Cuban-American Food Anthropologist Miriam Quiñones-Smith just earned her PhD in New York. Yet, her husband Robert accepts a new job, so they and their four-year-old son move from their tiny apartment to a luxurious home near Miami. While Miriam prepares to navigate the elite social circles, a young woman collapses at her first luncheon event. When she is later pronounced dead, Miriam realizes that there’s more to this affluent neighborhood than she thought. Mango, Mambo and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes is a cozy murder mystery that will give you chills and make your mouth water at the same time. 

Thanks to her childhood best friend Alma and her son Manny, Miriam is able to make new acquaintances pretty quickly, and learn much about the social history of her new town. Alma introduces Miriam to a Mambo-cise class and gets her a gig as a TV chef on a Spanish-speaking morning show segment. Just as Miriam starts getting more settled in her new life, one of her new acquaintances faints and dies at their workout class. Two deaths within two months in a new town makes Miriam question her family’s decision to move there and the social circles she is now a part of.

In Mango, Mambo, and Murder, Miriam inadvertently gets the details of how the deaths of the two women might have been intentional and why, and who might be responsible for them. There’s Dr. Fuentes, a well-known herbalist whose tea products were consumed by the recently deceased; the Mambo-cise instructor Jorge who has a grudge against the doctor; and then there’s Juliet, Robert’s ex-girlfriend and old family friend, who is more involved with Robert’s affairs than Miriam prefers. Unfortunately, an anonymous tip claims Alma is responsible for the deaths somehow, leaving Miriam’s head spinning. 

Eventually the detective on the case asks for Miriam’s assistance to see if she can learn any more about certain people of interest, given her unique placement in their circles. Needless to say, Miriam didn’t anticipate adding “private investigator” to her new hobbies. Nevertheless, she agrees to do it because she knows Alma is innocent and wants to do everything she can.

Reyes has some published works, but this is my first introduction to her as an author. I loved how she integrated authentic Cuban recipes into Mango, Mambo, and Murder (and included in the back of the book!), as Miriam’s professional and personal lives encapsulate how culture and food go hand-in-hand. I also appreciated how Reyes incorporated Spanish into the story – being half-Mexican and non-fluent in the language, I loved it. But I understand that it might interrupt the flow for those who do not understand Spanish at all.

I also enjoyed Miriam as a character – smart, bilingual, level-headed, a caring mother, and also relatable in her tendency to doubt herself and think out loud. She is also a much better woman than me for maintaining her composure when faced with her mother-in-law’s bigoted and snide comments. 

The downsides of Mango, Mambo, and Murder are the slow pace and almost predictable reveal of the whodunit. I also thought that some side-plots that didn’t have much to do with the main storyline and were resolved smoothly, so it’s not immediately apparent as to why Reyes chose to include them. However, if this is the first in a series, I can see why she laid the groundwork for more conflicts in the future. 

Overall, I zipped through this story and easily pictured the diverse environment of the Miami region and imagined the savory dishes in front of me, thanks to Reyes’ descriptive storytelling. I also wish I had a friend like Alma. Readers with Hispanic backgrounds, foodies, and murder mystery lovers will enjoy this one. 

Raquel V. Reyes joins our growing list of guests on our Cantina Conversations segment of The Nerd Cantina Show podcast. We discuss her background, why she incorporated food and culture into the murder mystery genre, and she convinced me to make one of her recipes in the book, Picadillo de Pavo (pictured and delicious). Keep an ear out for the interview and pre-order Mango, Mambo, and Murder, available on October 12.