Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for accepting my request to audibly read and review Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking.

Author: Raquel V. Reyes
Narrator: Frankie Corzo
Published: 10/27/22
Genre: Multicultural Interest -- Mystery & Thrillers

I loved the cover. The colors are bright and screamed fun. After reading, I looked at the cover again and want to note the cat placement is spot-on. Kudos to the Illustrator, a five star job.

The story was okay. It wasn't over the top; however I did find there to be too much familial angst for a cozy. I was overjoyed when the author had the main character listen to her 4-year-old son's fears, and did not let or make him leave with grandma. The scene was beautifully done.

I appreciate Reyes explaining teaching a child two languages: Mom speaks Spanish and dad speaks English, and the child responds respectively. This is something I've often wondered, and makes perfect sense to me.

Audibly, I had problems with the Spanish dialect. The rolling R and such had me nervosing. To even out, I listened in small sprints. Of note, had I picked up the physical book first, I would have wondered about the audiobook and hearing the Spanish.

I liked the immediate family dynamic and friends. I didn't like the current news issues mentioned. As a cozy, I expect to be entertained and a little challenged but not bothered with political utterances.

Loved it! I wish I hadn't jumped in at book two because I spoiled myself for book one a little bit, but I definitely still plan to pick up book one because I love the characters! They are fun and relatable, and I enjoyed being in the main characters head. I love books with food, and this one made me very hungry. I liked the pacing of the story, and the pacing of the conversations. It felt like I was just watching real people interact. I think a content warning for for the situation with the baby would be helpful because it was quite intense. Not unbearable, but knowing it was coming would have helped me. I listened to the audiobook, so I do also need to say I really enjoyed the narrator. I also really enjoy a main character with a family because cozy mysteries have a lot of the trope "solving a murder while obsessing over the mystery of does he like me." I like being a part of the family and community dynamics instead of just being trapped in the loop of insecure feelings inside the main characters head.

Oh I enjoyed this little cozy!! Those missing the old Goldy Bear mysteries give this series a try! Cuban American lead who is also a podcaster, so fun but with the same “feel” of the Goldy series. I looke forward to seeing if Miriam is able to reach her new (maybe a bit racist) mother in law and how the series progresses.

Franke Corzo's narration was well done I enjoyed her accents. I for one enjoyed the Spanish and English spoken in this book.

When I requested this one I didn't realize it was book 2 but I will go back and read the 1st book and look forward to more from this series. This is definitely a series I will continue with!

I highly recommend this Cuban-American Foodie cozy mystery!

Fun stuff!

4 stars

I received this audiobook from the Publisher Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

3.5 stars

This is the second book in the 'Caribbean Kitchen' mystery series, featuring a Hispanic amateur sleuth and her circle of friends and relatives. Miriam Quiñones-Smith and Robert Smith, both natives of Miami, met and married when they were at NYU in New York. The couple and their now four-year-old son Manuel (Manny) recently returned to Miami, where they live in a toney enclave called Coral Shores.

The Smiths have a lovely home, the major downside being that they reside near Robert's mother Marjory - a snobby racist/classist who looks down on LatinX people, including her daughter-in-law. Marjory is always sniping at Miriam, and insists on calling Manny by his middle name Douglas....which irritates Miriam no end.

Robert works for a land acquisitions and development company (which seems to involve a lot of playing golf with clients 🙂 ), and Miriam - a Cuban-American with a Ph.D. in food anthropology - does two cooking shows, a Spanish version called 'Cocina Caribeña' on the morning program UnMundo, and an English version called 'Abuela Approved' on YouTube. Miriam shares recipes from all over the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamacia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico.

As the story opens, Halloween is approaching and Miriam and Robert are decorating their home and preparing the family's costumes. Soon afterwards, at a Halloween festival sponsored by little Manny's preschool, Robert is assailed by a socialite named Lois Pimpkin, who blames the Smiths for her daughter being in jail. Things go from bad to worse when Lois is later found unconscious and badly injured near a Halloween tombstone in the Smiths' yard. A bolt from Robert's 'Frankenstein' costume is nearby, and he (briefly) becomes a suspect in Lois's assault.

Though amateur detective Miriam has helped police investigations before, her assistance in the Lois Pimpkin case is discouraged by Detective Frank Pullman, who jokingly calls Miriam 'Veronica' (for Veronica Mars) or 'Jessica' (for Jessica Fletcher). Miriam is able to get a bit of inside information anyway, because Robert's cousin Gordon is a cop, and he often drops by the Smiths' home.

Right now, though, Miriam has little time to investigate crimes. She's the primary caregiver for Manny, has a job, AND her mother-in-law Marjory has 'volunteered' Miriam to organize the annual Women's Club fundraiser at the Coral Shores Country Club. Miriam recruits her friends to assist, and they arrange for food trucks that serve Caribbean fare, a calypso band to provide music, and appearances by famous Latin singers.

While Miriam and her amigos are making arrangements at the country club, the facility's head chef is pushed off a balcony, and dies from the fall. To add to the string of casualties, Miriam's neighbor is poisoned, and a shady dentist is murdered. Miriam believes all these unfortunate events are related, and makes up her mind to find the perpetrator, endangering her own life along the way.

This is a multicultural cozy, with some Spanish dialog sprinkled throughout. This didn't bother me because the meaning is usually clear from the context.

Miriam is a bold, appealing character who (usually) takes the high road with her difficult mother-in-law; prepares delicious Caribbean dishes; sticks up for her friends; and deftly bridges Miami's multiethnic culture.

I like that the author sprinkles scenes of the Smiths' everyday life between the mystery elements of the story. My major quibble with the book is the overcomplicated solution to the crimes, which requires too much explanation and doesn't quite gel.

A fun aspect of the novel are the many food references and the recipes at the end. Numerous delicious-sounding dishes are mentioned, including Soup Joumou, Tomato Medley Salad, Caldo Gallego, Ackee and Saltfish, Pollos San Marcos, Pumpkin Flan, Senorita Pastry, Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso, and more

Thanks to Netgalley, Raquel V. Reyes, and Dreamscape Media for a copy of the book.

I love this series. I cannot wait to read the next one. The mystery in this one had me guessing. Miriam is such a fun loving character. I love her relationship with the local police investigator. I will definitely be continuing the series. If you love foodie cozy mysteries, you should check this one out. Thank you to NetGalley send Dreamscape Media for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 ⭐️
This is the second book in a series. I did not read the first book but I thought this book worked great as a stand-alone. Get ready for Murder, Caribbean Cousine and Culture in sunny Miami! This was an enjoyable cozy mystery read that will keep you guessing. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a lovey job- I also like the fusion of simple Spanish with the English. Thank you to #NetGalley and #DreamScapeMedia for the opportunity to listen to this great story.

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from the publisher for an honest review. This audiobook is well read and the author did a phenomenal job writing this book. The characters are described well. This audiobook is set in Miami, Florida. This book is entertaining and fast paced. It keeps your attention from the first minute of listening. I would recommend reading the first book in this series to get to know the characters better but overall this audiobook is fantastic. This audiobook is in stores for $17.99 (USD).

Sadly this one just didn’t do it for me. I loved the exploration of the narrator’s culture and honestly learned some fun facts throughout my listen. It was a fun cozy mystery concept it just fell a little short for me. In audiobook form, there are truly just too many characters to keep track of. Add in some Spanish throughout the book and I was lost and confused for most of it. The parts I did understand were good and I truly loved the mystery aspect, I just felt like I missed some major plot points while trying to figure out who was who.

This review has been added to Goodreads, Literal and Storygraph, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This will be posted to my instagram (@busywithmybooks_) within the week.

Thank you for allowing me to listen to this story!!

This is a fantastic second book. I love this series and this book was just as good as the first. The audio was great because they're are a lot of Spanish words and I appreciated having the correct pronunciation. I read a couple of reviews where people complained about the Spanish but it didn't bother me at all. I think it may have been easier to follow because I listened to the audio. I loved the conversations about food and recipes and the descriptions. Hearing the authentic names for things was nice too. I have no familiarity with this cooking or the ingredients but I felt like I was learning a lot and didn't need translation. I thought the mystery was well done, if a bit complicated, and I didn't really have any idea what was going on. Overall I really enjoyed this one and definitely recommend it!

This a fun cozy mystery that will entice the listener with recipes and culture of Miami through the narrator. Raquel V. Reyes is a Cuban American author. This is the second book in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for a review. I red the first book in the series right before this one and I am now hooked on this series! Miriam is a strong main character who ends up trying to solve murders that happen around her social circle in Coral Shores in Florida. One thing I like is that she doesn't do stupid things in pursuit of the suspects, which seems to be a common thing in cozy mysteries. There is the regular cop who warns her against investigating, but he is not a caricature and not a huge obstacle to her either. There is a strong theme of Caribbean food in the series and it adds to the feeling of being in southern Florida.

Miriam Quiñones-Smith has a lot to contend with: a racist mother-in-law, her cooking show shooting schedule, her five year old son, and the fact that a missing woman has turned up bruised and bloody in her front yard following Halloween. Miriam is a loveable main character nicknamed Veronica and Jessica by the local police chief for her penchant for getting involved in murder investigations. There has been a series of violent acts against a few community members and she can't help but assume that they're all connected. Despite her better judgement and direct orders from the police, she has to get to the bottom of it before it's too late. An enjoyable cozy mystery.

This is the second book in the Caribbean Kitchen Mysteries, but you do not need to read the first one to be able to enjoy and follow along with this book. I enjoyed this book more than the first. Some of the things that I found distracting in the first book were not an issue for me in this one. I also felt there was a little less predictability and more suspense which made this book much more enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed that the main characters backbone was more prominent in this book as well.
Once again I listened to the audiobook version of this. The same narrator was used. I enjoyed her narration a bit more with this book as well. I am unsure if that is because any changes were made or just because she is beginning to grow on me. I do think that one of the reasons I enjoyed these books thus far is due to the audio version. I think I would've been distracted by all the different languages if I was trying to read them all.
I will add there are some adult themes that are more prominent in this book for anyone wanting this for maybe young teens. There was more prominent Lgbtq themes in this book which I enjoyed as well. The author touched on a few issues in the first book and I've enjoyed the main characters strong view points not only on lgbtq issues but socioeconomic, race, etc. I love books with a strong female main character and the author has many of those in this series. I am anxious to read the next book in this series and definitely recommending it to others.

Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking is the sequel to another mystery by Raquel V Reyes. While you don’t need to read the first book it might be helpful to understand the background of the relationship between the characters. Overall I quite enjoyed the book. If you don’t speak Spanish you need some context clues to understand some of the dialogue which can be a bit of a struggle in the audiobook format, but I found myself really enjoying the characters and the layers of the mystery. If you’re a cozy mystery fan I think this brings a different perspective to the genre.

So this book just wasn’t for me. I received it in audiobook form from NetGalley and didn’t realize it was the second in a series.

Problem number one: do not read this if you have not read the first. It spoils every single thing from the first book basically in detail so there’s no going back and reading it. And it does it in the beginning of the book. Had I known it was a sequel I wouldn’t have requested it.

On to the story itself. I just didn’t find myself caring. After having the first book spoiled, I didn’t really get to know the characters. They weren’t as vibrant as I wanted them to be. We’ve got a woman who has a cooking web show, her husband and I forget his job and their very young son.

And then she finds out she’s pregnant and that’s especially when I checked out. There was just so much baby talk. So much pregnancy talk. It was almost infuriating. I’m not anti-baby/anti-pregnancy. If you enjoy that cool, awesome. I don’t care for it. I’m here for the cooking right? And especially the corpses. It’s supposed to be a murder mystery.

Now there are also characters who can’t seem to stand that they live in a diverse area of Florida. The book takes place in Miami which is heavily Hispanic–many different cultures and peoples there. And that’s amazing, I love it.

And these white characters make their discontent known with the bigoted, snarky things they say. While I really couldn’t get into the story, the author made that part realistic.

My biggest complaint aside from everything else is the language issue. So it takes place in Miami, the main character is Hispanic. And she speaks Spanish. To her son she speaks it solely and her husband speaks to him in English. They want him to be bilingual. That’s another thing that she’s worried about is the education of her son. So he speaks a lot of Spanish as does she. And there is absolutely no translation for it. Not even enough to just give you the gist of what was said. The same goes for the recipes. They’re in Spanish and sometimes you get a description of the food, others you don’t.

I was able to keep up with someone if because I live in Florida and have picked up some Spanish as a result of where I live. However, there was so much I missed out on and it’s one of those things that breaks whatever immersion you may have had going on. Side note: This also bothers me in fantasy stories where the author writes out whatever language is being spoken and there is once again no translation. I would really like to know what’s being said.

At the end of the day, I’m giving this a two (2) out of five (5) stars. I just didn’t like it. Couldn’t enjoy it and sometimes couldn’t even understand it. Like I said, I received this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book much better than the first book. Seems so much less scattered and the story is put together well.

This is the second book in a series following Miriam, a food anthropologist, wife, mother, and an amateur sleuth. I didn't have a clue what a food anthropologist was until this book. I found that listening to this cozy mystery was a little difficult because I didn't know any of the players. Even though the author did a good job in giving some background to move the story along. There was a lot of moving parts to the mystery and side characters. I think I had a hard time focusing on the story a bit because of the interactions between Miriam and these characters. They had a back story that I wasn't aware of at first. So, I was a bit confused at trying to keep up, but I loved the representation of a diverse world! It was done easily and with class. These characters were effortlessly themselves in this world, even Miriam's mother in law. I wished I knew Spanish because I think I would have enjoyed the story more.
Oh but the food! Food was also a major character in this book and I loved it. I loved Miriam's emphasis on the importance of eating meals with her son without electronics. She was aware of the world around her and made herself relatable to the reader. Miriam wasn't this "perfect" sleuth with all the answers. Even though, her circle of friends believed she could do anything. She had challenges too. Her mother in law of hers was horrifying! Her behavior and mannerisms were utterly ridiculous and out of hand. But even their dynamic added more depth to Miriam.
It's so difficult to review a cozy mystery without giving the story away so I won't. I would tell you to read the first book in the series before this one. I think it would give you a richer experience while reading or listening to this book.
Definitely a 3.5 book

I read the first book in the series and was excited to get a copy of the second one. I enjoyed checking in on the characters in Coral Shores, Miami. As life progresses for the characters, murders and mishaps occur. Cooking show star, Miriam Quiñones-Smith seeks to get to the bottom of what’s going on around her. Like the previous book, the author incorporates Caribbean food, language and culture in the story. This is a pleasurable cozy mystery read.

This book reminds me of Arsenic and Adobo! It’s not as cheesy as the cover would suggest. I’ve read a lot of cozy mysteries and this cover is setting you up for knitting circles and cats who solve crimes. This story was a very pleasant surprise!

Great book, I really enjoyed where it was going, the bi-lingual speaking in the household and the ending. The way they kept the language of both parents in the house and teaching the child was genius. I also never suspected the murder to be who it turned out to be as things kept changing., Awesome book.