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DELICIOUSLY QUIRKY, COZY CULINARY MYSTERIES YOU CAN BRING TO THE THANKSGIVING FEAST

Updated: 5 days ago

Thanksgiving is supposed to be about gratitude, togetherness, and carbohydrates—the holy trinity. But for many of us, it’s also the annual gathering of estranged siblings, button-pushing third cousins, the aunt who asks intrusive life-update questions with the confidence of a census worker, that one uncle determined to rehash old grievances, and the family friend who somehow knows your dating history better than you do. It’s love… but with side quests. Which is why you need an escape plan. A distraction that won’t get you yelled at for “always being on your phone,” but will still mentally whisk you away from the lingering dysfunction in the next room.



Enter: the quirky cozy foodie mystery: warm, delicious, slightly absurd stories with just enough intrigue to justify slipping away from the table with a glass of wine and hide in the pantry for eight minutes of peace. These books come with lovable sleuths, delicious settings, low-stakes danger, and enough drama to remind you that, hey, at least you’re not trying to solve a murder between courses (yet).


Consider this your Thanksgiving survival stack:



Published by: St. Martin's Griffin



Lyndsay Murray is finally living her dream of opening a West Indian bakery in Brooklyn’s Little Caribbean with her close-knit family—until a rival bakery owner storms in, threatens her, and then turns up murdered. Since he publicly confronted her days earlier, Lyndsay becomes the prime suspect, pushing her and her family into amateur-detective mode. Expect warm aunties, heritage-rich recipes, neighborhood tension, and a heroine determined to clear her name before her grand opening falls apart.


Published by: Berkley



After a brutal breakup, Lila Macapagal moves back home to help save Tita Rosie’s struggling Filipino restaurant—only to have her food-critic ex-boyfriend drop dead while eating there. Suddenly Lila is juggling a furious family, a determined (and annoyingly cute) lawyer, and a murder investigation in which she’s somehow the top suspect. It’s part cozy, part comedy, and 100% filled with Filipino dishes that’ll make you wish you were eating adobo instead of dry Thanksgiving turkey.


Published by: Berkley



Twins Koby and Keaton have reunited after years apart and are opening Books & Biscuits—an indie bookstore and soul-food café in a cozy Pacific Northwest town. But before they can even launch, someone close to Koby is found murdered, pulling the siblings into a mystery tangled with their complicated family histories. With equal parts grief and good food, this one feels like a big comforting hug… with a dead body in the background.


Published by: Berkley



Bronwyn “Win” Crewse is relaunching her family’s ice-cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, despite a disastrous first snowstorm and a wildly inconvenient construction delay. But when she discovers a dead man in the snow—someone with ties to her family’s past—her father becomes a suspect, and Win starts digging for answers. It’s sweet, charming, and full of ice-cream flavors that will make you crave dessert even if you’re already deep in your Thanksgiving food coma.


Published by: St. Martin's Publishing Group



Fresh off a breakup and back at her parents’ noodle shop in Cleveland’s Asia Village, Lana Lee is just trying to mind her business when the restaurant’s property manager dies after eating takeout dumplings from her family’s restaurant. With the business under suspicion and the plaza buzzing with gossip, Lana starts poking around—only to uncover simmering rivalries, old grudges, and more secrets than a strip-mall ought to hold. It’s light, funny, and full of “oh no, she didn’t” moments that pair perfectly with comfort food.


Published by: Minotaur Books



Savvy Summers is trying to keep her South Side Chicago soul-food café afloat when suddenly the 75-year-old neighborhood womanizer drops dead at table two—setting off a police investigation that threatens both her livelihood and her neighborhood. Between nosy customers, a shady investor, and a suspiciously perfect sweet-potato pie recipe that keeps resurfacing, Savvy finds herself picking through family stories, community secrets, and her own romantic messes to figure out who’s stirring trouble in her kitchen.



If your Thanksgiving survival strategy includes dodging tension thick enough to cut with a carving knife, these cozy mysteries are the perfect getaway. They offer comfort, humor, and just enough intrigue to drown out whatever simmering feud is happening over the sweet potatoes. In a season defined by complicated families and unspoken rules, slipping into a fictional whodunit might be the most functional thing you do all day.

 
 
 

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