Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking: A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery

Reyes’s enjoyable if uneven sequel to 2021’s Mango, Mambo, and Murder finds cooking show host Miriam Quinones-Smith just wanting peace as she prepares for her second baby at her home in Coral Shores, “a village within Miami,” Fla. But then the words Help Murder are painted on her house, and an almost-dead woman turns up in her front yard. Even planning for the tedious Women’s Club gala turns treacherous when the executive chef is found dead. As the attacks and body count pile up, Miriam’s friend Ana is brought in for questioning by the police. Intrepid Miriam doesn’t trust the investigation and sets out to unearth the truth to protect her friends and family. Too much everyday minutiae slows the complicated plot, which builds to a rushed conclusion full of explanations of various motives, though the untranslated passages of Spanish lend color, and readers are sure to savor the delectable recipes at the end. Fans of Mia P. Manansala’s Arsenic and Adobe will want to check this out. Agent: Saritza Hernández, Andrea Brown Literary. (Nov.)