Cozy Mystery Series to Make Your Stomach Growl

Though recipes in books are a major pet peeve for me, I do enjoy a good food-themed cozy mystery from time to time. Here are several of the cozy mystery series I enjoy that involve cooking and/or eating good food. (This post is in response to Blog All About It's June prompt of "growl.")

The Cat Who... series by Lilian Jackson Braun

While this series is not directly about food, its protagonist, Jim Qwilleran, does do a brief stint as a restaurant reporter in one of the early books. Later, when he moves to Moose County, Qwilleran dines at many interesting places, always bringing home some leftovers for his cats Koko and Yum Yum. Braun always includes detailed descriptions of these meals and the atmosphere in which they are eaten.

Noodle Shop Mysteries by Vivien Chien

Death by Dumpling, the first book of this series, was just published in March, and the second one, Dim Sum of All Fears, will be out this August. Main character Lana Lee is in her twenties, and she works at her family's noodle restaurant, which is part of a larger shopping center devoted to Asian cultures. In the first book, the murder victim is allegedly poisoned by a lunch ordered from the restaurant, but otherwise, the descriptions of food in this book will make you hungry for Chinese food.

The White House Chef Mysteries by Julie Hyzy

Olivia "Ollie" Paras is a chef at the White House in this series, which came to an end in 2016. In addition to compelling mysteries, this series includes fun details about working in the White House kitchen, catering to the needs of the First Family, and dating a secret service agent. The writing is consistently great as well.

Supper Club Mysteries by Ellery Adams

This series originally published under the pseudonym of J.B. Stanley focuses on five friends who form a supper club to help each other lose weight. The series has been rereleased in ebook and audiobook recently and a new title, Pasta Mortem, cowritten by Rosemary Stevens has just been published. The "flab five" enjoy a different type of food in each book, usually while trying to solve a murder that impacts the life of one of their own. 

Ethnic Eats series by Kylie Logan

There are three books in this series about a Hollywood personal chef turned small-town restaurateur. (Book 3, Italian Iced, will be out July 3rd.) I've only read the third book, but the writing is excellent and the plotting of the story is handled especially well. Like the Supper Club mysteries, these books focus on a different type of food each time so there is always something new to focus on.

Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny

These books are not quite cozies, but they are gentle enough to almost match the genre. They make this list because of all the delicious meals Gamache and others enjoy at Olivier's Bistro and at Clara's house. In fact, food plays such an important role in the series, that a while ago the publisher put out a Three Pines recipe book called The Nature of the Feast.