Summer is coming. That means lots of events, like weddings, graduation parties, and more.
Some people love to cook and plan out great feasts, while others prefer to let others take care of the cooking and baking, such as hiring a caterer. There’s so many options right now for caterers, like people who focus on American food, desserts, or Chinese food, to name a few.
Catering mysteries are a great theme as it allows the caterer and her staff to venture into a small network of people, whether it's a family, a company, or a friend circle with fresh eyes. So when a murder happens, the caterer can look at the suspects and be able to see things that others may not be able to.
Plus there’s going to be tons of food, which is always a plus.
If you're a fan of Hallmark, then you've probably already binged all five Curious Caterer Mysteries. If you haven't, what are you waiting for?
A delightful culinary cozy movie series with some extra spice from a slow burn romance, these flicks will definitely feed your hunger for a good case. But once these addicting movies roll the credits, what is an amateur sleuth to do?
Fear not! Here is a list of 7 mystery books like the Curious Caterer Mysteries!
Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials
This is the second book in the four-book Singaporean Mystery series, featuring the larger-than-life Aunty Lee.
Widowhood has not slowed Aunty Lee down. She’s established her own restaurant and solved mysteries on the side.
But this time it’s personal: she’s been asked to cater at a wealthy woman’s home, but when the hostess and her son are found dead, the police believe it was an accident with one of Aunty Lee’s dishes. After all, a special nut can be deadly if improperly cooked.
Offended that her food would be anything less than perfect and believing that something more is amiss, Aunty Lee decides that investigating and finding the truth is the only way forward.
Cooking the Books
This is the sixth book in the seven-book Corinna Chapman series by the late great Kerry Greenwood.
Baker Corinna should be taking advantage of the holidays by relaxing, but everyone else is off doing their own thing, and Corinna is just bored.
Then a friend asks Corinna to cater for a new soap opera called Kiss the Bride. Predictably, the set has drama on and off stage, but someone is trying to sabotage the show.
When her significant other, Daniel, needs her help on one of his PI cases involving missing bonds, a bullied intern, and nursery rhyme clues, suddenly her boring holiday is anything but.
A Slice of Murder
The first book in the three-book Shilpa Solanki mystery series.
Baker Shilpa Solanki has moved to Otter’s Reach, located in Devon, England, after her late uncle left her a house and a stall in the Saturday market. When she gets hired to do a wedding cake for the pending nuptials of Mason and Harriet, she is thrilled to have her first job in her new home.
The following day of the wedding, she learns that death may have parted the couple too quickly: the groom was found murdered, stabbed with a kitchen knife.
Now Shilpa decides that she needs to gather all the ingredients (clues) to make another type of cake (solving the crime).
Murder on the Page
Literature and food? What better combination is there?
Allie Catt has come up with a brilliant idea—develop entire menus/catering events around the client’s favorite book.
Her first event based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was a success. But when her friend’s aunt is murdered, Allie finds herself dealing with an entirely different kind of puzzle: clearing her friend’s name.
The second book in the Literary Dining Mysteries series, Murder by the Millions, is expected in October 2025.
Here Comes the Body
This is the first in the five-book (so far) Catering Hall Mystery series.
Recently widowed Mia Carina decides to return to Astoria, Queens to help her father, a retired mobster, with his catering hall of Belle View. But her father is in the hot seat after a bachelor party goes terribly wrong when a woman is found dead in the cake she was supposed to jump out of.
Mia’s father apparently knew the woman, and the police believe her father had something to do with it. When more bodies start popping out of the woodwork, Mia has to figure out who is trying to frame her dad and who actually is the murderer.
Star-Crossed Egg Tarts
This is the second book in the Magical Fortune Cookie mystery series.
Felicity Jin finally found her magical ability after years of showing no aptitude for her family’s legacy: she can make fortune cookies that actually predict the future. However, it only works in very specific circumstances that she doesn’t completely understand…yet.
She and her mom have been asked to cater the Lum-Wu outdoor wedding, including a wedding “cake” of egg tarts. But the marriage gets off on a really bad start when Felicity finds the missing groomsman dead under the table with the desserts.
Soon, she learns that underneath the happy wedding veneer, the married couple and their friends have deep resentments and other unresolved issues. Can Felicity figure out who killed the groomsman before anyone else is murdered next?
One Poison Pie
The seven-book Kitchen Witch Mystery series has that special touch of magic in it.
Mia Malone has just moved back to Magic Springs, Idaho after figuratively being left at the altar and losing her job.
The nice thing about moving home is that Mia does not have to hide her magic (as much) anymore. But her past isn’t quite in the rearview window yet—her ex-fiancé’s sister, Christina, needs help, and so Mia takes her in.
Using her magical abilities in her own food, Mia is keen to start her new gourmet catering service with a birthday party. But when the host is found dead, the police think Mia was the one behind the death.
Now Mia has to find the real killer before they find her.
Featured image: engin akyurt/Unsplash
