systems, and Miriam's sleuthing does not feel dangerous, but instead is something she has the connections and resources to do.

A cozy mystery without being twee, this series brings up real-life examples of racism, colorism, and cultural appropriation and shows Miriam dealing with overt and micro-aggressions from white strangers and family, but doesn't dwell on the negative. Instead it focuses on the love and community between her true family and friends. And, of course, there are lots of scenes of cooking and eating amazing Cuban and Caribbean food, with recipes in the back of the book.

A great installment in the series. I'm excited for more!

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for access to this e-boook to review.

Miriam Quinones-Smith is tapped by her overbearing Mother in Law to head up the Gala for the Women’s Club. With the high browed ladies expecting haute cuisine, Miriam decides to bring in her own posse of women to help with the event. Not only is she bringing in a younger group of women, she’s also bringing diversity to the group as well.

At Miriam’s first meeting with the country club to go over the event, the club’s head chef is murdered. While it doesn’t impact the Gala directly, things seem to be off as one of the club ladies is found in Miraim’s yard and then her neighbor is poisoned. Luckily, each time Miriam was able to get the police and EMTs there in time to save them. Now if only Miriam could solve the mystery and focus on the Gala and her Cookie shows. But will Miriam find the killer before she gets too close and becomes collateral damage?

I love that we have a Latina protagonist in this series. It is an underrepresented area and I’ve got to say that Miriam knocks it out of the ball park. Mother, wife, friend, daughter, cousin, cook show host, etc. She is well rounded, dynamic and strong. Each book has a solid whodunit it and is filled with red herrings to keep you changing your mind on who unit until close to the end when the final reveal is made. This is only the second entry in the series, so hop on the series bandwagon and be ready for the next entry in what I hope will be a long-lasting series.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Crooked Lane Books and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.


Quick, fast paced read that was enjoyable and entertaining. Cozy mystery with highly likable characters that are equally endearing.

Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking by Raquel V. Reyes (Caribbean Kitchen Mystery #2) 4 stars

A follow-up to 2021 "Mango, Mamba, and Murder", we find Miriam Quinones-Smith settling into her new life in Florida. The first book introduced all the characters and this book presents another mystery that literally ends up in her backyard. It is autumn and Halloween is the main focus. Miriam is trying autumn themed recipes for her TV cooking show and she has to prepare for the school Halloween fair. In between trying to avoid her mother-in-law and the mother of her husband’s ex-girlfriend, Miriam has her hands full. Unfortunately, her mother-in-law puts her in charge of the Women’s Club annual gala and orders her to not mess up. At the country club she overhears an argument involving the head chef and a few moments later said chef has fallen down the stairs to his death. Who had it in for the chef and is there a connection with events from the first book. Miriam gets pulled into the mystery and has to solve it before her country club event turns into a disaster.

This series has plenty of color, culture and action, but to get the full effect you should read the first book. When you insert family drama (intolerant mother-in-law) and dead bodies, you could be forgiven for wondering if a criminal mastermind is behind it all. I loved reading about the different food cultures and meeting some new characters. I can’t wait for the next book in this series.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC.

Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking was a fun cozy mystery.

In this book, Miriam wakes up to find a body in her front yard. The problem is that it's not just any body, no it's the body of the woman who was kicked out the day before from the fall festival.

Looking forward to reading more books by this author..

This was a nice book to spend a snowy day reading. The story starts off as Miriam, her husband Robert, and Mani are getting ready for a fall festival at Mani's new school which then leads into her finding a relative on her lawn almost dead. She continues to struggle with her transition to Coral Shores and her husband's family. Her mother-in-law pressures her into being the chairperson of a country club committee. This leads to the death of the head chef at the country club. Miriam must figure out who committed the murder before she meets the deep freeze herself.
Ms. Reyes gives great descriptions of her characters. I loved the description of Detective Pullman comparing him to Humphrey Bogart.
I believe that the reader of this book will need to read the first book in the series because there isn't much in this story to help you grasp onto the subplot line. Maybe a little more background from the previous story would have helped with continuity. I appreciate that the author has mixed some Spanish into the story, but I think that she is assuming her readers have more understanding of language. I think this could have been addressed by helping the reader with the more difficult lines with a quick translation or some other way to gain some knowledge of what she was trying to get across in the Spanish sentence.
I enjoy a good cozy and I love that they are quick reads that allow me to spend a few hours in their world, what I don't appreciate is when they use cheesy names.

What an amazing short read! Initially, the tile and cover caught my attention because I’m a thriller/mystery reader who also loves Halloween and spooky season. I loved the writing style of Raquel V. Reyes and the cooking aspect of the storyline definitely is something I’ve never seen before. It was a great plot and I loved the ending. The recipes added to the book are an added plus!