I received this book free from the publisher but the opinions in this review are strictly my own.
The second book in this Deep Dish series has been good.
Delilah and her Staff are struggling with a very rainy summer in Wisconsin and the end of summer has provided beautiful weather.
Delilah has witnessed a man dying at the local smoothie place which also happens to be Sam's girlfriend's place. Capote, sexy cop man; is sent to the scene. All looks like a heart attack but then Jordan, the owner ends up in the hospital. Is it accidental or is the creepy guy hanging out to blame.
A fun read with Jarka added to the cast of characters and seeing the ones from book one develop more.

I am an absolute sucker for a good cozy mystery and this one didn’t let me down. It had a lovable cast of characters (especially Butterball 🫶) and did a great job of developing characters who weren’t as lovable at first. The dialogue also was so witty and not as cheesy as other cozies I’ve read.

One thing I really loved was how there were three separate mysteries essentially and it was so fun to see how things unraveled but still somehow stayed connected.

I think my favorite part though was the recipes at the end and how they were written in the perspectives of the people who made them in the book. Biz’s fully made me lol. It made up for the fact that it was set in Wisconsin (sorry as a Minnesotan I’m legally obligated to be a hater.)

In the second Deep Dish Mystery, we see Delilah struggling with her business, joint custody of her cat, and seeing her ex, Sam, with a new woman. When she stops by the new juice bar to drop off their cat, Butterball, she sees a man die of apparent poisoning after drinking Sam's girlfriend's smoothie! When she then falls ill, too, Delilah begins uncovering clues. With a friend's ex and a famous celebrity chef in town, flirtations with the local detective, and a cooking contest that could turn around their money troubles, this book is jam packed with events.

I'm really enjoying this series. The pizza descriptions always make me hungry, and are a fun spin on a cozy mystery business. There's so many characters that there's always something going on and always new suspects, though there were a lot of subplots to keep track of in this book! I definitely want to keep reading this series and look forward to seeing what happens next.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 8/10

This is a very cute cozy with a great cast and a fun plot. It's not a special outstanding story by any means, but it's perfect for a spring day!

Thank you st Martins Press

My thoughts

- cute, quirky and fun!
- the twists were a delight.
- the cover is adorable
- the food descriptions were perfection!

Loved this and will definitely recommend!

I have interesting reactions to Mindy Quigley’s Deep Dish mysteries. I was a little worried I wouldn’t let her protagonist in the first book, Six Feet Deep Dish. I liked Delilah O’Leary, owner of a pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin. I also liked the supporting characters. With Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust, though, the author fell into one of the habits I hate in cozy mysteries. Delilah is the perfectionist owner of a struggling business, but she spends so much time investigating crimes or dealing with people on the periphery of a crime that she’s seldom at her business. In my opinion, that’s one more reason small businesses struggle in cozy mysteries. Where’s the owner when you need them?

Delilah knows it’s going to be hard to make it through the winter when tourists aren’t supporting local businesses. But, Geneva Bay’s Taste of Wisconsin Cook-Off is offering a $10,000 grand prize. She’s been working on her bratwurst pizza, making tiny adjustments. The staff is absolutely sick of it. A disaster hits them head-on, though, when the president of the visitor’s bureau announces the celebrity judge, Graham Ulrich. Sonya, the “Son” in Delilah & Son, Delilah’s sous chef and best friend, had a fling with Graham’s wife, and he fired Sonya with a firing that went viral. If he’s in town, and knows Sonya is there, Delilah can kiss the prize money goodbye.

But, that news is quickly supplanted with the news that Delilah’s ex, Sam, is dating Jordan Watts, owner of Juice Revolution. Delilah’s on the scene when a customer dies there after having a smoothie, and Jordan ends up in the hospital after having the same flavor. Delilah calls a local police detective, Calvin Capone. It doesn’t take long for the death to be blamed on poison. And, while waiting for Calvin, Delilah finds a threatening note at the cash register.

There’s a lot happening in Geneva Bay. Delilah’s gruff Auntie Biz is acting strange. One of the team members is worried about a cousin who works at Juice Revolution and seems to have a lot of money. There’s a strange man hanging around the businesses in town. And, Delilah feels as if she has to stick her nose in all of the troubles. It’s no wonder she’s worried about her business.

That’s my biggest gripe about cozy mysteries. Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust does nothing to prove to me that small business owners can juggle work while investigating crime. Or, in this case, maybe I should say they can’t make dough while looking for a killer.

A perfect secondary installment in this cozy mystery series!

MV Rating: 6.5/10
•We’re returning to Geneva Bay, and the cozy pizza shop owned by Delilah, and featuring her Motley Crew of characters.
•After some blasts from the past show up in town for a food festival, a string of murders occur, and Delilah is inadvertently in the middle of it all - again!
•This series is just delightful. The characters are easy & familiar, and the mysteries aren’t too complex to follow. It’s a perfect little weekend read.
•This series feels like a mysterious Gilmore Girls, which honestly is a vibe for me.

I read "Six Feet Deep-Dish" by Mindy Quigley and enjoyed her characters and story. It was a good mystery and I was looking forward to her next book. This new one did not disappoint!

This is the second book in Mindy Quigley's delectable Deep Dish Mystery series, set in a Wisconsin pizzeria.
“Taste of Wisconsin” culinary contest is in Dalilah's corner, she got her Deep-Dish Bratwurst Pizza with a pretzel crust to win the contest. When one of Jordan’s juice bar customers is poisoned by a tainted smoothie, Delilah lands deep in the sauce.
It is such a typical cozy mystery. I liked everything about this book, fun characters, cozy location, delicious pizza, the mystery and most important - the love interest. it all balanced well. Not too much, not too weak. this book make me happy. 5 stars for sure.

Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust by Mindy Quigley is a fun cozy mystery that is very easy to read. With very relatable characters and humours dialogue, this is an easy book to recommend to people if they want something fun and simple. The way food was described made me so hungry, it was done so well. The plot was done really well, I didn't figure out the solution until the end along with the characters. My main complaint is the amount of times weight was brought up in the book whether it was the main character or even the cat.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc!

One Sentence Summary: Pizzeria owner Delilah is hoping the upcoming “Taste of Wisconsin” culinary contest will help keep her restaurant afloat, but when a customer at the juice bar her ex’s girlfriend runs is poisoned, Delilah finds her life getting a lot of complicated, and the contest in jeopardy.

In this second Deep Dish Mystery novel, Delilah is preparing a very special deep dish pizza for an upcoming culinary contest at the local “Taste of Wisconsin” festival. She’s driving her crew nuts, but really needs to win in order to comfortably survive. But there’s a new juice bar in town, and her ex is finding a new love with the owner, whom Delilah meets when she drops off the cat she and her ex share joint custody of. At the same time, a customer in the juice bar is poisoned, but evidence suggests the customer wasn’t the intended target.

With the contest looming, Delilah finds her attention split between perfecting her recipe, figuring out what’s going on with her elderly Aunt Biz, dealing with her co-owner’s ex coming back in town (as well as said ex’s ex-husband), and finding someone with access to poison. Oh, and there seems to be some mafia-related activity going on, and it might directly impact Delilah.

I enjoyed the first book, Six Feet Deep Dish, even if it reminded me a little too much of my favorite culinary cozy mystery series, so I decided to keep reading this series. The mystery had some good twists and turns, and there’s a few things going on as well that weren’t necessarily related to the story, so there was plenty to hold my interest. Butterball the cat was also a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed his antics, even if I do have to agree with his dad about his diet. But Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust wasn’t as focused on Delilah’s restaurant crew, all of whom I adored in the first book, so it was a little hard to get over the disappointment. It was nice to meet new characters, but I just didn’t feel as invested in them.

The mystery kicks off when Delilah tries to figure out who poisoned a customer at the new juice bar, and why. But it appears the customer was unlikely to have been the intended target, which leads Delilah in all sorts of directions. Unfortunately, with a small suspect list, it isn’t really hard to figure out who did it. What was interesting, though, was getting some of the local history between some of the characters and seeing how that fed into the current events. Again, it wasn’t hard to put together, but I did appreciate how the story felt like it was digging deep into the history of the area. The larger history also plays a role, which I really enjoyed because it has mafia ties. There’s a second murder that Delilah gets to investigate, and it’s close to her heart since it affects her friend and co-owner Sonya. So this was also interesting because it goes a little more into Sonya’s complicated romantic history. And that also had ties to the mafia, which had ties to yet another plot. So, there’s clearly a lot going on in this book, but I liked how they tied together and appreciated how it wasn’t overly complicated.

It was great to see the characters again and get to know some of them a little better, but the people I most loved in the first book weren’t a focus in this one. I love Delilah’s restaurant crew. They’re a delightful bunch, but this book mostly focuses on the owner of the juice bar, who happens to be dating Delilah’s ex. The relationship between Delilah and her ex is sweet, and I especially adored her ex at the end of the book. But Delilah is looking to move on herself, with a certain detective with an unfortunate family history. Mostly, I love that both he and Delilah are a bit older, and he even has a grandkid. But I was disappointed that their relationship just felt like it took a huge step back. Then there’s Aunt Biz, Delilah’s elderly unmarried aunt. She’s still sharp as a tack, but things have gotten away from her. She doesn’t want to divulge it, though, so Delilah takes it upon herself to try to figure it out. I really loved Aunt Biz in the first book, but she seemed not quite herself in this one. I understood it by the end, but I was still disappointed that such a vibrant character suddenly felt a little diminished and mean, even. I kind of expected better of her.

But the stand out characters are Sonya and Jordan, the juice bar owner. These are the two characters that the reader really gets to know more about. Delilah is great; but, even if her character did have some growth, her role was mostly just to figure out what was going on. I did appreciate how she reacted to the different situations she found herself in, though. But Sonya’s and Jordan’s pasts get special attention in this book. After plenty of heavy hints about Sonya’s in the first book, the reader finally gets to know the whole story in the second book. It was a little heartbreaking, and I really felt for Sonya. She really is more than what she appears with a big heart and a huge need to be loved. I really enjoyed getting to know her and her heart a lot better. Then there’s Jordan, who is brand new in this book. She came off as overly perky when I first met her, and I even felt a little overwhelmed by her. But something just didn’t quite feel right with her. I’m not sure if it was her actions or how she was written, but I felt like she was giving herself away from the very beginning. There’s a lot that doesn’t quite match up with her story, so I found myself fascinated by her and her history. But I most appreciated that there were no tough feelings between her and Delilah considering she’s dating Delilah’s ex and is basically Butterball’s stepmom. It was delightfully mature.

My favorite part of this book, and the series so far, is the history of the area. Geneva Bay is a lakeside resort area that houses the wealthy during the on seasons. But those wealthy residents aren’t a focus and aren’t even really seen, unless you count Delilah’s very wealthy ex with a very gorgeous house. Instead, the focus turns to the mafia history. I like that this series focuses on the mafia ties, and I really liked how that was a big plot in this book. I especially liked how Butterball played a role in it; he’s really an adorable cat with quite an appetite. But I really like how I feel absolutely fascinated by the history, and this book really played it up.

Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust is a fun addition to the series. It delves further into the history of the area as well as the history of some of the characters. It keeps the world narrow, but gives more problems to some of the characters. I’m quite interested to see what happens next with the characters, especially with one of them moving on from Geneva Bay, and I hope the next book turns the light back onto the pizzeria crew. But I did like the mystery in this one. It was predictable, but I enjoyed being along for the ride. It was fun, but not complex. There’s also a good deal of food, which is also a plus for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed Six Feet Deep Dish, the first book in the Deep Dish Mystery series by Mindy Quigley. So when I saw that a sequel was being released, I knew I needed to pick it up as I was curious how Delilah and her pizzeria were faring.

I was pleasantly surprised by Delilah’s growth from the first book to the second. In Six Feet Deep Dish, I found her quite brash and a little off-putting, although she did grow on me. In Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust, she’s much more likable.

Delilah has a lot on her plate with the upcoming local culinary contest, finding out her ex has moved on, then a couple murders thrown in to make things even more intriguing. There’s a lot going on, and Delilah mostly holds it together and is far less annoying. She has her moments, like when she and her aunt keep butting heads, but it’s relatable.

The mystery was more complex than the first now that most of the world-building is done. The new characters introduced nicely filled out Delilah’s little corner of Geneva Bay and made the story more interesting. The plot was filled with twists and turns and a couple red herrings. I was glad to be along for the ride.

I especially liked the end of the book with the recipes. Ms. Quigley wrote out each recipe in the voice of various characters from the book. I’ll be honest, generally, I skip the recipes. But something caught my eye in the first one, so I kept reading. The characters’ personalities came shining through as they gave a little “history” to the recipe before explaining how to create the dishes.

Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust is a great second book in the series. I was hooked early in the story and couldn’t put the book down until I turned the last page. I’m enjoying this series and can’t wait for the next book to release. Fans of small-town and/or culinary mysteries should give this series a try.

Now that Delilah O’Leary has her deep-dish pizza place up and running, she has to face the reality of owning a restaurant in a vacation town. They are doing okay, but Delilah wants to make sure she can keep up with her employee salaries during the slow season. To that end, she is trying to perfect her deep dish pretzel crust bratwurst pizza with beer-cheese sauce to enter into the local Taste of Wisconsin Cook-Off. The prize is a big write-up in the local magazine as well as other excellent publicity and $10,000 cash. Delilah knows that would help them through the long winter in Geneva Bay.

As she’s trying to perfect the recipe, inflicting bratwurst after bratwurst on her sous chef Sonya, Delilah is also juggling her feisty great-aunt, a revolving door of servers, an overly solicitous head of the Visitor’s Bureau, a celebrity chef with a history, and shared custody of her beloved orange cat Butterball with her ex-fiancé Sam. When Delilah realizes she’s late for Butterball’s drop-off because of her bratwurst obsession, she offers to bring the cat to where Sam is. And where Sam is, is the new hippie juice bar, Juice Revolution.

When Delilah and Butterball show up, she meets the owner of the juice bar, Jordan Watts. As Delilah apologizes to Sam for being late, she starts to realize that it’s not a coincidence that Sam chose this place to spend his time. He’s moved on. He and Jordan are now a couple. And just as this is dawning on her, one of the customers starts having a seizure in the restaurant. Delilah calls for an ambulance, and when she starts to feel like something is off at the juice bar, she makes another call, to Capone himself.

Calvin Capone is a police detective who helped Delilah with a matter when she trying to open her restaurant (okay, it was a murder), and when Delilah started to feel in her gut that the customer had been poisoned, and then she found a threatening note in the kitchen of the juice bar, she knows she has to call the police. But what she doesn’t know, what she couldn’t begin to understand, is how the murder would bring together a criminal from the past, three different local buildings, and Delilah and Sam and Jordan, along with Delilah’s Auntie Biz, to unravel a series of financial crimes that lead to several attempts at murder.

Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust is the second book in Mindy Quigley’s Deep Dish Mysteries. With a tasty mystery and a cast of memorable characters, these books bake up into a delicious combination of murder, pizza, friendship, family, and flirting. This cozy mystery is layered with a divine setting, strong relationships, an adorable cat, and recipes for the drinks and snacks featured throughout the book.

I really enjoyed Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust, as the mystery comes with secrets and twists. The dark history of nearby Chicago adds some spice to these mysteries, offering a unique perspective on America’s fascination with the mob. But the beauty of the lake and the expensive homes contrast that dark history with luxury. But what I love most about these mysteries is Delilah and how she does everything she can to protect those around her. Even when she’s fighting with her Aunt Biz or having to deal with Sonya’s past coming back to maybe try to destroy them and the restaurant, Delilah is a fierce defender of those she holds close. And anytime there is talk of a pretzel crust, or pretzel bites, or pretzel anything, I am all in.

Egalleys for Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.

The coziest of mysteries. Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust is exactly what you want from a cozy mystery. It keeps you guessing and sets the mood right from the first page. I am looking forward to more of her releases in years to come.

Delilah is back and determined to keep her new restaurant on track by hoping to win a local contest. She’s going to combine bratwurst and pizza in a dish. However, a man is poisoned in the new juice bar down the street. The bar is owned by the girlfriend of Delilah’s ex. When the next day the girlfriend is also poisoned, the plot really thickens. I love the characters in this series. There’s a lot going on in this book but all things eventually find a good ending.

Ashes To Ashes, Crust To Crust

This novel is the second book in Mindy Quigley’s luscious Deep Dish Mystery series, set in a Wisconsin pizzeria.

The description of the food was great. Very interesting characters. Many twists and turns to solving this mystery. I recommend this book.

Thanks to Net vGalley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

I jumped into this series with this book, because a cozy mystery around a deep dish pizza place in Wisconsin sounded fun, and I’m glad I did. The book does a good job of filling in whatever information that’s important from the first book, and I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything.

This was a fun and intriguing mystery with all the right ingredients of coziness. Perfect for cozy mystery fans.

👍
+ This was a fun read with poison, dead bodies (yes, plural), set in a town with a history of gangsters.
+ The mystery was quite intriguing. There were some layers to it so even if you figured out a bit of it, there was more to uncover. I also never felt like the main character was ignoring some obvious clue for the sake of plot, which is a big pet peeve of mine.
+ This might be the first book I read that was set in Wisconsin? It was fun to find out more about the state, especially through food.
+ Other great cozy mystery ingredients: the detective love interest (who’s Al Capone’s great-grandson), the quirky employees and townspeople, curmudgeonly cat, recipes at the end, small town setting.

👎
- There were too many comments about people’s (and one cat’s) weight. Especially for a book being published now.
- I found the main character grating, especially initially. She’s a little too judgmental, abrasive and one-track-minded. Having said that, I also found over time that she grew on me 😀
- This is very specific but, the arguments that people got into were very out of the blue and blown super out of proportion.

Overall rating: 3.5 ⭐

Thank you so much St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC!

This second book in Deep Dish Mysteries has Delilah getting ready to enter a town food contest, while she also deals with finances, her ex-fiancée finding a new girlfriend, cat custody, and (of course) murder. I really like Delilah's friendship with Sophie, her love of Butterball, and her kind but independent personality. The mystery in this book was pretty good - although I figured out some of it, I didn't guess everything.

I'd recommend this to lovers of cozy mysteries - especially if you are hungry :)

I enjoy a good cozy mystery. Ashes to Ashes – Crust to Crust is the second in the Deep Dish Mystery series. Delilah O’Leary owns a pizza restaurant in Geneva Bay Wisconsin. With winter coming on, she is struggling with ideas to keep the restaurant open all winter. Delilah has split from her longtime boyfriend, Sam. Sam has taken up with the owner of the new juice bar in town, Jordan. When Delilah agrees to meet Sam at the juice bar, she witnesses a death – which turns out to be a poisoning. Jordan is also poisoned but her does wasn’t lethal. Delilah “helps” the police detective, Calvin Capone. Capone doesn’t think of it as help. During all of this, Delilah is dealing with employee’s emotions, her failing Aunt Biz, and her cat Butterball. I feel like the characters were fleshed out quite well. I enjoyed learning more about the regulars. My only concern is the emphasis on weight. Delilah’s body size is mentioned several times. Her cat is even on a diet. In today’s society, this seems out of place.

This is a new to me author and I don't really read cozy mysteries normally, but I really enjoyed this book!

Loved the Wisconsin location and felt like I was there. And the food!! Also how could you not love Butterball??!!

I would like to have maybe gotten deeper into the characters.

But it was fun and funny, had a little romance, and I didn't figure out "whodunnit" which is always a plus for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.