The diva delivers on a promise

Event planner Sophie Winston is attending a board meeting of the charity A Healthy Meal at Gerrie Stansfield's home when a man's body is found on the floor in the dining room. He's been stabbed to death, and Gerrie recognizes Russ Everett as a former employee of her family's kitchen supply business. But why does he have a baseball cap labeled "Dinner at Home"? Before Sophie can mention that to the police, she's receiving phone calls from the owner of Dinner at Home. Her delivery driver Irv hasn't shown up, and Sophie and her best friend Nina agree to deliver that night. They also find Irv, knocked out in the van, bloody, and missing his cap. While Gerrie knows she's on the top of the suspect list, she begs Sophie to look for the actual killer because she worries one of her adult sons might be involved. The investigation takes Sophie into the world of ghost kitchens, where businesses only deliver food, as well as deep into the Stansfield family's shady past. VERDICT With recipes, ghost kitchens, and family secrets, the follow-up to The Diva Says Cheesecake! will entertain fans of this long-running cozy mystery series.--Lesa Holstine

When a widow is suspected of murder, her party-organizer friend taps connections in the local food scene to find out who-really-dunit. Event planner Sophie Winston is so totally tuned into food trends that she's the perfect organizer for the first convention of the Association of Ghost Kitchens, delivery-only restaurants without storefronts that are all the rage in Old Town, Virginia. Sophie loves a good mystery, and ghost kitchens almost feel like that, because no one can be sure who made the food, except for maybe the person delivering it. It's a far cry from more formal events that Sophie is involved with, like the annual luncheon of A Healthy Meal, a volunteer group meeting at Geraldine Stansfield's perfectly made-up house. Recent widow Gerrie has somehow thrown together the formal event despite her mourning, and everything looks perfect, from the refreshing mocktails to the just-so tablescape. But a scream interrupts the gathering when a dead man is found in the house. Sophie immediately goes into investigator mode about the late Russ Everett's life and legacy, especially because she has a close connection to Officer Wong. In spite of Sophie's knack for investigating, it seems that there's little to learn--unless of course all the potential suspects are lying about what they do or don't know. As rumors circulate that Gerrie might have had a hand in the demise, Sophie can't help but help. It's almost the opposite of how she feels about the fraud at her friend Natasha's newly-started cookie business, with brash Natasha demanding help in the most unsympathetic way. More rewarding for its ongoing antics and recipes than its invocation of a world that seems a trifle out of touch. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.