If you love the Golden Girls, you will love the touch of nostalgia this books brings. The author does a good job channeling her inner Golden Girl.

3.5/5 ⭐️
A cozy mystery based on the beloved TV show! Rose is determined to help her niece Nettie have a wedding that meets the St. Olaf traditions. However, a man is discovered murdered, on top of the cheesecakes Rose has made. Even worse, this man seems to be Dorothy's most recent date who ran out on their date. They set out to clear Dorothy's name and make sure Nettie has a great wedding.

This was a little slow at first, partly because there was a lot of set-up. The first half felt almost like an episode of Golden Girls, and the second half is where more of the investigating. I loved all the actual investigating scenes - they were hilarious and I could just imagine the characters in the shenanigans. I wish there had been more of this, although I do understand having storylines that make it feel true to the show.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you are a fan of The Golden Girls, don't miss this!

Ms. Courage wrote each character so well, I felt like I was watching an episode of the show. The dialogue is terrific. She stays true to each character and it was such fun to be with these four ladies again! The mystery itself was good, but the ladies and their sleuthing definitely take center stage.

I hope this will be a series, it will be fun to pick up another Golden Girls mystery!

I unfortunately found this difficult to follow and ended up dnf'ing maybe 50 pages in. I think the concept of a Golden Girls cozy mystery is cute and thought it would be something I enjoyed, but that was unfortunately not the case. I only watched a few episodes of the showing growing up, maybe this would have been easier for me to follow if I was more familiar with that.

This was a cute and cozy mystery. I enjoyed it a lot and I appreciate the details and research put in by the author to make it feel just like an episode of Golden Girls.

Picture it…Miami and a dead man.

Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage perfectly captures the sassy and sweet tone of The Golden Girls TV series. The nostalgia is real, the mystery is cozy, and the girls are a riot!
Thanks to the puns, I giggled my way through each page. The storytelling kept my attention, mostly because the characters were well-written! It was fun to learn more about the ways of St. Olaf and Rose’s family traditions as she plans the wedding, while also trying to figure out who killed Dorothy’s date! I’m looking forward to the next book, I need more Sophia in my life’

I loved it! Will be looking forward for more golden girls books from this author. It was a great before bed read that made me laugh.

I am a huge Golden Girls fan. I have watched the series several times and I adore it each time. So, I was extremely excited about this one. Mystery solving and GG, yes!

I appreciated seeing the girls on paper but this just didn't work for me. There was a mystery. It wasn't great but the storyline was there. It felt secondary to the other plotline.

However, the big detractor for me was the writing style. It felt like someone fed all of the GG screenplays into an AI and asked it to write a mystery with the same characters. There were odd large blocks of description and overall it was a slog for me. I did a good deal of skimming.

Keep in mind this is just one person's opinion and you may love the book! So, if you love GG and enjoy mystery don't let my opinion stop you from checking this out. I hope you love it.

Do you love the golden girls? Yes??!!! Look no further! This fast-paced cozy mystery plays seasons of the golden girls in a book. It was a page turner, full of laughs out loud. I can't recommend this book enough.

Murder by Cheesecake was an absolute delight. The characters are exactly like they were in the show The Golden Girls. The puns were so much fun. Hearing about St. Olaf and the stories told brought back a lot of memories watching the show. The author did a fantastic job keeping each character authentic. Rose and Sophia were my favorite but they were all wonderful. This is the first book in the series and I’m excited for book two.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

One of the most endearing TV shows to come out of the 80’s was The Golden Girls and with reruns, succeeding generations have come to know those feisty old gals from Miami. I was tickled to discover that a new to me author had taken up the challenge to pair these TV personalities with a cozy mystery. Of course, I was going to read it!

Murder by Cheesecake opens with Rose acting worried and distracted so that Dorothy, Blanche, and Sophia huddle about the breakfast table helping her figure out how to bring off a wedding before the bride and groom elope out of desperation. The woman Rose practically raised was planning a St. Olaf’s wedding until the venue fell through. Rose is desperate for her to have the wedding with all the bizarre small-town St. Olaf traditions so Dorothy and the others help her make it happen.

What with the groom’s snooty Miami hotel family looking down on the bride’s family’s quirky ways, Dorothy’s dating service date doing a face plant in the cheesecake in death, and Blanche making a handsome St. Olaf stud get a sizzling hot Florida welcome, the Golden Girls are on full and fabulous display as they work in wedding and detecting to make it happily ever after for all.

Murder by Cheesecake was not a cozy I picked up for the mystery and good thing. I wanted a reunion with the gals of gold and got it in spades. Rachel Ekstrom Courage did a fab job depicting each personality pitch perfect. Rose and Dorothy took the leads in this one. I confess that I was driven to near insanity by way too much screwball St. Olaf’s traditions, but Dorothy and Sophia’s wisecracks, Blanche’s southern vampishness, and Rose’s ditsy-ness hit the spot. The murder mystery was a side interest and good thing because it was the weak spot of the book. It wasn’t that developed and felt tacked on. The wedding drama and the Golden Girls were stronger elements.

All in all, I had a fabulous time and want to rush to click on Golden Girls shows. This is a series and I’m pretty sure I’ll be picking up the next one. So, for those who take their cozy mysteries seriously, I offer a moderate recommend, but if you want to revisit the Golden Girls in all their sparkling glory, definitely grab this one up.

As a huge fan of GG, I had high hopes for this cozy mystery. It was cute, made me laugh and I felt like I was transported into an unseen episode of GG. I liked the storyline and plot, but ultimately something was missing for me hence the 3 stars. If you’re a GG fan and looking for a nostalgic cozy mystery, I’d recommend.

This book was shelved for so long with me. I would read a chapter here and there. The first half of the book was too slow and lots of fluff. Really pushing Rose’s family traditions. The half way mark it started to pick up and got interesting and then it was like someone popped a balloon and everything deflated. A few chapters later it picked back up again, only for one last time the balloon to rapidly be popped. And then a wedding ceremony and it was over. I thank Hyperion Avenue for the ARC, my apologies for not reviewing it in time before the release date, for me it was a hard one to get through.

Oh, my the nostalgia! This was cute and while I could almost envision it as an episode of the Golden Girls it was unfortunately quite slow. The characters however were spot on and I wanted to love this more than I ultimately did. I'm not going to give up on this series as it has a ton of potential. I'm hoping that as it goes along the pacing gets better.

Overall this was a fun read filled with so much potential that I hope gets realized in the upcoming books.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a well-crafted cozy mystery and really hit the Golden Girls spot! It was lovely to be with these ladies again, and the author really nailed that! The mystery was fair and interesting.

This was a cute and enjoyable visit to Miami with our favorite gals. Courage did a great job of capturing the tone of the show and each character. The mystery element dragged a bit, but ultimately wrapped up in a satisfying way.

This book was so much fun!! I so loved the Golden Girls growing up, and this book brought on all the feels on Dorothy, Sophia, Rose And Blanche and the antics of the show!! This was a great mystery, and the characters felt so real, I had a great time with this book! I highly recommend this book!!

I'm over the moon about this Golden Girls mystery series!
Reading this feels 100% like watching an episode of The Golden Girls - enough said, but I'll go on.

Like most sitcoms, The Golden Girls usually follows two storylines. Storyline A features Rose, who is planning a wedding ceremony for her cousin, Nettie, following the traditional St. Olafian traditions - only in Miami. Storyline B takes us on a familiar path, in which Dorothy is looking for a date, this time to the wedding.

This leads to the Girls finding a dead body in a hotel freezer, right next to Rose's cheesecakes!
I cannot express how much I loved this book! The author has done her research in writing this, and I cannot get enough. I am ready to pre-order book two as soon as it's available and am on my way to Amazon to order a physical copy!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for our honest review.

This book was so much fun! As a HUGE Golden Girls fan, I knew I had to read this one. And oh my gosh was it worth it. It was so fun and reminiscent of the show while also adding something fresh and new to the story. The characters remained the ones I've always loved. It was a joy to read. As for the mystery aspect, it was engaging without being too cliche or cheesy. I loved reading this book and will be reading more from this author in the future!

Murder by Cheesecake is a delightful cozy mystery that fans of charming sleuths and witty banter will absolutely adore. With its lovable cast of Golden Girls–inspired characters, a decadent cheesecake-themed murder, and clever twists, the novel is as comforting as a slice of cheesecake itself. Rachel Ekstrom Courage balances humor, mystery, and heart with ease, delivering a fun and engaging read that feels like a warm hug—perfect for curling up with on a cozy evening. Highly recommended for anyone who loves lighthearted mysteries with personality!