This gets 1 star just because I can't believe an editor even allowed this book to get past them to be published. Clearly written by a different ghost writer than the first book in the series, as evidenced by the copyright page, no effort whatsoever was made for there to be any consistencies. The name of the detective love interest changed, family background was different, even the name of the deli changed. I had to keep checking to make sure I didn't accidentally skip a book in the series because I felt I was missing that much. The next book in the series is written by the same person as this one, so maybe if I can try to forget that the first book existed it will be better, but I was very off-put by this sloppy attempt at continuing the series. food-mysteries6 s Amy L. 161 4

The "author" Delia Rosen is not a real person. The first book in this series was written by a husband and wife team. This by a different guy. There are so many inconsistencies in this story from the first one, that I could not even get halfway through it. Fail.food-cozy no-thank-you3 s Vicky425 6

So many discrepencies betwee nthe first deli novel and the second one. it was obvious the author is not "delia rosen". The story itself was good but having read the first one i kept saying "huh?" And what happened to her cigarettes and chocolate binges? 3 s Meghann Redding1 review

The first book was great. This one not so much. I keep having to look back over what I have read to make sure I didn't miss something, because of so many inconsistencies in the two books. I cannot read this book after reading the first one.library mystery2 s Lisa Elizabeth479 91

I couldn't get very far into this book because so many changes had been made from the last one. From Gwen's father's profession to the Nashville cop's name, I was too confused to keep going.cozy-mystery food-cozy-mystery mystery2 s Rose26 1 follower

One Foot in the Gravy is the second book in Delia Rosen’s cozy mystery series, Deadly Deli. Not having read the first book in the series, A Brisket, A Casket, this was my first exposure to Ms. Rosen’s writing style which is an eclectic mix of humor, mystery and romance. The main characters were able and the dialogue is hip and trendy. The mystery portion of the book was well handled and several clues were provided to give the astute reader a hint as to the perpetrators identity.....unfortunately I was a little off on my guess but I still enjoyed the adventure.

Gwen Katz is an interesting heroine; an accountant by trade, this New York transplant to the South, reminded me of a “Lucille Ball” styled crime solver. Her inner dialogue is full of humor and self recrimination. Gwen never expected to inherit her uncle’s dinner and is still getting adjusted to the weather and the people of Nashville. She’s also getting used to being on her own now that she’s divorced.

Determined to make the deli a bigger success than it had been under her uncle’s ownership, Gwen is branching out and trying to expand the business. Her first venture is a natural progression into catering and landing the queen of the Nashville social set, Lolo Baker, is a major coup. Unfortunately, having one of the guests literally crash through the house ceiling and land in her gravy could derail Gwen’s plans. She doesn’t intend to get involved in solving the crime but her business is at stake and she’s not too impressed with what she’s seen of crime solving in the south so far. This also puts her back in the line of sight of a recent ex-fling, detective Grant Daniels, with whom Gwen has an on again off again romance throughout the book.

Ms. Rosen did a good job developing Gwen’s character in this installment. I d her sense of self, her running diatribe about what it’s to be a transplanted New Yorker and what it’s to be starting over in your early forties. She’s sassy, lippy and quite fun. As Gwen works to solve the mystery of who wanted Hoppy Hopwell dead; and there were several women who wanted him dead, she discovers the truth behind “Hoppy’s” successful “candy” business and the man himself. She discovers he’s a man who had some nasty secrets and who ran an elaborate flimflam game. I d Gwen’s interactions with the numerous “society” ladies and attorney Solomon Granger, another transplanted East Coast northerner, who is in charge of “Hoppy’s” estate. We also get to see Gwen’s interactions with her employees at “Murray’s Pastrami Swami” and see her becoming closer to several of them, in particular, Thomasina “Thom” Jackson, whose dialogues with Gwen were interesting and occasionally funny. “Thom’s” outlook on the Nashville society was also right on the spot, proving that the help always knows more than everyone thinks.

As Gwen gets closer to solving the crime, multiple suspects are still in contention and in an attempt to narrow the field, Gwen hosts a mini crime solving event of her own. When the killer realizes Gwen is homing in on their identity, will they kill again? And will Gwen be the next intended victim? You’ll have to read One Foot in the Gravy to find out. I look forward to seeing what new adventure Ms. Rosen gets Gwen involved in next.


1 Nidofito694 37

If I could pretend that this was the first book of the series it would have been enjoyable. But since I didn't, I felt confused/annoyed/angry/furious and then insulted that the writer/editor thought us readers would just take whatever they throw at us. I don't mind that there were different authors writing. I don't care. But at least keep the names and the backstory intact. I was disappointed that they skipped the whole Royce-as-a-boyfriend thing that was perfectly set up at the end of the first book. I was so excited to see how Gwen would handle him as a maybe boyfriend when he's out for her property while also exploring her options with Beau. But all we got was a couple lines saying they had a one night stand and it was over. Not cool. I'm not even gonna bother with the whole Grant Daniels/Beau McClintock fiasco and his ever changing eye color. God, what a mess. It's a shame because the actual mystery was not half bad.2014-reads ebooks mystery-culinary1 Jacqueline1,235

extra 1/2 star2014 mystery series1 Barbara58 6

Well, I guess I'm lucky I didn't read the 1st book (A Brisket,a Casket). Based on the other I'd have been really pissed off. Several mentioned Gwen's smoking & chocolate addictions , which I'm sad weren't in this book. I will pick up any cozy with a cute title, & then, if I it, go back & get them to read in order. This one was okay. I would probably read another, just to see, but I'm not racing out to buy the series.read-cozy Jennifer Kovaleski438 1 follower

Even better than the first. We really get to know Nash more in this one and she is the typical woman who has a past of hurt but is strong and trying to find her place in Nashville and running Murray’s. When a catering gig turns deadly, Nash finds herself with an another job of finding a killer. Good humor and characters. Nothing A Good Book!!!! wood900 18

Just love a cozy mystery on a rainy day!!!!! Fun read!!!!on-hand-tbr Elise Sandler49

Fun fluff Karissa141 27

2.5 stars2-stars 3-stars popsugar-2021-read ...more Tambra879 7

Enjoyed this book, great new story to read about, fresh and exciting. I cant wait to finish the series. Lori1,022

Loved it Ryan HoffmanAuthor 5 books32

Gwen "Nashville" Katz is the owner of her late uncle Murray's kosher deli in of course, Nashville, Tennessee. she ends up catering a murder mystery Diner party for social butterfly and mystery lover, Lolo Baker. The "victim" ends up actually murdered and everyone there is a suspect including Lolo herself. Very good for a cozy mystery. d the characters and story. Wyshona D. Lawson 714 2

Ghostwriters and publishers: take note: readers aren't stupid. You cannot change the characters' history without us noticing.

I really d Gwen, Thom, and several other characters in this book, but if you're an easily confused person, this book might not be for you if you read A Brisket, A Casket.

First, Gwen does not mention a thing about her cigarettes or chocolate loves, which were cute and integral in the first book.

The detective's name changed from Beau McClintock to Grant Daniels, and I had to go online to make sure I didn't miss a book in the series, because I kept asking: WHERE IS BEAU??????????

There is no mention of Thom and Uncle Murray's relationship that was ever present in the first book.

Suddenly, Gwen's dad lived in Nashville with Murray; this was not mentioned in the first book.

How Gwen's marriage crumbled was different in this book.

And the one thing that REALLY bothered me is that there was no communication with Murray's soul in this one she connected with his memory in the first book. I thought those moments were poignant and sweet, and not to have them in the second book definitely left something lacking. In the first book, Gwen keeps mentioning the guitar case, and it becomes VERY IMPORTANT! Then, in this one, there is mention of his keyboard, but all she does is knock the damn thing over when she falls over the coffee table at the end.

In the first book, Murray's office is a mess, and UPSTAIRS! In this one, Thom has a desk in there, and it seems to be DOWNSTAIRS! The upstairs part was REALLY important in the first book.

Also, the villain in the first book was her lawyer, and thus far, between book two and the first three chapters of book three, she has two different attorneys.

Thom is very abrasive in the first book and has tons of funny sayings. Not so in this book, although I did that she and Gwen started bonding.

A.J. who is a free loving soul in the first book and whose boobs were popping out of her catering outfit in the second, now has a college aged child named A.J. Two. ????????????????

Also, there were times when I literally had to read what Gwen was thinking or said about three or four times before I got what the author was trying to convey. And I'm not talking about the scatterings of Yiddish throughout the book. I'm talking about the character's thought processes, and there are a few that I still have no freaking idea what the author was trying to convey.

Gwen also gets mad at Grant several times for little things he says, and I know it builds up to her anxiety attack, but some of them, I was : This is not the Gwen from the first book. What happened to her?

And I felt Nashville was actually missing from this book. That made me sad as well.

So, if you can get past all those discrepancies, and look at the mystery, it's an okay book. I'm going to try to treat this one as if it's the first book in the series instead of the second, and maybe the third book will be much better.
Nancy Narma155 5

“An Enjoyable Banquet of Mystery and Intrigue”

Befuddled by divorce, former forensic accountant Gwen Katz, left New York City to assume ownership of “Murray’s”, her late musician-wannabe Uncle Norman’s Kosher Deli and catering business in Nashville, Tennessee. Despite getting used to single hood and “Music City” as well as the already established, slightly bossy Deli Manager, Thomasina Jackson and her staff, business was flowing along quite well . They had even booked a murder mystery-themed dinner with wealthy, eccentric dowager Lolo Baker. A few business “road blocks” didn’t stop Gwen and her capable workers from delivering and setting up a sumptuous buffet with all of the trimmings. Hors d’oeuvres were being served, cocktail glasses clinking. while Gwen and Thom took a final inspection of the bulging tables. The grand event was about to begin as soon as Lolo rang the crystal bell.
Just as the terrine, filled to the brim with flank steak gravy, was being transported to the buffet table, terrible crashing and pounding sounds seemed to be coming from the room directly above the festivities. The ceiling shook violently!! Then, with a loud crack, it fell in a shower of sand and plaster, carrying with it the rotund body of local chocolatier, Hoppy Hopewell. His lifeless body landed with a hefty thud, his foot landing in a puddle of spilled brown gravy. This was NOT the murder mystery Lolo had planned for her friends and members of the mystery-solving club; “The Cozy Foxes”. All present were interrogated and some had theories concerning Hoppy’s demise. Gwen tried to put the murder puzzle pieces together. Her amateur sleuthing was compounded by her feelings and on/off relationship with Detective Grant Daniels. Just when you think Gwen’s on the right track, a “curve ball” is tossed in the mix with the bludgeoning death of Lolo’s longtime housekeeper, Lizzie Renoir!! Two bodies, many suspects in the murder of Hoppy with his financial schemes and his wheeling and dealing, but, who would want poor Lizzie dead?? Was it Lolo? But she was so doubly heartbroken as Hoppy was a treasured friend. Many twists and turns occur while trying to unravel the truth and several secrets are revealed. What part did Atty. Solomon Granger play in all of this? Was Hoppy really in love with Rhonda Shays (among others) or was she just one of many used for their money? Who is Anne Miller? Will the “Cozy Foxes” come up with a reasonable conclusion as well as some long-hidden admissions? What secret is Gary Gold, the writer of the murder mystery plot for the dinner as well as the supposed corpse for same, hiding? You’ll be drawn into the warmth of the deli, chuckle over the zany characters Gwen encounters, catch your breath over discoveries made, as well as puzzling along until almost the last page. Ms. Rosen has dished up an enjoyable offering of mystery and intrigue that should not be missed. Nancy Narma
Victoria2 3

Gwen “Nashville” Katz wants to expand her late uncle’s deli, Murray’s Pastrami Swami, into the lucrative catering market. When contacted by wealthy society maven Lolo Baker to provide the food for a murder mystery party, Gwen leaps at the chance to show the deli’s offerings and rub elbows with the crème of Nashville’s elite. Taking several employees with her to Lolo’s mansion to set up and serve the guests, things are going quite well until one of the guests lands up dead in her gravy. Who hated Hoppy Hopewell so much they murdered him at the mystery party?

Delia Rosen’s One Foot in the Gravy was one engrossing mystery which kept me guessing who the killer was until the end. Gwen is one interesting character, having the chutzpah to leave an accounting job in New York and take up owning a deli in the heart of Nashville. Using her keen business skills, Gwen knows she’s got to attract more affluent customers for specialized parties to keep the deli in the black. When approached by Lolo Baker to cater her mystery party, Gwen feels her every wish is granted.

Soon into the event, Hoppy Hopewell winds up dead under very suspicious circumstances. As she observes the crime scene, Gwen knows she’s going to do a little snooping to find out who could do such a thing. Delving into Hoppy’s past, she’s disgusted by his unsavory character which causes her to wonder if there was anyone who attended the party or in his inner circle who didn’t despise this man.

Having more suspects than she can count on her hands, Gwen works not only with her cop boyfriend but Lolo’s mystery-minded friends to uncover the culprit. That mystery circle is very astute, often outshining the detectives in the story. I’m sorry I didn’t read Ms. Rosen’s first Deadly Deli Mystery to get more of their backstories because each one is a hoot. I hope Ms. Rosen continues to develop not only these ladies but the unique relationship Gwen has with Thomasina (a font of southern comfort and wisdom) in subsequent stories in her mystery series, which will have you craving pastrami on rye while you read!

Victoria from TwoLips Reviewstwolips- Jane Niemeyer34

One Foot in the Gravy
by Delia Rosen
Let’s face it, who doesn’t to hunker down with a good book and a snack and if the book is a mystery all the better! Rosen has a hit with this one. Gwen, “Nashville” Katz has inherited her Uncle’s deli and has decided that maybe her life needs a little more spice, mustard goes with anything? Oh well, so much for my humor. Along with the deli, she inherits the staff, and they are nothing she is used to!

The murder occurs at the very first party, an audience participation murder mystery, that Gwen is catering, and her staff is not pleased with any of it. In her case the murder is real and Gwen is an amateur detective. Gwen is a forensic accountant by training so solving mysteries comes easily to her. Her social position, as a deli owner allows her access to all of the suspects because, well frankly, who doesn’t a good meal? And who doesn’t to dish about someone else? While the story is good, it suffers from a little too much stereotyping, the wealthy southern ladies, ladies who lunch, Jewish deli owners, southern lawyers, and cops as love interests are but a few examples. However people open up and talk to her, which moves the story along nicely. Rosen uses the stereotypes as foils and some of the funniest parts of the book involve these characters.

Rosen relies on the reader “getting” the Brooklyn Deli humor and Yiddish phrases, which she peppers the book with. There is a fine line between humor and caricature and sometimes I found myself annoyed by her humor.

Rosen includes recipes at the end of the book which sound wonderful and add a little something to the book. Overall the book is a fun fast read that I will be passing along to my friends when they are hungry or in need of a mystery !
Pat19 19

I downloaded this book from the library because the title intrigued me. I was not expecting a heavy, suspense-filled thriller-style mystery when I read it (which was ok, since I was in the mood for something light at the time). Even so, however, I found the book disappointing.

In Rosen's defense, the humor genre and the mystery genre are so dissimilar that successfully combining them is a near-impossible task. In my eyes at least, she was trying too hard to be funny -- with the result that most of her jokes fell flat.

However, I found the novel's premise so implausible that it distracted me from the story. When a wealthy and universally-despised man is killed at a dinner party, a deli owner and the members of a local book club are called in as police consultants -- to the extent that the deli owner is assigned responsibility for interviewing suspects on behalf of the police. Hmm, really? Call me a purist, but even in science fiction novels, I prefer stories that have at least some basis in what could plausibly be true.

I suppose if you can get past the incongruity of a restauranteur being treated by the local police as a de facto homicide detective, the rest of the story isn't too bad, which is why I gave it two stars instead of one. But personally, I was disappointed with this one.disappointing mystery Kaye269 27

Gwen Katz inherits her late uncle's kosher deli, Murray's Pastrami Swami, and moves to Nashville from New York. While getting to know the town, her customers, and her employees, she is also having to answer some tough questions about herself. Does she really want to stay in Nashville running the deli, or go back to New York? While struggling with all of that, she gets her first catering job at social butterfly, Lolo Baker's audience participation mystery party. When a "real" victim comes crashing through the ceiling, landing in Gwen's gravy, that puts a damper on the party. The victim Hoppy Hopewell had lots of problems, including squandering his inheritance and having affairs with several of Nashville's wealthiest women. So, who wanted him dead?

I this series. Gwen struggles with getting along in Nashville and running the deli. She also struggles with getting to know her employees and make friends. I also the recipes in the back. Noel Johnson5

This is a rather poor girly mystery, written about Nashville, by an author that has failed to do any research about the location or the people portrayed in her writing.

Typical girly mystery, with a theme about a silly woman from the North. IT IS VERY OBVIOUS FROM THE BEGINNING THAT THE AUTHOR KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT NASHVILLE, OR LIFE IN THE SOUTH. It is full of racial pings, and an flagrant put-down of Nashville and the South by someone whose only knowledge of the location is from tourists flyers. I suggest that the author should at research the locality before trying to make up more trash.
The quality of the mystery story itself is poor, and over-written just to add words and thickness to the final book, with no underlying structure except as a put-down to a location and life that the author has never researched or has any knowledge of.
This book, the author, and the entire series have no redeeming qualities, and should only be picked up in desperation.










Natalie732 10

This was definitely not a stand-out in the "cheesy theme mystery" genre. I get that often the female main characters do foolish things and this book was shooting for having a smart, strong female lead. It was a good goal but it came off as annoying. She made fun of someone (in her head) for not knowing some crazy vocab word that I'd never even heard and she frequently talked about her past as a forensic accountant. We get it. She's smart. At times the story seemed unbelievable. At times it seemed annoying. There was a lot of reference to her ethnic history that seemed it was just in there to make us feel it wasn't a fluff book. Don't be fooled ;-) penguin-2012 Ricci Beck68 1 follower

If I hadn’t read the first book in the series, I might have d this one, but I hated it. The mystery writer aka Delia Rosen changed and the new writer changed Everything...back stories, where Nash lives, the characters personalities, shop names, main character names...it was horrible. Plus the “solution” came out of nowhere at the end of the book. The new writer made her uncle sound a loser, instead of being the endearing person I fell in love with in the first book. It’s just sad. I d a lot of things about the first book and they were all gone in this second one. I won’t be reading any others in this series ? Murder by Death 1,071 142

Not a bad follow up to the first book in this series. I love that the protagonist has a backbone, and doesn't try to justify her involvement with a lame excuse (unless she's lying to a suspect). This author seems to defy some stereotypes/formulae that I find a lot of authors fall back on with cozy mysteries. The characters don't yet feel friends, but I'll definitely read the third one and keep an open mind.cozy-mystery Susan5,814 59

Gwen Katz, who owns the only deli in Nashville, branches out as a caterer to a mystery party. Needless to say, there's a real death, and Gwen can't resist trying to find out which high society lady was tired of the victim's lying and cheating. The case also takes her back into a does-he, doesn't-he relationship with police detective Grant Daniels. As New Yorker Gwen struggles to be comfortable in the New South, she must reconcile herself to her own family problems.murder-culinary mystery-tennessee Shay173 14

I couldn't finish the first book of this mystery series. But, my Nook broke, this book was sitting on a shelf at the library. I borrowed it, desperate for a cozy mystery since I was running low on them. I guess you could say that I d this better than the first- simply because I was able to finish this book. But, I didn't really it either. I probably won't read the next book in the series. Just don't the main character or really any of the characters in the book. Melissa1,023 1 follower

This is the third book I've read in this series. It's better than the first in the series I think. I really enjoy these mysteries since they tend to add some Yiddish and Jewish references in them(always explained for the uninformed) since I am Jewish. They always make me hungry though with all the food references. This book also includes some recipes at the end. Marianne Stehr1,031 7

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