Arya Winters and the Tiramisu of Death

Arya Winters, the narrator of this superior cozy from Murray (The Trouble with Rose), has a thriving business creating “macabre cakes” in an English village where she lives in a cottage she inherited from her Auntie Meera, an herbalist who was murdered a few months earlier. Then Tobias Yards, Arya’s neighbor, dies from eating a slice of poisoned tiramisu, which was decidedly not poisoned when she left it on his doorstep. Craig Yards, Tobias’s nephew and Arya’s “excruciatingly average” ex-boyfriend, becomes a prime suspect. Arya, who was hiding in the bushes spying on Craig in his house at the time of his uncle’s murder, can give him an alibi but not without looking like a stalker. So, she decides to investigate, even if it means overcoming her anxiety of interacting with other people. Arya begins to believe that the death of Auntie Meera and that of Tobias are connected, while coming to realize she could well be the killer’s next target. Full of original metaphors and pithily funny descriptions, this lively fair play mystery leaves readers with some serious food for thought. Murray turns the cozy genre on its head in this wryly witty and at times poignant outing. (Oct.)