As the owner of Mahalia’s Sweet Tea, Halia Watkins is famous in Maryland’s Prince George’s County for her down-home cuisine. But when she has the chance to showcase her talents on national TV, she becomes the star of a murder mystery that’s too hot to handle! When Halia is invited to serve as a guest judge on the popular cooking competition show Elite Chef, she’s delighted to add some extra … delighted to add some extra flavor to the mix. But as filming ramps up in Washington D.C., there are too many fiery personalities in the kitchen. Halia discovers that pulling off her small screen debut unscathed means contending with a longtime competing restaurant owner, an infamously crass hospitality mogul, and a group of cutthroat contestants vying for culinary glory . . .
The competition sizzles with only a few finalists left standing—and goes cold when the gorgeous young frontrunner is found dead. As murder accusations are slathered over a recently eliminated contestant, Halia, with some bungling assistance from her wise-cracking cousin Wavonne slides into an investigation of their own. A little snooping reveals the victim burned lots of bridges, leaving a slew of alleged affairs and stolen recipes in her wake. With a fast-rising list of potential suspects, Halia must sort through mindboggling clues to fry the flaky culprit before someone else gets baked to a crisp . . .
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I love this series. This is the fourth book in the series and my favorite one! The characters are funny and engaging. The books are fun and easy quick reads.
Thank you to Kensington and Netgalley for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
I know a new Mahalia Watkins Soul Food Mystery means I’m in for a lot of laughs and some mouthwatering descriptions of delicious foods! In Book 4, Halia and her cousin, Wavonne participate in judging a cooking show. Hilarity abounds between the cousins repartee, and the cunning and sabotage between the contestants. However, it’s not funny anymore when a contestant perishes. The author is oh-so-clever building her plot and the true villain is hard to determine. MURDER WITH HONEY HAM BISCUITS is a delightful, fun, and easy read. I highly recommend this African American Cozy series.
I honestly reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and Kensington. Thank you.
Murder with Honey Ham Biscuits earns 4.5/5 Soul Food Treats…Delicious Fun!
I love all kinds of murder mysteries from Agatha Christie to M.C. Beaton, but their work has something missing…food! “Murder with Honey Ham Biscuits” had my mouthwatering and my heart pounding with a cooking show, snarky chefs, cut-throat competition, and murder! It’s the finals of the Elite Chef and Halia Watkins, owner and cook and Mahalia’s Sweet Tea, has been asked to be a judge, replacing one, two, three, four choices who were no longer available. The last week of the competition will be highlighting “soul food” challenging a very diverse trio of finalists: a fifty-something food truck chef, a professionally-trained fusion fanatic, and one with more fluff than substance. It all makes for good TV, and add a murdered contestant, you’ve got GREAT television!
First, who would not be intrigued by the excellent artwork on the cover? I love creativity, but it doesn’t stop when you turn to the white pages. A.L. Herbert’s fourth book in her Mahalia Watkins Mystery had this newbie hooked. The well-plotted drama follows the traditional cozy formula that I enjoy: humor and wit, lots of suspects and motive to consider, some peril and a great conclusion. Although the murder investigation was slow to rev up, it did allow me time to catch up with the main characters and enjoy all the tasty talk and a fascinating look into black history. Halia, for short, is a delightful personality who just can’t keep away from a murder mystery, even when law enforcement demands it, and her family provides a nice contrast and lots of sassy banter. Am I selfish to want…recipes? Just saying. With “Honey Ham Biscuits” in the title along with the food talk and food competition, I thought I might be treated to a “soul food” speciality. However, I was totally entertained and can Google southern biscuits on my own.
I really enjoyed this book – though this is book #4, I really enjoyed this book a lot as a stand alone. This cozy mystery was a joy to read for its characters that I enjoyed reading about. Hali and her down home cuisine definitely had my mouth watering while reading this. Fait warning to all on this delicious book that will have you get up and get inspired to cook or order some nice soul food for take out. I digress, this book had a fun murder mystery component and some twists enough to get you guessing. Overall this was a fun read that I read in an afternoon and really enjoyed a lot. For cozy mystery fans, this is a series I recommend and had a great time reading. This was very entertaining.
It’s good to be back at Mahalia’s Sweet Tea in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Just the thought of spending with time with the wonderful combination of soul food and the local culinary delights of Maryland – think lump crab for starters, be still my heart, I drool at the thought of Halia’s seafood quiche. Well, here we are in the 4th mystery for Halia and her outlandish cousin Wavonne and a cooking contest tv show has come to town, focusing on local soul food. The producer’s assistant shows up at Mahalia’s Sweet Tea to hire her as a judge. Then it becomes clear that Mahalia wasn’t their first choice and the filming is set for the next day. Halia says no thank you but the conversation is overheard by Wavonne and she is all for it, big time. The offer includes $3K for Halia, money for the charity of her choice and free lodging at a new swanky hotel. Before she knows it, both of them are on their way to make their tv debut. One big hitch turns out to be one of Halia’s former employers who has very hard feelings after Halia left her restaurant to open Sweet Tea…..and lots of customers followed her.
The filming starts out fine but soon it becomes clear that there is no love lost between the contestants and one of them winds up dead. With Halia and Wavonne on the scene the killer will soon be unmasked. Along the way the reader is treated to not only a very good puzzle to unravel, lots of good food to dream about enjoying and a whole lot of laughs. The banter between Halia and Wavonne is great and, even with their very different personalities, they make quite a team.
My thanks to the publisher Kensington and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
Murder with Honey Ham Biscuits by A. L. Herbert is the fourth book in the A Mahalia Watkins Mystery Book series. I have read all in the series and love them all! I’m already ready for the next book!
This story has Mahalia being asked, at the last minute, to be a judge for a taping of a food competition. She really doesn’t want to since running her restaurant is a full time job. But cousin Wavonne wants to be involved so she convinces Mahalia to agree never guessing they would be involved in another murder.
This is a well written story with just enough side story and plenty of suspects that will have you guessing until the end. Even though there is a murder, you have plenty of humor. You get plenty of yummy sounding recipes sprinkled through out the book.
The only problem with this book is I want to go to Mahalia’s Sweet Tea for Sunday Dinner!
I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Kensington Books for an honest review.
cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, situational-humor, verbal-humor, small-business, Maryland, chef, culinary
The only thing that bothered me was putting the recipes within the book instead of at the end. The recipes are good, but I found it distracting and had to photo the recipe (and in one case begin it) before I could go onward with the story. Loved the characters and all the laughs as well as it being a good cozy. No spoilers here and the publisher’s blurb is a good hook. I’ve not read any of the earlier books in the series, but i plan to because i’m sure that they’ll be fun, not because this one left me guessing about anything important. I loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!