A Deadly Deli Mystery

This new cozy mystery series by Delia Rosen unfortunately doesn't completely cut the mustard.  While the premise was fantastic, a mystery set in a Kosher deli in the heart of Nashville, the writing felt disjointed at times.  The tale opens suddenly and proceeds to introduce practically every character seemingly in the first few pages of chapter one, so my head was spinning to keep everyone straight.

Gwen, the cozy's amateur sleuth, has recently inherited her Uncle Murray's troubled deli. Having uprooted herself from NYC after a bad divorce, she finds herself with an unruly staff, while trying to run a deli she knows virtually nothing about. Throw a murdered patron on Kosher Karaoke Night into mix and you've got a real recipe for disaster.

While I enjoyed the interesting characters peppered throughout and the mystery plot, I did sometimes feel there was a great deal of let's get to the point already moments, which slowed down the pacing of the novel.  I eventually warmed up to Gwen and the author's writing style, but not before having to put the book down once.

Since this is Rosen's first outing, I'm willing to give the series another go when One Foot in the Gravy, the next deli mystery, comes out next fall.  I recommend the book for those with an open mind and don't mind a sleuth with chutzpah.