Thank you NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for this book for review. This book was so much fun and definitely captured the voices and spirits of the Golden Girls!! Cute little mystery and it was so great to be back in universe with Blanche, Sofia, Dorothy and Rose! I can’t wait for more adventures and cheesecake with the girls

3.5 stars

Though any devotee of cozy mysteries might enjoy this book, it's really for fans of 'The Golden Girls' (1985 - 1992) - a sitcom about four older women who share a house in Miami Beach, Florida. The show stars Bea Arthur as Dorothy, Betty White as Rose, Estelle Getty as Sophia, and Rue McClanahan as Blanche. To fully appreciate the comic aspects of the novel, readers should be familiar with each character's personality and quirks.

In this debut novel in the 'Golden Girls' mystery series, the ladies investigate a murder.

*****

As the story opens, Rose Nyland's cousin Nettie from St. Olaf, Minnesota is planning to elope with her fiancé Jason. Rose convinces the couple to come to Miami Beach to have a REAL wedding, and promises to make all the arrangements. Rose's cousin Nettie is a direct descendant of wealthy Heinrich von Anderdonnen, and the wedding must uphold ALL the St. Olaf traditions for Nettie to get her inheritance. The customs include things like the Welcome Tuna Tea, the Bridal Ribbon Ballet, the Sharing of the Soup, the In-Law Triangle Dance, a clown at the bachelorette party, a live donkey at the wedding ceremony, and more. Rose has to hustle, because the nuptials are one week away.

Dorothy would like to have a plus one for the wedding, so she uses a video dating service to meet a man. Henry Pattinson - a handsome, educated, well-spoken fellow - seems like a good match, soDorothy arranges to meet Henry at Wolfie's for lunch. Henry seems very nervous and sneaks off mid-date, which hurt's Dorothy's feelings.

Jump ahead a couple of days, and arrangements are in full swing for tomorrow's Welcome Tuna Tea, which will take place at the Cabana Sun Hotel owned by the groom's family. Rose makes enough cheesecakes to feed an army and platters of tuna sandwiches, and stores them in the hotel's food freezer for the party, when the guests from St. Olaf will meet Jason's relatives.

On the following morning, the ladies open the hotel freezer to retrieve the goodies.....and there's a dead man in the freezer with his face in a cheesecake. The festivities proceed as the police investigate, and it turns out the murder victim is Henry Pattinson, Dorothy's bad date. Dorothy becomes a prime suspect, and - to keep her out of prison - the golden girls are determined to prove Dorothy is innocent.

The remainder of the story involves the ladies searching for the real killer while simultaneously helping Rose with the wedding plans. So there's a LOT going on, and it's all very entertaining as the women disguise themselves; go to a disco club; cavort with a stripper clown; run into danger; etc. It's like a heightened episode of the TV show.

For fun, I'll include some of the book's 'Golden Girls' humor.

♥ Rose is very anxious to pull the wedding off perfectly, because "it would make up for the Butter Queen upset, losing the chicken singing competition, and all the other injustices she'd faced growing up."

♥ The girls arrive at the Cabana Sun Hotel for the Welcome Tuna Tea, and see a woman holding a dog. Dorothy says, "I'm surprised they allow dogs in here", and Sophia quips, "Don't worry Dorothy I called ahead to get permission for you."

♥ To prepare for the wedding activities, Rose dispatches Jason to get a goat horn, fifteen tubs of grass-fed butter, twelve yards of ribbon, at least sixteen white towels, loofahs, shower caps, suits for the groomsmen, a tin whistle, extra tubes of concentrated herring paste, a few willow branches, and twenty ounces of canned or jarred lingonberries. Jason has to do this to make up for his "rather tepid throwing of the hay during the last annual Hay Day - that really disappointed the elders."

♥ The gals are discussing what talents they have to solve a murder, and Blanche speculates about investigating with Jorgen - a handsome young Norwegian man in the wedding party. "Like maybe if we're spying on someone, Jorgen could lift me up to peek in a window with his big strong hands around my waist. Maybe a stakeout on a secluded beach at sunset, huddled together for warmth as the sun dips below the horizon. Or if there's trouble, he could fight off some bad guys and catch me in his arms when I faint at the sight of blood...."

♥ When Sophia is in disguise to go undercover for the investigation, she decides on a cover story inspired by her great-aunt Neeta. "Picture it. A woman on the run from a ring of corrupt priests trying to take over the convent. She takes one donkey, a bottle of Communion wine, and the finger bone of St. Agatha and disappears into the the hills. She has seventeen children, becomes widowed, and is now on spring break from her job as a notary public. Look - I even brought the finger!" Sophia pulls out a small, dried out bone from her purse. "Don't worry, it's really a chicken bone."

There's much more like this, which people familiar with the TV show will really appreciate.

This isn't a deep dark mystery, and the gals kind of stumble onto a solution, but I enjoyed the story. If nothing else, the book is worth reading for the wedding ceremony, where Rose arranges for the minister to ring a bell, yodel, and wave his hands over two pairs of folded striped pajamas and say, "May these pajamas keep your marital bed as warm as your hearts." 😊

The book contains a recipe for St. Olaf's Kiss Cheesecake

If you like 'The Golden Girls' show, you'll enjoy this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Rachel Ekstrom Courage, and Hyperion for a copy of the book.

Am I a Golden Girls fan? Yep. Did I love the description of this book? Yep! Did it execute brilliantly? Eh, not quite. But did I enjoy it? Yes, definitely.

This is one of those stories that I think you will enjoy more if you have some nostalgia attached to it. So, if you've never watched Golden Girls, I think some of this will not quite make sense to you. Honestly, as Rose started rambling about her life in her small town, all I could do is picture Betty White pulling off the dialogue with her usual guilelessness. Similarly, I could almost hear Blanche's dry tone as she said something under her breath.

The mystery was not nearly as big a part of the story as I was initially expecting, but once I put that out of my mind, I was better able to enjoy the story as another episode of the Golden Girls but with a murder. Still, I think fans of cozy mysteries would still likely enjoy this book, but more so if they were fans of the Golden Girls.

Overall, I enjoyed this and I think it has potential. I would definitely be interested in reading a second book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I... sigh. I thought this would be fun but it was a caricature in every way possible. It somehow managed to be too seriously focused on the Golden Girls and not seriously enough. For every trait portrayed correctly, the next 5 we're all wrong.

I think my face was in permanent WTF mode the entire time and I really should have put the book down and walked away. If you're looking for a fun tribute to our favorite seniors from the 80s, look somewhere else because this is not it.

TL, DR: I got this book for free and I still paid too much.

3.75, rounded up

This was a lot of fun! The author nailed the personalities, & I appreciated the little callbacks to episode storyline.

The Golden Girls solving murders? Dreams come true!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love the TV show Golden Girls, so I was so excited when I saw this book. I had very high expectations and the book definitely lived up to them. I really enjoyed it!

If you’re a fan of *The Golden Girls* and enjoy a good cozy mystery, this book is perfect for you. Dorothy’s romantic adventure takes an unexpected turn, leading to a not-so-romantic conclusion. The four friends take it upon themselves not only to help plan the best wedding in Saint Olaf but also to solve a murder. This reminded me a lot of the show; however, I was slightly disappointed that they missed a big opportunity to inject more of the humor that made the original series so beloved.

If you're a fan of Golden Girls, you will enjoy this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

📱𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬

𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠: Murder by Cheesecake, A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery by Rachel Ekstrom Courage
𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩: Kindle via Netgalley
𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5
𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:

“𝑰'𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆 - 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔”

----------------

I’m really not sure how to explain this book other than the fact that it was basically like reading an episode of them solving a crime together and it was absolutely hilarious. The characters' personalities were portrayed so well. I enjoyed reading about their antics as much as I love watching them on the TV.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the show, it will not disappoint you.

I went in with high expectations, and it was really hard for me to get through. I found myself getting bored very easily. I felt like the plot was more focused on the wedding then solving the murder.

I would give this 3.5/5. Rounded to 4.

This is a cute and cozy little mystery that's great for golden girls fans. The author does a great job of showcasing each of the girls personalities with some really funny zingers.

I found it to be mostly centered on Dorothy and rose but has all the girls in it.

The story is not plausible but that's not why I was reading it. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride, and you should too !!

thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia are the stars of this new cozy mystery series.

Rose finds out her cousin Nettie is getting married, but the venue in St. Olaf has burned to the ground. Nettie and her betrothed have decided to elope, but Rose has other plans. She will plan a perfect wedding in Miami with all the St. Olaf traditions. With help from Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia, she should be able to pull off the week-long events. Blanche is more worried about what she will wear, while Dorothy is pulling out all the stops to come up with a date for the big event. She has decided to try a new VHS dating service.

While Rose tries to find enough herring necessary for all the traditional events, Dorothy goes on a date with a man she connected with on the video service. She soon learns he is not the man she thought he was and decides to attend the wedding with the girls and whoever Blanche brings.

When it is time for the first meeting of the families, Rose has big plans, including cheesecakes, but when she opens up the freezer door at the hotel, she finds much more than her favorite dessert. A dead man face down in one of the cheesecakes. The man just happens to be the man from Dorothy’s awful date. This is bad. Dorothy is the prime suspect, but anyone could have put the man in the deep freeze.

With the wedding coming up fast and all the traditional events that have to happen, the girls become amateur sleuths to catch the real killer, so by the end of the week, Nettie and her groom are hitched, and the killer is behind bars.

I am a huge Golden Girls fan and was so excited to read this book. Being based on a popular television show, readers can easily visualize the characters and hear the voices as they read their words. Their home, the living room, that front door, the kitchen, and the lanai are all firmly planted in our memories. The author had a huge task to capture the characters’ personalities, mannerisms, and actions. That being said, the first interactions felt forced, but they felt more true as the story continued. Blanche, the ever romantic, is set on a younger man, Dorothy, trying to find a man that isn’t Stanley, Sophia with her sharp barbs in every direction, and ditzy Rose brings her St. Olaf stories to life when her relatives come to Miami for the wedding she knows has to be just perfect.

All of that would have made a great episode, maybe a two-parter when you throw in the dead body, but for me, this story missed the cozy mystery mark. The St.Olaf traditions were fun at first, but soon they completely overtook the mystery in the story. Like the show, the book is set in the 1980s, and I loved all the references, Ovaltine, the fashions, and big hair. But every time the murder mystery came to the forefront, it was beaten back by herring, herring, and more herring, and I don’t mean red herrings that are popular in cozy mysteries. I didn’t give up and kept reading. The ending was exciting, the girls were brave and resourceful, but I had the guilty party pinned down early in the story.

Murder by Cheesecake is an entertaining read for fans of the series nostalgic to reconnect with the girls and their humor and sarcasm, but it is very light on mystery. Those who read cozy mysteries and enjoy following the protagonists and clues to solve the whodunit may be disappointed, like me.

This book was utterly delightful.

Rachel Ekstrom Courage brings new life to those hysterical Golden Girls characters - but sprinkles in a cozy murder mystery along the way. She captures those beloved characters in an authentic way, and I laughed out loud on every page.

Rose shares some classic St. Olaf tales in the way only Rose can.

Dorothy's no-nonsense sassy snark rings true.

Blanche flirts with everything that moves to Southern Belle perfection.

The stakes are high. if our Golden Girls can't figure out the true guilty party, Dorothy might go down for murder. All the while, Rose has to throw herself into planning her niece's wedding.

What could go wrong?

Thank you to Hyperion and NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions my own.

I loved Golden Girls and had high expectations for this book. I did like it, but it was not anything special compared to other cozy mysteries. I found myself getting bored in the middle of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC and allowing me to give an honest review of this book.

This was perfect for any Golden Girls fans. It was a cozy mystery that was written perfectly to align with the characters we already know and love. I loved it

This was an okay read. If you don’t love golden girls you’re probably not gonna love this one. It’s mostly vibes and golden girls Easter eggs. The audio narrator did a perfect impression of the charecters! 👏🏻👏🏻

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me for read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Picture it…Miami…1980 something.
This was incredible! I am a huge Golden Girls fan and this was just the ultimate cozy read about one of my favorite comfort shows. As I was reading through this even the voices inside my head belonged to Rue, Betty, Estelle, and Bea.
This had the sweet people of St. Olaf visiting Miami for the wedding of Rose’s cousin. Rose and the girls have arranged a perfect wedding full of all of the St. Olaf wedding traditions. But what happens when a dead body turns up? A full on Golden Girls investigation, that’s what. This book is so full of humor and heart. And cheesecake.

Ended up DNFing at about 50%. By no means did I think this was a bad book. In comparison to a lot of cozy mysteries I’ve read this was pretty well written. I think this is a very fun premise and the author really does capture the spirit of these characters. The reason for the DNF is I just didn’t find the mystery itself intriguing. I think the wedding/tradition stuff in the first half of the book was too overdone and the character interactions started to feel a little repetitive to me. I think this something I would maybe revisit because like I mentioned I think the concept is a good one and I feel like a lot of people will really enjoy this.

Thanks to Net Galley, who gave me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've never thought of myself as a fan of Golden Girls but I was surprised and impressed that as I read this book, I could hear the characters' voices clearly in my head. In other words, the author captured the personalities, ways of speaking, and essential mannerisms of Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sophia perfectly. It may be fan fiction, but it's seriously a cut above-- and I think the girls would have loved it.

A mystery in a golden girls episode promises a silly romp and it delivered all the best parts you may or may not remember from the show-- Sophia throwing batty, provocative barbs, Rose with her sunshine and inscrutable St Olaf blorgens, Blanche horny on main while dignified, and Dorothy being righteous yet tolerant of everyone's shenanigans. 

Recommended for: fans of the show, Betty White enthusiasts, adults who grew up without cable in the 90s and saw all the reruns, people about to get on airplanes who want to watch an episode of classic TV in their minds, and anyone who likes a low stakes but not cloyingly cozy mystery.

Review also published on goodreads.

It felt like I stepped into the world of Golden Girls. The book is very cozy and depicts the characters extremely well.