A Deadly Feast by Lucy Burdette is the ninth book in the “Key West Food Critic” cozy culinary mystery series. Publisher: Crooked Lane Books, May 7, 2019.

Key West food critic Hayley Snow scents-es something fishy when a customer falls stone-crab cold dead on a seafood tasting tour.

Thanksgiving is nearly here, and Key West food critic Hayley Snow has just one more assignment to put to bed for Key Zest magazine before she gets to celebrate with her family and her police officer fiancé, Nathan Bransford. Then, just days later, wedding bells will ring―if death doesn’t toll first.

The sweet potatoes and stuffing will have to wait when Hayley picks up a distraught phone call from her friend, Analise Smith. On the last stop of a seafood tasting tour run by Analise, one of the customers collapsed―dead. With the police on the verge of shutting down the tour―and ruining Analise’s business―Hayley can hardly refuse her friend’s entreaties to investigate.

As if wedding jitters and family strife weren’t enough for Hayley to worry about, there’s crusty pastry chef Martha Hubbard, whose key lime pie may have been the murder weapon―but did she poison her own pie or was she framed? As the hours to Turkey Day tick away, the pressure cooker is on for Hayley to serve up the culprit on a silver platter in A Deadly Feast, national bestselling author Lucy Burdette’s taste-tempting ninth Key West Food Critic mystery.

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I don’t know how the author does it, but this series continues to get better with time, like fine wine, fresh, light and appetizingly pleasing. This fast-paced and action-packed tale quickly became a page-turner as I could not put this book down, devouring it in one day as I had to know how this was going to end.

Hayley is getting married, but she has a lot on her plate with writing an article for Key Zest magazine, checking on the houseboat renovations and now investigating a murder case, this while Nathan is working an undercover case, of which Hayley is dying to know more about.

This was a well-written and tightly woven tale with a mystery that catered to my every whim. It had drama, suspects, intrigued, suspense and a few twists and turns that enhanced my reading pleasure. Bonus to me was the camaraderie that existed between Hayley and the many people that crossed in her path in this drama. There were a few moments that gave me pause, but it all worked out for the best and we really got the chance to see everyone at their best. Some standouts in this tale were her mom and Miss Gloria who continues to add humor when needed. Hayley has certainly grown in the series and I’m glad to see her trust her instincts that helped in the end. And the moment I’ve been waiting for happened and what a glorious finale that was worth the wait.

This is the best book in this delightfully entertaining series and I can’t wait to see where we go next with Hayley and her friends.