A Kielbasa Queen Mystery, Book #2

Publication date January 2, 2024

Summary

Lydia Wienewski has had a hectic life since returning to Buffalo, NY. Following her father’s stroke, she had to take over running his butcher’s shop to keep the family business afloat. Then she found a body in the smoking shed behind the shop and solved that murder. Now she’s trying to look forward, and in addition to working at the butcher shop, she is running her own café specializing in Polish food, and preparing to renovate a little cottage nearby. Meantime, she catches what moments she can with her equally busy boyfriend, Stanley. The one thing she absolutely does not need in her life is more excitement.

Then her former pastry instructor, Madame Delphine, shows up in the café, along with some of her former classmates and Lydia’s ex-boyfriend. Lydia had hoped never to see any of them again. When Madame Delphine’s body is discovered the next day behind the café, Lydia knows she needs to act fast before he dreams for her business are destroyed by negative publicity.

My Thoughts

This is the second book in this series set in the 1980s in Buffalo, NY. It easily works as a stand-alone book because plenty of backstory is provided.

The mystery was well-crafted with well-hidden clues. The suspect pool was just the right size. Some information necessary to solve the mystery wasn’t entirely revealed. I feel like there was just enough information provided that it can be said the author played fair, but I was not entirely happy with the identity of the murderer.

I loved the setting in the 80s in Buffalo. The story was rich in detail and it felt very authentic. The details about the time period were accurate and well-researched, and Buffalo was brought in through the use of local vernacular and the ethnic and regional communities. 

I also very much enjoyed the descriptions of the food. My family isn’t Polish, but I was raised in a region similar to Buffalo, with a large historic immigrant population from Poland, so the food very much spoke to me. There are two recipes at the end of the book – one for pierogi and one for cookies.

The book contained a good cast of characters. Even among the suspect pool, the characters were well-defined and easy to tell apart from one another. 

Lydia and her grandmother have a very sweet, and unique, relationship. They are only 36 years apart in age, which seems fairly unusual nowadays, but I suppose there was a time not long ago when being married and having a child at 18 wasn’t as surprising as it is now. I appreciated the way the two of them worked together to solve the mystery. Her grandmother was my favorite of the characters. 

I found it hard to really like Lydia. She was occasionally abrasive and rude. When her grandmother called her out on her behavior, Lydia maintained she was a strong woman who asked for what she wanted. While I absolutely believe everyone should ask for what they want, asking and demanding are not the same, and saying please or thank you is a basic courtesy no matter what gender. However, Lydia does recognize that she is changing and growing. She admits that she was embarrassed by the person she was in pastry school; she realized she had acted like a brat. So it’s clear she is growing, and it will be interesting to watch her character develop further. 

The overall pacing of the book was slow. I feel like this story needed a secondary mystery or some other sub-story to help it move along rather than adding so much backstory as filler.

I received a free eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating 3/5

It was a solid read, and this is a series I will follow in the future.

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Content/Trigger Warnings

suicide, depression, addiciton

About the Author

Geri Krotow is an award winning author who has published more than 35 books across several genres. Although raised in Buffalo, NY, here career and family have led to a number of moves throughout her life. Prior to becoming a full-time author, she graduated from the US Naval academy and worked as a Naval Intelligence officer.

To learn more about this author and her books, be sure to check out her website – gerikrotow.com.