Book Review: Murder By Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage

Title: Murder By Cheesecake

Author: Rachel Ekstrom Courage

Series: Golden Girls Cozy Mystery #1

Page Count: 336

Publish Date: Hyperion Avenue

Publisher: April 15, 2025

Buy Murder By Cheesecake at Amazon

Synopsis:

When Dorothy’s obnoxious date is found dead in a hotel freezer, it not only ruins a gorgeous cheesecake but threatens the elaborate St. Olaf–themed wedding Rose is hosting.

Things are heating up, and not just because of Blanche’s hot flashes. Rose’s cousin is eloping to Miami, and Rose is playing host. If she can’t balance the groom’s family’s snobbery against the traditional St. Olaf wedding week guidelines, her hometown may never accept her cousin again!

Dorothy quickly realizes she needs a date with whom she can exchange wedding-related wisecracks. Turning to a newfangled VHS dating service, she believes she’s found the ideal conversationalist. Unfortunately, what looks good on TV can actually be a total jerk in real life. It seems she’ll just have to enjoy the company of Sophia, Blanche, and whomever Blanche has targeted for a hookup.

As the Girls all pitch in, Rose is thrilled that the tea-and-fish-themed kickoff event is perfect, not a herring out of place. That is until Dorothy’s date is found dead—face-planted in an otherwise scrumptious-looking cheesecake. With every guest a suspect (especially Dorothy) and a marriage on the line, the four besties must ID the real killer, get the should-be-happy couple down the aisle, and make sure nobody from St. Olaf gets lost in the wilds of Miami. It’s up to the Golden Girls to sleuth out a way for friendship and love to win the day!

Murder By Cheesecake

The post may contain affiliate links. This means that should you make a purchase after following one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

My Review:

The publisher sent me a copy of this book to review via NetGalley.

Being an avid fan of The Golden Girls, I knew I had to read this book, and I was not disappointed.

First off, I have to applaud the perfect characterization of the four women. From Blanche’s flirtatious ways, Sophia’s quick wit, Dorothy’s no-nonesence approach to life, and Rose’s innocence, everything was spot on.

Having Dorothy use a VHS dating service truly showed that the story was set in the same timeline as the show because initially, I wasn’t sure if it would follow that or not. While this is far from her normal way of seeking out dates, she’s desperate and decides to give it a try.

One big highlight of this story is all of the zany St. Olaf traditions. Anyone familiar with the show knows of the many crazy things that happen in St. Olf through Rose’s stories; however, the traditions for the wedding show just how random some of them are.

Also, watching Rose try to navigate her way through balancing the St. Olaf traditions with the more toned down traditions of the grooms demanding family certainly left her with a lot on her plate – and that doesn’t even account for the murder mystery.

While Rose is often portrayed as a bit of a bumbling idiot, and that is something she acknowledges in this book, it’s nice to see her take on several serious tasks and nail them. It shows that she isn’t just the dumb blonde of the group and can pull her weight when needed.

Watching the women navigate this wedding is one thing, but seeing how they tackle their own murder investigation, much to the frustration of Detective Silva, was fantastic. The lengths they will go to in order to track down some evidence was highly amusing.

Now, we can’t forget about the bride and groom, Nettie and Jason. These two added a dash of youth to the story and helped move the wedding plot along, though their role in the story was smaller than the four main women. And, of course, there was the rest of the St. Olaf visitors who certainly added a lot of variety to the story as well.

Much like with Nettie and Jason, their roles were light but had a few key contributions to the story. Not only did they help to push through some of the particular St. Olaf traditions, but their reactions to the murder investigation and Miami as a whole were entertaining.

When Sophia uttered the words, “Picture it, Sicily…” I could not help but smile because it is a key part of her character to throw out stories that start with those three words. Her contribution to the murder investigation, along with helping to entertain the St. Olafian’s was fantastic. Sassy as she can be, Sophie is always ready to help.

The references to some episodes of The Golden Girls truly brings this story fully into that world and shows great dedication to detail in this book.

The clues scattered throughout were fun to try to piece together, and while I had my suspicions of who the murderer was, I’m happy to announce that I got it wrong. However, the way that the murdered was revealed was fantastic.

Sprinkle in a few unexpected moments along the way, especially at the end, and this was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Overall, this book was fantastic. It has everything you would expect from an episode of The Golden Girls but with a dash of murder mystery to add extra character. I truly hope there are more books to come in this series because I will happily add them to my TBR.

This book is perfect for fans of The Golden Girls but also for those who enjoy cozy mysteries.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Murder By Cheesecake. Have you read this book?

Buy Murder By Cheesecake at Amazon