Fresh mozzarella, tangy tomato sauce, and murder: the perfect recipe for a delicious first entry in Mindy Quigley's Six Feet Deep Dish, a delectable new series...

Delilah O’Leary can’t wait to open her new gourmet deep-dish pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin—a charming resort town with a long history as a mobsters’ hideaway, millionaires’ playground, and vacation mecca. Engaged to a hunk with a hefty trust fund, Delilah is poised to begin a life that’s just about as delicious as one of her cheesy creations.

Just before opening night, though, Delilah’s plans for pizza perfection hit the skids when her fiancé dumps her and leaves her with a very large memento from their relationship—Butterball, their spoiled, plus-sized tabby cat.

Delilah’s trouble deepens when she discovers a dead body and finds her elderly aunt holding the murder weapon. Handsome local police detective Calvin Capone, great grandson of the legendary gangster, opens an investigation, threatening to sink Delilah’s pie-in-the-sky ambitions before they can even get off the ground. To save her aunt and get her pizza place generating some dough, Delilah must deliver the real killer.

Delilah is nervous about her restaurant’s soft opening, checking and rechecking everything. The one thing she has left up to her partner, business and romantic, is ordering the sign for Sam and Delilah’s Deep Dish Pizza; but when it finally shows up with an interesting error, it sparks an argument that leads to Sam walking out. As the soft opening proceeds Delilah gets moderately plowed and, when a water/bus boy is obviously flirting with customers instead of doing his job she storms out front to fire him only to find her great aunt holding a gun and standing over a body. When it becomes clear the detective assigned to the case suspects frail Aunt of murder Delilah springs into action to find the real murderer and clear her aunt.

This has all the ingredients for a cozy mystery - small town, amateur sleuth, handsome detective, cute cat and good friends - and actually has a “real person” type as our female sleuth is not a trim size 2 but a healthy size 16ish with curves. Delilah also is a super A type with some anger issues and within the first few pages I wondered what the basis for her relationship with Sam ever was since she is so driven and obsessed with perfection in everything and he is way laid back.  Her personality made it a bit hard to get invested in the book to begin with but all-in-all it is a quick, pleasant read with a satisfying conclusion so I will be checking out the next entry in the series. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon