Upscale pizzeria owner Delilah O’Leary is looking forward to her first big catering gig for the social elite of Geneva Bay, Wisconsin. One successful evening could lead to word-of-mouth recommendations that would help her new restaurant survive the area’s tourist-starved winters. 

The Friends of the Library fundraising gala is Prohibition-themed, and Delilah and her crew have been working hard on perfecting a Chicago-inspired menu featuring their signature deep-dish pizzas. Delilah has even concocted several items for vegetarians, vegans, and the gluten-free. But she’s thrown for a loop when the event organizer, Isabel Berney, calls her up with a last-minute special request.

One of the gala’s attendees is not only allergic to gluten, but to lactose and nightshades as well. Despite this, the guest has their heart set on a vegetarian pizza, to Delilah’s chagrin. While this is a challenge she wouldn’t mind taking on in the ordinary course of things, receiving it a handful of hours before the biggest catering event of her career is basically a nightmare. Isabel is, however, extremely persuasive, and so Delilah sets to creating this “free-from” pizza while trying to cart all her supplies over to the restored lakeside manor hosting the fundraiser.

Delilah and her crew have been encouraged to dress up according to the Prohibition theme, to help with the atmosphere. Some of her staff take to this more readily than others, especially her sous chef and best friend, Sonia Dokter. But not even the fanciest clothing can help with the atmosphere when one of the guests, Sonia’s friend Edgar Clemmons, plummets to his death from the top of the main staircase.

Edgar had not been the most popular guy in Geneva Bay–hardly surprising given his pride in modeling his own behavior after his namesake, the notorious J Edgar Hoover. Before his death, he had given Delilah two books with a cryptic message to pass on to Sonia. Delilah can’t help wondering whether this had something to do with his murder. Her love interest, Detective Calvin Capone, happens to be at the fundraiser, too, and takes charge of the scene as the guests find themselves trapped in the manor by the increasingly awful winter weather. Will Delilah and Calvin be able to keep themselves and the other attendees safe despite the murderer lurking in their midst?

This is a delightfully atmospheric culinary cozy with strong classic-manor-house-murder vibes. It’s weirdly cute how much of a non-reader Delilah is, but the real appeal lies in how much she’s grown since the very first book in this series. I do still think she’s in desperate need of therapy, but at least she and her similarly prickly Aunt Biz are aware of their own emotional weaknesses. I also love how she progresses her relationship with Calvin here, too!

There were six recipes included, written in the hilarious voices of the book’s characters, and while there was a recipe for the free-from pizza, I decided to go with something a little less labor-intensive.

Italian Beef Crostini

Ingredients

1 long, skinny French baguette, cut into ½-inch rounds

3-4 tablespoons garlic-infused olive oil (or regular olive oil)

1 lb Italian beef heated in its own gravy

1 jar of mild giardiniera (For catering orders, mild is safer, but if you know your crowd likes spice, feel free to go with hot!)

10 slices of provolone or low-moisture mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450°F. Using a pastry brush, paint both sides of each baguette slice with oil and arrange the oiled pieces in a single layer on a large baking tray.

Bake slices for 4-5 minutes. Flip ‘em. Bake for another 4-5 minutes or until golden.

Remove the bread from the oven and layer each slice with drained Italian beef and giardiniera. Top with a cheese slice. Depending on how big your slices are, you may need to cut the cheese. (Hahahaha! Sorry, sometimes I’m five years old.)

Turn broiler on low.

Broil 2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Serve immediately.

For all of my hilarious attempts at working smarter instead of harder, I found Italian Beef impossible to source in my East Coast neighborhood. I had to whip up 3+ pounds of it–the absolute minimum amount I could find in any recipe–in my slow cooker the night before putting together these crostinis. On the plus side, the recipe I used had me toss in an entire jar of giardiniera, so when the time came to top each crostini with more vegetables, I felt fine skipping that step. The crostini are just not big enough to take unchopped giardiniera, which was all I had left. I’m sure that a spoonful of the chopped kind would have been amazing on these though! I did have the whole version available as a side for the crostini, but they were perfectly delicious even without.

I love how the toasting of each slice of baguette helps keep the bread soft but sturdy, making sure they hold up well against the beef and cheese. I’d never had Italian beef before, but this is definitely the fun kind of finger food that’s great to make for crowds.

Next week, we head to my neck of the woods to serve up a delicious dinner entree while looking into at least one literal and several figurative skeletons. Do join me!

See also: Cooking the Books: Coconut Drop Dead by Olivia Matthews