Murder at Veronica's Diner

September 15, 2020
Four feisty New Jersey women investigate the death of a waitress. They have no office. They have no staff. They don't really have any clients. But none of that stops the ladies of the Ferrara Family Detective Agency from detecting their tiny town of Tranquility to within an inch of its previously quiet life. This time, a corpse turns up literally at their feet: As they munch their eggs Benedict (regular for sisters Alberta and Helen and their sister-in-law, Joyce Perkins Ferrara; vegan for Alberta's granddaughter, Jinx Maldonado) at Veronica's Diner, waitress Teri Jo Linbruck emerges from the rest room with a knife in her back. Local cop Vinny D'Angelo doesn't even bother warning them not to investigate, so the women go to town, again literally. After they discover that Teri Jo is actually Theresa Josefina Rizzoli, Helen hauls them all out to Brooklyn to see what they can find out about the late server at Rizzoli's Diner, her family's business. They find out enough to talk private pilot Owen O'Hara, who owns Tranqclockery, the clock-repair business next door to Veronica's, into flying them down to Henderson, Texas, where Teri's brother, Dominic, is engaged in some shady business for Third Wheel, Inc., the company that owns Godfather's Diner, the precursor to Veronica's. As the corpses pile up, Alberta keeps on the trail, eventually risking not only her own life, but that of her boyfriend, Sloan McLelland. But it's hard to get mad at Alberta or at any of the Ferraras, who are so game you can't help rooting for them. Like the heroines' favorite eggs Benedict, not hard-boiled but tasty.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2020

Although Alberta Scaglione is an excellent cook, the Ferrara women enjoy breakfast out together. Alberta, her sister Helen, her granddaughter Jinx, and her sister-in-law Joyce all meet at Veronica's Diner in Tranquility, NJ, but breakfast isn't so tranquil. Their waitress, Teri Jo, is frazzled, so busy that she asks the women to deliver a box for her. They're about to ask for the check when Teri Jo falls at their feet with a butcher knife in her back. Although they all know Police Chief Vinny D'Angelo, they also know the Ferrara family detective agency has its next case. Helen, a former nun, had bonded with Teri Jo, and she's determined to find her killer. But Teri Jo was connected to a corrupt, and possibly deadly, Italian family. An uproarious investigation ensues as the women sneak through alleys, meet a hardened criminal at Riker's Island, and stow away on a private jet. VERDICT It's Janet Evanovich's Grandma Mazur times four when the "direct, loud, demanding, impatient, and tactless" women get together for their fourth case (after Murder at Icicle Lodge). Fans of Stephanie Plum's adventures might want to sample the escapades of four Italian American women in New Jersey.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.