At Death's Dough

At Death's Dough is the 5th Deep Dish Mystery by Mindy Quigley. I love this series. It takes place in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin which is a resort town that I have visited and am familiar with. The pizzeria scenes make me hungry as pizza is my favorite food group. What's not to like? The book was published in October 2025.

The publisher's summary:  

It’s February in the ritzy lakeside resort town of Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, and love is in the air. Pizza chef Delilah O’Leary is gearing up to celebrate her first Valentine’s Day with hunky police detective Calvin Capone, great-grandson of the infamous Chicago mobster. But their romance is put on ice when a shocking discovery plunges them into a century-old crime with ties to Capone’s notorious forefather.

As old secrets surface, Delilah realizes that nearly everyone in town―from Capone’s cagey cousin to her own quirky customers―has something to hide. With the pressure mounting and the past closing in, Delilah must help Capone follow a trail of clues that could lead them to a priceless treasure... or into a deadly trap. Can Delilah serve up justice before history repeats itself? Or will she and Capone end up sleeping with the anchovies?

I enjoyed getting reacquainted with my favorite characters. Delilah is the main character and she is dating a police officer who is Al Capone’s grandson; Calvin Capone. Her sous chef and best friend Sonya is rather quirky. Sonya is always doing something new and exciting and the something usually ends up being related somehow to the murder. In this installment of the series, the death did not occur until the one third point in the story and we don't know whether it's a murder just yet. Normally I get prickly when the death/murder doesn't happen in the first couple of chapters. That did not happen because I was enjoying the setting and the characters. Another fun character is Delilah’s Aunt Biz. Biz is an octogenarian with a sassy mouth and zest for life. It seems that Delilah is the only character with common sense. She navigates all of these fun folks with aplomb.

The death investigation didn't actually happen. No witnesses were interviewed. I found this unbelievable but remembered that cozies require a suspension of belief. It seems that Capone’s shady cousin Dominic was secretly in town for an unknown reason. Delilah believes that he was searching for a treasure that disappeared after a train robbery 100 years ago because who, in their right mind, would scuba dive under a frozen lake in the winter. When Delilah and company realized that the treasure might be stashed in Geneva, she and friend Daniel dived under the ice to see if it was buried there. The results of the dive could determine whether Dominic was murdered or accidentally drowned under the ice.

I loved this cozy mystery and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.