Food is my life. It’s yours, too, whether you admit it or not. We’ve all got to gobble down three squares a day, plus snacks, so why settle for noshing on a rock-hard plum or cheese whose flavor is indistinguishable from the plastic film it’s wrapped in? Why not make the next bite you put into your mouth pure pleasure?

Deliciousness was very much on my mind when my fiancé offered to bankroll a restaurant with me as head chef. I might’ve surprised him when I immediately unfurled a plan for opening a deep-dish pizza place in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, the Midwest’s answer to the Hamptons. In short order, I pulled together an amazing team, including Daniel Castillo, whose bartending sleight of hand is matched only by his skill at flirting with customers, and my BFF and sous chef, Sonya Dokter.

It’s been a frenzied couple of months—major renovations, marketing, sourcing ingredients and planning the menu. Luckily, stress is rocket fuel for me. Just a few finishing touches, and we’ll be all set for the soft opening next week.

It may seem strange that I, Delilah O’Leary, would want to open a deep-dish pizza place. Why not a high-end steakhouse or a European-style bistro? After all, I’ve spent most of my career working in upscale, big-city restaurant and hotel kitchens, producing delicate presentations of classic dishes. Why pivot from canapes and mousselines to churning out comfort-food calorie bombs?

My fiancé asked me that very question, and I gave him some canned answer about market segments, profit margins, and the availability of local ingredients. But the deep-down, God’s honest truth is I’m using this opportunity to create a home, filled with my chosen family.

You should see the place. Lakefront patio, cozy dining room, décor that’s a modern twist on Chicago art deco architecture. And the pizzas! Rich, buttery deep-dish crust. An almost-criminal abundance of mozzarella. There’s one pie that pairs the floral snap of asparagus with the rich, mouth-coating unctuousness of prosciutto. Or you can try the Red Hot Mama, which marries the zip of red pepper flakes, the tang of fire-roasted tomatoes, and the chewy umami of Italian sausage.

This place is going to make every diner feel embraced by a gracious, familiar welcome with every soul-warming bite they eat. It’s a shame the local health codes prevent me from bringing Butterball, my sweet and sassy lardball of a kitty cat, to work with me or I really would never leave.

The thing is, I don’t have much in the way of blood relations—just a sister who never deigns to grace me with her presence, and a great-aunt who’s about as affectionate as a steel-toed boot wrapped in barbed wire. Loving Butterball can be hard work, too, prone as he is to feline diva tantrums and teenager-level mood swings. What my family tree didn’t provide, I’m building myself. Not that my fiancé would ever hear that kind of sappy mumbo-jumbo from me.

With opening day coming up fast, I’m ready to make this pie in the sky dream a reality. My very own lakeside pizzeria. Butterball and my fiancé waiting to snuggle me at home, while Sonya, Daniel, and the rest of my crew work hard to get things shipshape for opening night. This is my place and they are my family. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them. . . from whatever may come.

Six Feet Deep Dish, A Deep Dish Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: August 2022
Purchase Link

Fresh mozzarella, tangy tomato sauce, and murder: the perfect recipe for a delicious first entry in Mindy Quigley’s Six Feet Deep Dish, a delectable new series. . .

Delilah O’Leary can’t wait to open her new gourmet deep-dish pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin―a charming resort town with a long history as a mobsters’ hideaway, millionaires’ playground, and vacation mecca. Engaged to a hunk with a hefty trust fund, Delilah is poised to begin a life that’s just about as delicious as one of her cheesy creations.

Just before opening night, though, Delilah’s plans for pizza perfection hit the skids when her fiancé dumps her and leaves her with a very large memento from their relationship―Butterball, their spoiled, plus-sized tabby cat.

Delilah’s trouble deepens when she discovers a dead body and finds her elderly aunt holding the murder weapon. Handsome local police detective Calvin Capone, great grandson of the legendary gangster, opens an investigation, threatening to sink Delilah’s pie-in-the-sky ambitions before they can even get off the ground. To save her aunt and get her pizza place generating some dough, Delilah must deliver the real killer.

Meet the author
Mindy Quigley is the author of two cozy mystery series: the Deep Dish Mysteries and the Mount Moriah Mysteries. Her short stories have won awards, including the 2018 Artemis Journal/Lightbringer Prize. Her non-writing career has been stranger than fiction, taking her from the US to the UK, where she worked as the personal assistant to the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep, and as project manager for a research clinic founded by the author J.K. Rowling. She now lives in Virginia, with her Civil War history professor husband, their children, and their idiosyncratic miniature Schnauzer.

All comments are welcomed.