Cozy mysteries and Christian fiction have long been two of my favorite genres, and I'm thrilled that publishers are finally starting to combine these two in more recent releases. I've now read a few of these novella collections from Barbour, and each one has been a wonderful collection of cozies. I wasn't expecting this one to be any different, and I ended up enjoying it just as much.

In Death by Food Truck, the reader travels to a food truck court in Birch Tree, Maine where murder seems to keep being added to the menu. Each individual story focuses around one food truck and it's corresponding murder, and I thought the food truck setting added an air of originality to this genre, and it was unlike any cozy I'd ever truly read before.

The first story was Unlucky Noodles, and it ended up being one of my favorite of the four. The main character had a wonderful friendship with her co-worker and her husband, and I also loved how strong the faith element was. The murder mystery kept me guessing, and it also touches on some deeper themes like domestic abuse. Overall, 4/5.

Next was Dead as Donut, and this one ended up being my least favorite of the three. While there were certain elements I enjoyed, like Ida and her hilarious group of gardening club friends, overall I felt it wasn't quite as good as the others. The story seemed a tad more on the juvenile side, and the mystery wasn't as well put together as I was hoping for. Overall, 2.5/5

Next was Lethal Spuds, which ended up being my other favorite. The story was touching and tragic, and I loved the amazing relationship that the main character had with her grandfather. This one touches on after effects that soldiers experience after serving in the military, and the murder mystery was well put together, and continued to keep me guessing. Overall, 4/5.

Lastly was Taco Tragedy, and this one would have ended up being probably my favorite of the entire collection if the culprit hadn't been beyond belief obvious. I liked the characters, the setting, and the writing style, but I was disappointed in how easily solvable the mystery was. Overall, 3.5/5

I think this is another wonderful collection of cozies from Barbour, and it's one I would definitely recommend if you enjoy clean cozy mysteries and/or Christian fiction.

My only real complaint was that I wish there had been a bit more continuity between the stories. It seemed kind of implausible that a small town food truck court would have a different murder connected to each food truck without the owners of the corresponding trucks ever talking about it with each other, and/or encouraging or providing support through the process. It wasn't enough to make me dislike the collection, but it did seem a tad strange that the authors chose to write it this way. It probably would have been a five star read for me if that hadn't been the case.

Final Rating: 4/5.

Thanks so much to Barbour Fiction for allowing me to advance read and review this one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Barbour) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Death by Food Truck is a collection of related Christian mysteries concerning 4 separate food trucks in Birch Tree, Maine. Each story is separate with the characters knowing the other food truck owners.
The four books in this collection are:
Un-Lucky Noodles by Joi Copeland
Dead as Donut by Cynthia Hickey
Lethal Spuds by Linda Baten Johnson
Taco Tragedy by Teresa Ives Lilly

As a total review, I found theses stories okay. Some held my interest more than others and the first really pushed the religious aspect. I don’t need it in my face the entire story.

Un-Lucky Noodle deals with domestic abuse, relocation, and starting over. This story is the most religious based of the four. I could feel for Mey and feel her terror when Paul appeared at her food truck a year after she had Texas.

I found Lethal Spuds by Linda Baten Johnson the most compelling read. It deals with lifelong friends, loyalty to each other and community, depression, and healthcare professions having a hard time dealing with the last few years in that industry. I loved the sense of community in the town of Birch Tree. The author did a great job incorporating the issues in a mystery. I loved the twist we learn near the end. Bravo to a well written story.

I was given an advanced readers' copy and am not required to leave a positive review.

In Death by Food Truck, you'll find four cozy mysteries by four different authors that center around a food truck park. Each story has a flavor all its own. I liked some of the stories better than others and enjoyed the way they wove together by mentioning the various food trucks in each story. You'll have fun trying to solve the mysteries along side the characters..If you're a cozy mystery reader you'll want to check out Death by Food Truck. I received a free copy. My opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley, Joi Copeland, Cynthia Hickey, Linda Baten Johnson , Teresa Ives Lilly and Barbour fiction for allowing me to read an advanced readers copy of Death by Food Truck due to be published July 1, 2023.
This is a book with four intriguing stories surrounding four different food trucks in Birch Tree, Maine, where four suspicious murders have occurred, all related to a food truck.

The first was The Lucky Noodle which was Mey's new start in a new city and state. She moved from Texas to get away from her abusive boyfriend. She and her best friend Mei are doing a great business with their delicious Japanese food until the former boyfriend tracks her down and the very next day he is found dead right outside their food truck. Mey is the obvious suspect. This story brought me to tears.

Dream Donuts is most popular in the morning and doing a great business as the long line of customers line up to get the best homemade donuts around. Angel partnered with her Grandma Ida and their great reputation for homemade donuts is suddenly questioned when it seems some are laced with hemlock, resulting in the death of a customer, found laying on the ground behind the truck. Will they be able to solve the mystery on their own and clear their names?

Spudmobile is a former school bus that Tater, Shanice's grandpa converted to a food truck. It is painted green with several pictures of baked potatoes displayed on the outside. Shanice took over the food truck from her grandpa which continued to thrive until a take-out order was delivered to a local garage that somehow had enough crushed sleeping pills to send someone into eternal sleep, which it did. Tater became the prime suspect in his best friends death.

Finally the Crunchy Taco owned and ran by Marisa after her grandmother passed away a year ago. One of the judges died after eating a holy guacamole taco from the food truck.

Out of all of the stories I liked the Crunchy Taco the best. I just really didn’t like all of the talk about religion it felt so overbearing.

An interesting set of short stories that were inspirational and encouraging. Each one having a different but similar version of food truck life.

This was a very enjoyable book! Each short story can be read in an hour or hour and a half. It's nice to read a novella after putting the kids to bed that's wrapped up in one sitting.

Death by Food Truck is four stories in one. The food trucks sit in a lot in a small town in Maine. There is a donut truck, a potato truck, a taco truck and Yakisoba noodle truck. Each owner has his or her problems that are compounded by a death at their truck. As each owner is accused of murder, they set out to prove their innocence and find the killer.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. The characters were fun and plot lines exciting. Each story seems to be modeled after each other so you could kinda guess what was going to happen. Each character also put themselves in situations that could result in their own death. Not smart.

I would recommend anyone who enjoys clean mysteries and Christian fiction to read Death by Food Truck!

A good set of 4 cozy mysteries! All set in the same food truck court, but not overly intertwined. Not super easy to figure out whodunit in each story. At least, I didn't think so! Likeable, and some rather unlikeable characters. :)
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance e-copy of this book! All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I enjoyed the 4 short stories in this compilation.

Lighthearted & easy to read. Not much substance, pretty much "fluff", but sometimes that's nice to not have to think much while reading. 😀

I appreciated that the stories were clean (no language or inappropriate relationships) & not heavy on the romance.

Thank you to Netgalley & the Publisher. I was able to preview this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really loved this book in a new to my series and author. I can't wait to read the next one. The characters and location really add to the plot. This book keeps you guessing until the end

This is a book with four intriguing stories surrounding four different food trucks in Birch Tree, Maine, where four suspicious murders have occurred, all related to a food truck.

Lucky Noodles was Mey’s new start in a new city and state. She moved from Texas to get away from her abusive boyfriend. She and her best friend Mei are doing a great business with their delicious Japanese food until the former boyfriend tracks her down and the very next day he is found dead right outside their food truck. Mey is the obvious suspect.

Dream Donuts is most popular in the morning and doing a great business as the long line of customers line up to get the best homemade donuts around. Angel partnered with her Grandma Ida and their great reputation for homemade donuts is suddenly questioned when it seems some are laced with hemlock, resulting in the death of a customer, found laying on the ground behind the truck.

Spudmobile is a former school bus that Tater, Shanice’s grandpa converted to a food truck. It is painted green with several pictures of baked potatoes displayed on the outside. Shanice took over the food truck from her grandpa which continued to thrive until a take-out order was delivered to a local garage that somehow had enough crushed sleeping pills to send someone into eternal sleep, which it did.

Crunchy Taco is well known for their secret sauce and has a thriving business, despite competition. Holy Guacamole tacos, with the favored sauce, are a favorite among the judges when there is a competition among the other vendors. The most recent competition left one judge dead with the suspicion that it was the beloved secret sauce that was poisoned.

Each one of these stories captured my attention right at the beginning. The characters are all relatable and their love their trust in God is heartwarming. Appropriate scriptures to the circumstances are used throughout each story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this anthology. I liked the characters and would have liked to jump into the pages of the book to meet them and enjoy the different items they made and served at their food trucks. The four stories were all quite enjoyable. My favorite one is Lethal Spuds. This story really hit home as one of the characters is a Vietnam veteran suffering from terminal leukemia which disease was contributed to by exposure to Agent Orange while he served in Vietnam. My brother's death was hastened by complications from the effects of Agent Orange. God bless all present and former military.

What a delicious book! All four mysteries are tied together. They each are fun novellas with a delightful mystery. I sure got hungry reading this! Great characters. I'm off to find books by these 4 authors! Thanks#netgalley and #BarbourPublishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Amazing! Just love a good mystery. Love the fact that these connect to each other even though written by different authors. Gripping and fast paced. Lovely to read when you have free time during your day.

This series was a great balance of suspense and excitement. Each book in the series had an interesting plot twist and enough drama to keep me turning pages long past bedtime. With the stories being based around food trucks I found myself craving the different foods. I absolutely recommend this for anyone who enjoys suspense and needs a more lighthearted read.

My appreciation to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to early review this piece.

I LOVED this book!! It was so good. I started this in the afternoon and didn't put it down til I was done with the book! So good!!
I just reviewed Death by Food Truck by Joi Copeland; Cynthia Hickey; Linda Baten Johnson; Teresa Ives Lilly. #DeathbyFoodTruck #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Overall review: 3 stars

This book is a collection of "cozy Christian mystery" novellas. As a whole, I found each one a delightful quick read, and I loved how they all tied together as they are all about food trucks that are at the same location in the same small town. I do find it a little odd though that they all have murders happen at the food truck and none of them are mentioned in the other books or that people are a bit weary of eating at any of these food trucks after other murders have happened in such a small town (each one only mentions people being weary of just eating at the current murder's location, but I would think it would mention the other murders too). I just know that I would be! But since they were all written separately and then put together later, I'm guessing, you'll just have to overlook it. Some of the mysteries were a bit obvious in who the culprit was, but they still were interesting.

Unlucky Noodles: 2 stars
This story is about a woman named Mey who ran away from her abusive ex-boyfriend to Maine, where Mey and her friends run a food truck. One day, her ex shows up and then dies and Mey is the #1 suspect. This novella was a short mystery with a small bit of romance. I liked the friendships Mey had, and how they worked together to solve the mystery. However, the constant reminder of her Christianity was redundant and unnecessary. I can know a character is a Christian without constantly being reminded they are a Christian. I also thought it was odd to constantly be calling her male friend a "brother". Without that, it was a good quick mystery.

Dead as Donut: 3 stars
Angel runs a donut food truck with her grandma-like friend Ida, when suddenly one of her customers is found dead with a donut in his hand. Angel and her new handsome acquaintance Jack have to prove their innocence and find out who killed Jack's coworker Bruce. I enjoyed this one better. It was also a quick easy mystery with a little bit of romance/friendship.

Lethal Spuds: 3.5 stars
Shanice is an ER nurse who decides to take time off after her mom dies in the ER and helps her grandpa "Tater" with his food truck business. For some strange reason, her grandpa and his best friend who are Vietnam veterans are suddenly acting like enemies. Soon after, his friend dies the day Tater disappears. He becomes a suspect. This novella talks a bit about Vietnam and has a bit of suspense in what could've happened to Tater. I also got a bit of "Grumpy Old Men" vibes (although there were no funny pranks involved in this story) only because the granddaughter thought their quarrel might have been over Helen, a woman who attracted both men. It was another quick mystery to read.

Taco Tragedy: 2 stars
Since Marissa's abuela passed away, she's been taking care of her teenage brother Jose and "The Crunchy Taco" food truck. When she gets an opportunity to buy land to have her own restaurant, other Mexican restaurant owners in town seem furious. Then, her food truck gets broken into the day of a food judging contest, and one of the judges dies after eating her family's famous "Holy Guacamole" taco. This mystery was very obvious, but it was interesting to follow Marissa and Jose as they tried to solve the case.

Thank you Netgalley for ebook! This review is my own opinion.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of "Death by Food Truck" by Joi Copeland, Cynthia Hickey, Linda Baten Johnson and Tersa Ives Lilly. These are very Christian cozy mysteries. If that's something you don't mind or like, the rest of the stories were okay at best.

#DeathbyFoodTruck #NetGalley is a compilation of stories all involving murders at food trucks.
The description states it's a Christian cozy mystery, but only the first story had a lot of religious views.
I see nothing wrong with characters that have a strong religious background, that's what makes each story unique.
I liked that all the food trucks were mentioned in each story, it was well done and the characters were quite good.
The stories blended well and showed the interaction among all of the food truck owners.
Overall I would say this book is a solid 4 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

I didn’t like this book, especially the first story. It was really pushing the religion in it, the character stated twice in 2 pages that she was Christian and it was all about God and Jesus. Most cozy mysteries I read are clean but this one is super religious. I don’t like having religion in my face. #DeathbyFoodTruck #NetGalley

I received this book for free for an honest review.

Adorable cover by the way. But this book has more then one book in it and normally that makes me feel that they will be too short and feel unfinished. However this book was a happy surprise.