Pastrami Murder

Darling Deli #1

by Patti Benning

The shores of Lake Michigan form the backdrop for smart and sassy Moira Darling's thriving deli shop. Moira's small town world is turned upside down when one of her cross-town rivals is found murdered. See what happens when her young daughter, a handsome and clever detective, and a handful of not-so-helpful townsfolk are thrown into the mix in this delicious first book of the Darling Deli Series.

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Ebooks, Amazon, Mystery Thriller

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2016

About the author

https://www.facebook.com/Patti-Bennin...

When Cozy Mystery author, Patti Benning, isn’t busy plotting the deaths of multiple fictitious characters, she loves to spend time hiking with her rescue dog, Max, who is her bestest writing buddy.

​Patti loves to cook and the food in her books has been tried and tested in her very own kitchen. She’s technologically shy, and stays away from social media a great deal, because it makes her feel more awkward and introverted than meeting someone face to face.

​Writing is the perfect job for her because in her books, she gets to explore all the topics she loves, food, animals, crafts and reading. She loves her readers dearly, and is thankful for the opportunity to share with them through her work.

Reviews

[Sandra Nedopričljivica · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting but very predictable. I needed more suspense and twists so I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Nola Arganbright · Rating 4 out of 5]

It made me hungry

A local restaurant owner has been killed and all of the evidence points to Moria Darling. A simple mystery but good.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery listening 🎶🔰

Moira Darling is the owner of the Darling Deli in the town of Maple 🍁 Creek. The main competitor is a different restaurant in town. Then the owner of that restaurant dies. Is it murder? Who did it? Moira is suspect as her deli soup cup is found in the man's 🚹 house. She hires a detective too investigate the death. It all comes together in her house when she is confronted by the killer. I would recommend this series and author to 👍 readers of mystery novels 👍🔰. 2023 👒😀😡🏡

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short, fast paced cute cozy mystery. Wish it could be a little longer and mentioned a little bit more of Michigan in it. I loved all the characters and can't wait to get to know them better in the next book in the series.

[Kay Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moira Darling owns a deli in Maple Creek called Darling's DELIcious Delights and the place is booming even in the cold of winter. Her deli has only one competitor in town and when the owner turns up dead Moira becomes a suspect. Word spreads and business dwindles to nothing leading Moira to consider closing the place.

This was a fun mystery. I loved the cozy atmosphere of Maple Creek, the deli, and Moira and her friends. I enjoyed the mystery of who poisoned Mr. Devou as it unfolded. And the yummy food was an added perk--you'll want a snack while reading this. The perfect cozy murder mystery for a chilly evening.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

This is my kind of cozy mystery. It is short, sweet, and to the point. It is long enough to get to know the characters, but without the fluff. It didn't take long to put the mystery together, but it was short enough to not want to put it down. I would love to read more by this author, and I would recommend this book.

[Penny Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am hooked on this new series. The first book in The Darling Deli is as superb as the food that is talked about in the book. Yummy!
Moira Darling is the owner of Darling's Delicious Delights in a small Michigan town called Maple Creek. She has her dream, a great shoppe,daughter, and staff that any owner could dream of having. She does however have a few small problems like no boyfriend and a competitor down the street named The Soup Shoppe. Her business however isn't suffering much from Henry Devou's shoppe. Until he is found dead and Moira is the prime suspect!
Her whole world starts to fall apart. The small town is all a buzz about the murder and not coming in anymore. We all know how fast gossip can travel in a small town. Especially when murder is on the menu. What is Moira going to do? Should she close? Should she get a lawyer?
With the help of her daughter Candice and her staff she finds a PI named David Morris to help. Oh and did I mention he is very easy on the eyes. Will they be able to find the murderer before he or she kills again?
I loved this story and the characters. It has me begging for more! If you love Cozies with great food and mystery you need to read Pastrami Murder.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

1st in the series

I'm a bit disappointed in this book.
It is well written,but you really aren't introduced to the main characters before the mystery takes the stage. In fact the person who is murdered is introduced as a corpse without any information on why anyone would kill him.
I had the murderer pegged before halfway through the book.
I think this could be a good series with some tweaking of the main characters.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the shores of Lake Michigan is the charming small town of Maple Creek. It is there that Moira Darling own a popular deli. When the owner of Moira’s biggest competition is murdered her world changes in an unfortunate way. She is now the suspect in his murder.

This is a great first book. We are introduced to main characters and the setting. Our protagonist is very likable and believable.

[Leane · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Good start to a series. A little short but I actually liked that because we got to solving the mystery without a lot of extra details. I enjoy the descriptions for the food!

[JoAnne McMaster (Any Good Book) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review contains major spoilers, so has been hidden:

No. Just no. The police do not give inside information about an ongoing murder investigation to reporters. The news would not have reported that a bowl of soup from Darling's was found at the scene for two reasons: 1) it was an ongoing investigation and was evidence; and 2) if it turned out that no one from Darling's was guilty, and Moira's business closed as a result, she could sue both the police and the news agency; especially since the news agency was practically accusing Moira of killing the victim to save her deli. This is just sloppy.

But, to make things even more unbelievable - Moira, whom as we know owns a deli, is served by Danielle what is essentially a Cheesesteak - with the only differences being olive bread, steak sauce and no peppers - and she's floored by it. Seriously? She owns a deli but has never heard of a Cheesesteak? She never thought to even make a roast beef sandwich with onions and cheese? Not a very good deli if she doesn't offer this or has never thought of any variations herself.

But the real kicker is the fact that the cops think she did it because of the takeout container. Um, I believe I mentioned above that it's a deli. She sells food and soups to go. To. Take. Out. Did the police ever think that anyone at all could have purchased the soup and left? Did they question every single customer? (Because they'd have to.) Did they wonder why she would be stupid enough to leave her own container behind? To leave incriminating evidence behind? What a sorry excuse for a police department this is.

Nope. I'm not buying it. This is a short book but not even worth the time it took to read it. I don't know how it got any five star reviews. I'm never reading anything else by this author.

[Lauren D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the book. I was really hoping that Moira would ask David out on a date. Hopefully if there are more books in the series maybe they can go on a date.

Let me get back to the story. I did like that the author didn't go into, too much background with the characters, but I do love the idea of a deli. Who doesn't love a good soup and sandwich but to talk about supporting local business is something that in reality we all want to do. One menu item that made my mouth water was the garlic grilled cheese sandwich to go with the garlic tomato soup.

This is a nice first addition to the Summer Prescott Publishing family.

[Carol]

I just started this series of books. Please see my review for the first one - Irish Creme Killer. Her writing flows and is easy to follow. The characters are well developed and interesting. It's a cozy mystery that you can easily finish in one evening and you really don't know until the end "who done it". And it's always a surprise! I admit I was a bit surprised that I purchased the second one. Honesty I didn't think there was a lot of substance to the main story - again compared to what I generally read - but there is a back story that has me hooked!!!

[AngryGreyCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Pastrami Murder after reading some online reviews of later books in the series. Very quick, cute mystery. I liked the characters and the setting and the mystery was interesting. I would have just liked it to be longer!

[Carol Filipow Pigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the right amount of characters for a fast reading short story. Now, I want all the soups!

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found the cozy mystery book series where the restaurant owner isn’t acting like a private investigator, instead, she hires one. Though it’s the typical beginning, where the main character is suspected of murder, the nice twist is refreshing. We’ve to see poison in the food sold by the store in the past, but the reason for it being used was a little interesting.

We sadly didn’t learn very much about Moira or any of the characters, which leaves them feeling a little flat. We do get to know that Moira and David are both physically attractive as they are both described as handsome/beautiful for each other. The book is written in 3rd person omniscient so you would think we would get at least a little more information about the characters. As this is a really short book I will forgive it, however, I hope that they will be expanded upon in future books.

[Ken Finlay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patti Benning has written hundreds of books and, when it comes to cosy mysteries, she has the formula down to a t.
“Pastrami Murder”, first in the 'Darling Deli' series, is a short read set in Maple Creek on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Moira Darling, deli owner, has only one commercial rival in town and, when he is found dead (with a carton of Moira's soup which had been laced with poison) the finger of suspicion points to Moira.
With customers boycotting her shop she has to solve the crime or go out of business.
She hires P.I. David Morris and together they work towards a solution.
The ending is similar to hundreds of cosies though the reason he died does seem highly unlikely.
It's a book for people who don't read a lot, delivering just enough to keep an uncritical audience happy.
2.5 Stars, raised to 3 Stars.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am absolutely enthralled with the Darling Deli series, and Patti Benning has quickly become on of my favorite authors.

The premise is fabulous, the characters are very well developed and the plot is very entralling. At least to me, it was. The story was paced great, it never felt like it dragged on or like anything was skipped or left out in order to make it a "cozy" mystery.

I love that I can read each book in the series in a couple of hours, because sometimes life gets hectic and I'm able to read a chapter here or there while waiting at an appointment, but then I can also sit down and read an entire book in one sitting on one of my days off.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soup Dejoure Not

This is a humorous clean cozey murder mystery short but full of intreage and excitement. My gran called them pocket novels. This is the kind of pocket novel I really enjoy while waiting in the doctors office. Moira Darling owner of the Darling Deli is accused of murdering her competition, but it wasn't her and time to prove it. Will Moira be able to figure things out in time before it my be to late ? The only way to find out what happens is aquier a copy and start enjoying " Pastrami Murder "" so you yourself can enjoy reading this cozey as much as I have. 😯🤔😏 Kat

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love cozy mysteries but this one left a lot to be desired. It had the potential to be good with an interesting plot. The characters are not well-developed which caused the story to fall flat, IMO. There was little doubt as to who the murderer was although the why wasn't revealed until the end. Normally, the title has something to do with the story, in this case, it didn't. I found it odd that she could get to work at 10 am and have fresh, homemade soup ready to go for the lunch crowd. In my experience, it takes a while for soup to cook. I bought the box set of the first 3 books, so I will go ahead and read the next one to see if the series improves.

[Tari · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the first book in the spin-off series featuring Moira Darling's daughter a little bit older and owning her own shop, I wanted to start at the beginning of Moira's own story about how she started doing amateur sleuthing and mainly, how she found her awesome current husband David. Poor Moira was the suspect in this first book, so like all good amateur sleuths, she worked like crazy to clear her name with the help of a private investigator that her deli manager happened to know.

I had a feeling for most of the book whodunit, but I enjoyed seeing how it played out. The showdown was a good one. I really like Moira and her new friend David. She'd be an amazing boss to work for.

[Evelyn Grabas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have no idea why the book was called Pastrami Murder when pastrami was never mentioned once nor had any part in the book. Hopefully, other books in this series will be more aptly titled. I found it short, sweet and pleasant. Enjoyed this quick little read very much. Looking forward to more of the same.
Wholeheartedly recommend to mystery buffs who need a little time out from the long, involved and heavy mystery books. Sometimes a little lighter fare is needed when reading mysteries and this series fits the bill.

[A. Powers · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me about an hour to read this book, so that tells you how quick and easy of a story this is. That's always a plus for me (as a reader, I'm impatient to read ALL the books), but it can also mean that the story felt a little rushed at times. And for a mystery novel, there wasn't much mystery or suspense going on with this one. It was all wrapped up pretty quickly, and there were some pretty big hints along the way about 'whodunnit' that didn't make it all surprising at the end. But, you know, overall, it was still a decent read.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moira Darling's deli is doing pretty good.
Until a competitor is killed with the aid of one of her soups, as the evidence of one of her soup bowls being left at the crime scene.
Henry Devou had franchised his soup and salad restaurant and was making money hand over fist.
Was he killed by one of the disgruntled employee's he lorded over?
Was he killed by one of his competitors his booming business was hurting?
Or, was he killed and framed by one of Moira's own employee's.
A slow paced but fun story

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good first book in a series focusing on a divorcee that owns and runs a deli. I enjoyed the story. It was a very quick and easy read for me. It was easy for me to figure out who the killer was in this story so that was the only bad point to this story that it didn't keep me guess as to who the culprit was. Other than that, it was a good read and I look forward to starting the next book in this series.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Cozy which made me hungry

I received this book from an author as part of a promo. The description of the deli's offerings made me hungry and I am surprised that there were no recipes included. There were some typos. I also have no idea why the book's title was misleading. The victim did not die by ingesting a pastrami sandwich. I don't even remember any mention of a pastrami sandwich in the book. Anyway, I thought it a cute quick cozy.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first in the series. The main character is Moira. Mora owns a deli in town and when a soup shoppe opens and she loses some business and then the owner of the soup shoppe is murdered, she is suspected. She knows she didn't do it but then who did ? Can she figure this out before it's too late?

[Kaarin]

It wasn't a terrible book, I liked the idea, but some of the writing was a little off. During some of the dialog, it says "the older lady said" instead of using the characters names. This happened twice throughout the book that I was able to spot, and one was the main character so it didn't make sense to me. Overall, it was predictable, but entertaining enough to read more in the series.

[Bonnie Drummond · Rating 5 out of 5]

The series Darling Deli Mystery is a good book, but way to short of a read. It's a WHO-Done-It that will have you wanting to go there and help solve the crime. Can't wait to read the next book in this series.

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

The ending is predictable but the characters are interesting, the suit sounds fantastic, and I really am looking forward to learning more about all the relationships and personalities in the series