A Dish to Die For (Key West Food Critic Mystery #12), by Lucy Burdette

I grew up in Florida and have visited Key West, which is definitely a distinct area, so reading this book was a bit like ol' home week. Hayley Snow is an interesting character, brave but not foolhardy as her husband's father, Skip, aptly describes her, and I have enjoyed my past visits with her. She is also a bit of a body magnet, so to speak, and finds a body along the beach while walking Ziggy the dog. Actually, Ziggy finds the body. Clues are sparse, witnesses seemingly nonexistent, and much of the book seems as focused on her curiosity about an old Key West cookbook, circa 1949, as trying to figure out who murdered GG Garcia. Garcia wasn't well liked so there were many suspects. Could their be some connection between the murder and the cookbook?

While Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher who was at the beach when Hayley and Ziggy found the body, wasn't particularly likeable, Hayley's friends and acquaintances were likeable. Ironically, none stood out in my mind as being particularly memorable. They were just good, ordinary people, the sort you know and call friends. No one was quirky just for the sake of there being a quirky friend. That was a plus in my mind. It made the setting more real. Husband Nathan, the almost mandatory in a cozy mystery cop partner/boyfriend or, in Nathan's case, husband, was likeable and while he fretted about Lucy's safety, wasn't overbearing. The introduction of a female officer from another district was also a nice touch and I'm hoping she reappears in future books.

I enjoyed the story. That said, the pace was on the slow side until late in the book. That allowed the author to showcase the setting and, well, bask in the uniqueness of Key West and the food talk. After all, Hayley does write a food column for the paper.  (Yes, there are recipes.) Hayley never seemed in genuine danger and it was genuinely nice to have an amateur sleuth who didn't rush in without thinking simply so the author could have a dramatic ending. As it was, the ending of this one was satisfying, if a bit bittersweet. The past does color the future, let's just say. We got to meet Nathan's father, and watch the beginnings of a tentative new relationship with him, watch Hayley in action, rub elbows with her friends, pet Ziggy, and, yes, enjoy lots of tastes of Key West and it's food and characters.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for taking me on this, for me, somewhat nostalgic visit to Key West. I'm already looking forward to my next visit there with Hayley.