Happy Friday Eve! Really the best day of the week, especially when Friday is your birthday and you took it off. I'm happy to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for a new start to a cozy mystery series, The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor by Patricia Crisafulli. Accompanying my review are three favorite recipes using pasta inspired by my reading.
Amid a mountain of rain-soaked donations to the Ohnita Harbor Public Library rummage sale, Gabriela Domenici finds a small box that contains an odd-looking cross. When the carved center turns out to be ivory and a clue links the cross to Catherine of Siena, a medieval saint, Gabriela turns to her expertise as an authenticator of historic documents to lead the quest to discover the truth about this mysterious object. But the cross isn’t the only secret in town: first, a beloved Ohnita Harbor resident is found floating in the harbor and then someone else is murdered on the library lawn. As Gabriela races to solve the mystery of the cross, she discerns between infatuation and what could be the start of true love. All the while, she must stay one step ahead of the danger that slowly encircles her.
Publisher: Woodhall Press (September 6, 2022)
Paperback: 394 pages
My Review:
I like cozy mysteries, they are easy reads and great palate refreshers between heavier books. I also love it when they are set in bookish settings like libraries or book stores. This one is set in an a public library in a small harbor town in update New York. Gabriela Domenici has returned to town with her young son after her divorce and the death of her father to care for her mother. She's Director of Circulation and Head of Programing at the local library and is in the midst of organizing a rummage sale to help with funding as they await a referendum vote that will help them save and improve it when a mysterious ivory cross is left with the other donations. When Gabriela's former classmate and friend dies in the harbor, the police and her family think it was suicide, but Gabriela isn't so sure. Then mysterious things start happening and another resident is murdered and it all seems to be tied to the cross.
I liked that Gabriela is 40, smart, and I didn't have to yell at her in my head about her choices as much as some cozy mystery main characters. I did yell at her for some other things--especially in the beginning, I found her to be somewhat judgy in regards to other characters and that annoyed me, but she ended up growing on me and I really enjoyed her mother, son and her potential love interest as well as some of the other secondary characters. The mystery was pretty good, I did have the killer figured out, but I was unsure of my pick until the reveal. The information about the cross and the process of authentication was interesting and gave the book depth. Overall, it was a good escape read and I will definitely look for the second in the the series.
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Author Notes: Patricia Crisafulli is an award-winning author. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Northwestern University, where she received the Distinguished Thesis Award in Creative Writing. She also received the grand prize for fiction from TallGrass Writers Guild/Outrider Press for a story, Loon Magic and Other Night Sounds, for which she was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Patricia is the author of a collection of short stories and essays titled Inspired Every Day, published by Hallmark, and is also the founder of FaithHopeandFiction.com.
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Food is not really front and center in this cozy mystery but there were some mentions including casseroles, macaroni-n-cheese, Fried egg and green pepper sandwiches on Italian bread, coffee, granola bars and a banana, seafood Cobb salad, fish sandwich, iced tea, chicken and potatoes roasted in garlic, olive oil and herbs.
Since Gabriela's mother is from Italy I decided to pair my reading with three pasta dishes I enjoyed-a pasta, pasta salad and soup. You can follow the links below to the recipes.
Cacio e Pepe By Geoffrey Zakarian via FoodNetwork.com is an easy classic:
Caprese Pasta Salad from Giada De Laurentiis via The Cooking Channel is perfect if you are a caprese fan and love pasta salads too:
Alphabet Pastina Soup from Happy Cooking by Giada De Laurentiis with it's fun pasta letters, it's the perfect vibe for a library full of books:
Note: A review copy of "The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.
You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and learn what other reviewers thought about the book below.
TLC Tour Schedule:
Saturday, September 17th: The Cozy Book Blog – author guest post
Monday, September 19th: From the TBR Pile – author guest post
Saturday, September 24th: @
Monday, September 26th: Bookchickdi
Wednesday, September 28th: @kristens.reading.nook
Thursday, September 29th: @paws.read.repeat
Friday, September 30th: @fashionablyfifty
Monday, October 3rd: Laura’s Reviews and @laurasreviews_1
Monday, October 3rd: @kenzathome
Tuesday, October 4th: From the TBR Pile
Thursday, October 6th: What is That Book About – author guest post
Thursday, October 6th: Kahakai Kitchen
Sunday, October 9th: Subakka.bookstuff and @
Wednesday, October 12th: @thebookishalix
Wednesday, October 12th: @always_reading1
Friday, October 14th: @books.ashley.reads
Monday, October 17th: @
Monday, October 17th: She Just Loves Books and @shejustlovesbooks
Wednesday, October 19th: @booksandcoffeemx
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