Four Parties and a Funeral

by Maria DiRico

Overview

Agatha Award-winning author Maria DiRico returns with the fourth book in the Catering Hall Mystery Series, starring Mia Carina who is coming to grips with being back in Astoria, Queens, and running her Italian-American family’s catering hall, Belle View Banquet Manor but a TV casting call is about to put murder in the spotlight . . .

The June events schedule at Belle View is busting out all over—proms, graduations, and of course, weddings. There are unexpected bookings too, including a casting call for the pilot of Dons of Ditmars Boulevard. But soon, Mia’s fears about the cheesy reality show are confirmed . . .

Belle View quickly becomes the site of a sea of wanna-be goombahs and phony girlfriends, and some of Mia’s friends insist on getting in on the action. The production company owner and his executive producer ex-wife—who’s also very minor British royalty—have assembled a motley crew that does as much infighting and backstabbing as the on-screen “talent.” Even so, it’s a shock when a dead body is found in the pool house of a local mansion rented by the show . . .

Murder might boost the ratings. But Mia intends to make sure the killer gets jail time, not airtime . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496739704
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	03/28/2023
Series:	A Catering Hall Mystery , #4
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	150,177
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Maria DiRico is the pseudonym for Ellen Byron, author of the award winning, USA Today bestselling Cajun Country Mysteries. Born in Queens, New York, she is first-generation Italian-American on her mother's side and the granddaughter of a low-level Jewish mobster on her father's side. She grew up visiting the Astoria Manor and Grand Bay Marina catering halls, which were run by her Italian mother's family in Queens and have become the inspiration for her Catering Hall Mystery Series. DiRico has been a writer-producer for hit television series like Wings and Just Shoot Me, and her first play, Graceland, appears in the Best Short Plays collection. She's a freelance journalist, with over 200 articles published in national magazines, and previously worked as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing. A native New Yorker who attended Tulane University, Ellen lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and two rescue dogs. She can be found online at EllenByron.com and ChicksOnTheCase.com.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the Catering Hall Mysteries
 
“Murder crashes the party…Her zany cast will have readers wondering whether DiRico’s series debut is set in Belle View or Bellevue.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“An intriguing, adventurous holiday whodunit!” —Woman’s World, Editor’s Pick for It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder

“The Catering Hall Mystery series keeps going from strength to strength as it follows the adventures of our thoroughly modern heroine. Mia’s narrative voice is refreshingly lively and believable as an Astoria girl navigating life in the 21st century…Loads of humor and charm.” —Criminal Element on It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder
 
“Amiable….A quick-witted girl from the boroughs who makes good as a sleuth.” —Kirkus Reviews on Long Island Iced Tina
 
“Just as much fun as the first, with realistic characters…The mystery was complicated and clever, and the dialog witty and believable. It was also really great to have a mystery set in Astoria-Queens; small-town cozies are awesome, but it’s always refreshing—and frankly more easily relatable for me—to have that aesthetic transplanted to the big city.” —Criminal Element on Long Island Iced Tina
 
“[A] laugh-out-loud whodunit.” —Woman’s World Book Club Selection
 
“Fast-paced and hilarious, the book trades in twists that undermine stereotypical expectations, impressing me again and again with how fresh and modern this novel feels in a typically traditional subgenre.” —Criminal Element
 
“Populated by vivid characters.” —The Big Thrill
 
"A fresh, fun, and fabulous debut to what promises to be a fantastic new mystery series!" —Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author
 
"Mamma mia! What a nifty story. This endearing new heroine has a lot on her plate—all of it delicious fun!" —Laura Levine, author of Death of a Gigolo

"A catered feast of a mystery." —Sherry Harris, author of Let’s Fake a Deal

From the Publisher

2023-02-24
An event planner’s busy schedule must make room for murder.

Mia Carina should be over the moon. Her relationship with model Shane Gambrazzo is burning so hot that it’s not beyond belief that a proposal is in the offing. Belle View Banquet Manor, her family’s catering business, is doing so well that her father, Ravello, can finally claim to be the legitimate businessman he’s always promised her he’d become. And now Giles St. James Productions wants to use Belle View to film segments of The Dons of Ditmars Boulevard, a new reality show. As if riding herd on a bunch of feisty dons and donettes in their mid-20s weren’t challenge enough for Mia, she’s soon placed in charge of the multitude of events surrounding her cousin Jamie’s upcoming wedding to Madison Wythe, whose Connecticut relatives’ belief that crackers and cheese constitute adequate refreshments for an engagement party leaves Mia’s Queens/Long Island family scandalized and famished. Of course, a good planner is never too busy for murder, and Mia gets her chance to investigate when Giles St. James himself turns up dead in the changing room while shooting a pool-themed segment of Dons of Ditmars. She focuses on finding the perp to prevent Little Donny Boldano, another of her cousins, from being charged with St. James’ murder. All this keeps Mia from dealing with the youthful indiscretion that prevents Shane from popping the question. In keeping with the Carina-Boldano clan’s credo that more is more, DiRico piles it on so thick and fast that readers can’t help loving it.

Molto mayhem.

Kirkus Reviews