Six Feet Deep Dish Review: Pizza, Murder, and a Messy Love Triangle in Geneva Bay

Read time: 5 minutes

🎧 Listened in audio | 📢 Narrated by Holly Adams | ⏱ Duration: 10 hours
Genre: Cozy Mystery | 🏷️ Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks and St. Martin’s Paperbacks

Book Blurb:

Delilah O’Leary is about to open her gourmet deep-dish pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, a resort town with a colorful history as a mobster hideaway and millionaire’s playground. Engaged to a wealthy fiancé, life seems set to be as sweet as her cheesy creations. Then just before opening night, her fiancé dumps her, leaving her with nothing but Butterball, their spoiled, oversized tabby cat. Things get worse when Delilah finds a dead body and her elderly aunt holding the murder weapon. Local detective Calvin Capone, great-grandson of the legendary gangster, opens an investigation that threatens to sink Delilah’s pizza dreams before they even begin. To save her aunt, Delilah has to find the real killer herself.

Let’s talk … murder!!!

I did not know this series existed until recently. NetGalley approved the sixth in the series for an ARC, and I knew I had to get the backstory to read the 6th book and give it full justice. Thus started my journey to go back and start on the first book in the series.

Meet Delilah, or Dee, who is a proud new owner of a gourmet pizzeria. Let me start with what I liked. I enjoyed the relationship Dee has with Sonja her best friend, and her aunt. Starting a business with a best friend could work or not work in the extreme, and I have found that in cozy mysteries, it usually works very well. This one is no exception. I also enjoyed all the pizza references so much I ended up having a pizza while listening to the book. Bringing in a detective with a familial history with Al Capone was BRILLIANT!!! and unique! I loved it. Holly Adams does a good job narrating the book.

Then there is this ultra rich boyfriend Sam who is bankrolling the pizzeria. Now, I have no qualms accepting the concept of a girl kinda living off of her boyfriend’s wealth, and Mindy does do it in a way that it doesn’t feel like she’s a gold digger. Dee is an actual passionate pizza maker and a chef. So that portion worked.

What did not work (for me, specifically) is that Sam is the boyfriend, but there’s strong chemistry shown with the detective. I would prefer one being out of the picture before the next one is shown so strongly. Or, I could accept it if both were courting simultaneously, but Sam was a long time boyfriend, so this one does not sit well with me.

There are also some situations where Dee finds herself in, which are so impossible in real life, that they are absurdly comical. I couldn’t credit those scenes. The ending felt too convenient. Yes, I see the reason, but really, it could have been any other thing too.

This feels like a messy ride coming up for me, but I am nothing if not diligent and I am going to persist till the 5th book, so I can give the ARC its due love. (even if I have to give up the series after that)

Would I recommend it?

This one’s a mixed bag. The found-family dynamic between Dee, Sonja, and her aunt works, the pizza content is genuinely fun, and a detective descended from Al Capone is a great hook for the series. But the love triangle timing bothered me since Sam wasn’t a throwaway boyfriend, and some of the plot situations were too absurd to buy into. Decent enough to keep going, not dazzling enough to rave about.

⭐⭐⭐

5 Book Recommendations

• A Slice of Murder (Pizza Lovers Mysteries #1) by Chris Cavender
  If the pizza angle is what hooked you, this one leans in even harder, with a small-town pizzeria owner and her sister running the show instead of best friends. Great next stop if you want more crust with your crime.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries #1) by Joanne Fluke
  For the found-family bakery vibe with a long-running, comfortable series to sink into, Hannah and her Cookie Jar are the culinary cozy gold standard, and this one’s a classic entry point.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

• Cheddar Off Dead (Cheese Shop Mystery) by Korina Moss
  If what worked for you was the small business plus quirky small-town cast plus food-forward mystery formula, Willa’s cheese shop scratches the same itch with just as much local color.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

• Glazed Murder (Donut Shop Mystery #1) by Jessica Beck
  Since you’re committing to sticking with the Deep Dish series for the long haul, this is proof a culinary cozy can go the distance. Fifty-eight books and counting, if you end up wanting a series that never runs out.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

• Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust (Deep Dish Mysteries #2) by Mindy Quigley
  And of course, since I’m already committed to the series, book 2 picks right back up with Delilah, Sonja, Aunt Biz, and Butterball, with the ex-fiancé drama continuing right where this one left off. So, this is my next book in the list.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

Would You Forgive the Ex Who Bankrolled Your Dream?

That’s the question Six Feet Deep Dish left me chewing on. Have you read a cozy where the love triangle timing bothered you as much as it bothered me here? Drop your thoughts below.

Book Links:

Want to purchase this or any of your favorite books while supporting a local bookstore? Consider purchasing using the sites below. These sites work with independent local bookstore owners to fulfill your book orders. #SupportLocal

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