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A Deadly Deli Mystery #1
A Brisket, a Casket
Murder's on the menu in this savory debut.
Gwen (nee Katz) Silver heard the brisket at her uncle's Jewish deli, Murray the Pastrami Swami--the only one of its kind in Nashville, Tennessee--was "to die for". But she didn't realize that meant literally... When Gwen learns she's inherited Murray's, the native New Yorker leaves her chaotic career and messy divorce behind to start over in Nashville. But the venture seems doomed from the start. Murray has taken his recipes and secret list of food suppliers to the grave with him, and ruthless real estate developer Royce Sinclair will stop at nothing to try and sandwich Murray's into his already overstuffed portfolio. Then, on Kosher Karaoke Night, longtime customer Buster Sergeant bites into his brisket... and bites the dust. The coroner says food poisoning, but Gwen's not convinced. Now, with the help of hunky police detective "Nashville Katz"--as Gwen is quickly nicknamed--will find herself adding "private investigator" to her resume--and a new love to her life.
Gwen (nee Katz) Silver heard the brisket at her uncle's Jewish deli, Murray the Pastrami Swami--the only one of its kind in Nashville, Tennessee--was "to die for". But she didn't realize that meant literally... When Gwen learns she's inherited Murray's, the native New Yorker leaves her chaotic career and messy divorce behind to start over in Nashville. But the venture seems doomed from the start. Murray has taken his recipes and secret list of food suppliers to the grave with him, and ruthless real estate developer Royce Sinclair will stop at nothing to try and sandwich Murray's into his already overstuffed portfolio. Then, on Kosher Karaoke Night, longtime customer Buster Sergeant bites into his brisket... and bites the dust. The coroner says food poisoning, but Gwen's not convinced. Now, with the help of hunky police detective "Nashville Katz"--as Gwen is quickly nicknamed--will find herself adding "private investigator" to her resume--and a new love to her life.
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
74 people are currently reading
1318 people want to read
About the author
Delia Rosen
6 books63 followersA native of Brooklyn, New York, Delia Rosen is the author of A Brisket, A Casket, One Foot in the Gravy, A Killer in the Rye, From Herring to Eternity, To Kill a Matzo Ball, and Fry me a Liver. She now lives in Manhattan. She spends her time between writing and searching for the best bagels she can find. She has two identical twin Siamese cats, named Johnson & Johnson, because she can't tell them apart.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
October 21, 2010
This was actually more like 3.5 stars, but since you can't give 1/2 stars here, 3 it is! I liked this story, the characters and the setting. I'm a little familiar with parts of Nashville, so was fun to see the areas I could identify. Gwen was smart, but not too smart, and not full of the NYC bluster you see in some people who are from there and relocate to places where they feel superior. I'll read the next for sure!
October 12, 2018
Really wanted to like this series, but it fell short. Will not continue. 2.5 stars
March 11, 2018
Gwen is a New York City gal. All her life she remembers her Uncle Murray and his Jewish way of cooking. But she also remembers her uncle's love of music. When her uncle combines both by moving to Nashville and opening a Jewish Deli, it makes perfect sense to her. When her uncle dies unexpectedly and leaves her the deli, he also leaves her a odd set of characters as well.
This was the first in the series and has a lot of potential. I liked the quirkyness of the characters in the deli, and the interests outside the deli as well. This is a great setting for additional mysteries and additional characters such as the Silver Foxes.
This was the first in the series and has a lot of potential. I liked the quirkyness of the characters in the deli, and the interests outside the deli as well. This is a great setting for additional mysteries and additional characters such as the Silver Foxes.
January 23, 2018
The mystery in this book was completely predictable and almost non-existent, but I decided that I still enjoyed reading it. The main character had me chuckling several times, and I'm curious to see what the author has planned for her in future books. If she could just write an actual mystery into the story, now then we'd have a really fun book! Will watch for book two in this series to see where the storyline goes.
August 28, 2018
Great start to a new series for me. The MC has guts, and the theme of a Deli works. There are a few typos, but not such that it interferes with the storyline. Will continue with this series.
September 23, 2010
When death comes knocking at your deli’s door, what’s a girl to do?!
That’s exactly the situation that Gwen Silver, aka Katz, finds herself in when she takes over the Jewish deli of her beloved, deceased Uncle Murray - known as the Pastrami Swami. During Murray’s grand re-opening night of Kosher Karaoke, long time customer, well known and loved local Nashville celebrity, Buster Sergeant, keels over, dead, while on stage performing a rousing rendition of King of the Road. As talk of poisoning runs rampant through town and the police confiscate what was on the menu, Gwen tries to keep her sanity with chocolate therapy. However when big time real estate developer, Royce Sinclair makes his unyielding intentions of buying Murray’s and she learns that her Uncle’s financial state was far from stable, even chocolate will not ease her pain.
Pg.12:
“I better go take some more drink orders,” she said, motioning to the Yakima group. “Got a hunch they’ll want refills before to long -”
She abruptly stopped talking, her eyes glued to the karaoke stage. As the song built to its climax, Sergeant had whipped his hat off his head with a dramatic flourish, and then spread his arms wide for the final refrain.
“I’m a man of means by no means, King of the roooa…”
He’d been holding the word road for about four seconds when he coughed.
Once.
Then, his arms still outstretched, he suddenly dropped the hat and fell straight backward with a hard, loud crash.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gwen knows that time is running out and that she must find the killer before the killer brings a kibosh to Murray’s and to Gwen herself. With the help of hunky Detective McClintock, Gwen sets out to figure out just who she can trust and who is not on the up and up. Will Royce Sinclair stop at nothing to own Murray’s? Is there something her Uncle’s best friend and account, Artemis Duff, is not telling her? What about Royce‘s swarmy lawyer, Cyrus Liarson, or her employers who seem not to trust her? Life in New York was complicated, but nothing like her newest life in Nashville.
A Brisket, A Casket is a fun, entertaining cozy that will leave the reader entranced within its pages. Character development is done in a wonderful way and Delia Rosen does a superb job in bringing Gwen and her fellow cohorts to life. Long time manager (and Murray’s past love interest) Thomasina Jackson is a spit-fire and lets nothing pass her by. As she tries to put an end to Gwen’s cussing and set everyone straight, she will have the reader giggling.
In addition to a delightful story, I have to say that I adore the title and the cover of this book. Just looking at it makes one want to grab it up and peruse it. As if that wasn’t enough, at the end of the story, readers will delight in a few choice pick recipes from Murray’s including: Murrays’s Cholent (Crockpot), A.J.’s Tennessee Corn Bread, Old- Fashioned Noodle Kugel and a few others. For those wishing for some kitchen tips from the pros, there is indeed a section on that, as well, after the recipes!
The deli-icous fun never ends with the “A Deadly Deli Mystery” series!
That’s exactly the situation that Gwen Silver, aka Katz, finds herself in when she takes over the Jewish deli of her beloved, deceased Uncle Murray - known as the Pastrami Swami. During Murray’s grand re-opening night of Kosher Karaoke, long time customer, well known and loved local Nashville celebrity, Buster Sergeant, keels over, dead, while on stage performing a rousing rendition of King of the Road. As talk of poisoning runs rampant through town and the police confiscate what was on the menu, Gwen tries to keep her sanity with chocolate therapy. However when big time real estate developer, Royce Sinclair makes his unyielding intentions of buying Murray’s and she learns that her Uncle’s financial state was far from stable, even chocolate will not ease her pain.
Pg.12:
“I better go take some more drink orders,” she said, motioning to the Yakima group. “Got a hunch they’ll want refills before to long -”
She abruptly stopped talking, her eyes glued to the karaoke stage. As the song built to its climax, Sergeant had whipped his hat off his head with a dramatic flourish, and then spread his arms wide for the final refrain.
“I’m a man of means by no means, King of the roooa…”
He’d been holding the word road for about four seconds when he coughed.
Once.
Then, his arms still outstretched, he suddenly dropped the hat and fell straight backward with a hard, loud crash.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gwen knows that time is running out and that she must find the killer before the killer brings a kibosh to Murray’s and to Gwen herself. With the help of hunky Detective McClintock, Gwen sets out to figure out just who she can trust and who is not on the up and up. Will Royce Sinclair stop at nothing to own Murray’s? Is there something her Uncle’s best friend and account, Artemis Duff, is not telling her? What about Royce‘s swarmy lawyer, Cyrus Liarson, or her employers who seem not to trust her? Life in New York was complicated, but nothing like her newest life in Nashville.
A Brisket, A Casket is a fun, entertaining cozy that will leave the reader entranced within its pages. Character development is done in a wonderful way and Delia Rosen does a superb job in bringing Gwen and her fellow cohorts to life. Long time manager (and Murray’s past love interest) Thomasina Jackson is a spit-fire and lets nothing pass her by. As she tries to put an end to Gwen’s cussing and set everyone straight, she will have the reader giggling.
In addition to a delightful story, I have to say that I adore the title and the cover of this book. Just looking at it makes one want to grab it up and peruse it. As if that wasn’t enough, at the end of the story, readers will delight in a few choice pick recipes from Murray’s including: Murrays’s Cholent (Crockpot), A.J.’s Tennessee Corn Bread, Old- Fashioned Noodle Kugel and a few others. For those wishing for some kitchen tips from the pros, there is indeed a section on that, as well, after the recipes!
The deli-icous fun never ends with the “A Deadly Deli Mystery” series!
April 1, 2011
Okay, I don't like being critical of authors because it takes a lot of work and guts to get a book published. So with that said, it's with a lot more feeling for the accomplishment that this book ws published than anything else, that I give this book two stars over one star. I feel like the murder mystery got lost in this book and was more about saving the deli after Uncle Murray dies. I didn't really feel a bond with any of the characters. Reflecting on the story after finishing, I'm not sure I can even answer what the story line was about at this point.
November 14, 2010
Gwen runs a Kosher deli in Nashville, inherited from her Uncle Murray. After a man is murdered, business drops off, as it often does. Add to her troubles, a tycoon is trying to buy her place for the real estate. Then things just go from bad to worse when someone tries to kill her and put her permanently out of business.
It's a slow start at the beginning of the book, but it does get better about halfway through and Gwen grew on me.
It's a slow start at the beginning of the book, but it does get better about halfway through and Gwen grew on me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
books-i-couldn-t-finish
October 11, 2011I tried, I really tried to finish this book. I like culinary mysteries, so I thought this would be a fun book. Something about it, though, just bores me. I don't find anything objectionable- not the characters, plot, etc.- but I just find myself not wanting to read this book. Indeed, I'll go for days without picking it up. So, I'm putting this aside because you shouldn't have to struggle to read a book that's supposed to be just fun, light reading.
January 19, 2011
I'm not sure what I think of this first book - I liked the story, and the premise, but it felt a bit wooden to me. This sometimes happens for me on the first book of a series, and I usually warm up to it by the second or third (or discard the series all together). I'll definitely read the next book in the series and see how it goes before making a decision.
November 8, 2010
This is a new series and although it was entertaining, I can see need for character development, and work on the dialog.
It is so difficult to start off introducing the world to a new set of characters. Gwen has bones of a good one but needs to develop a backbone in her dealings with her employees. I sense that the next book may well do that.
The recipes are nice and a pleasant addition.
It is so difficult to start off introducing the world to a new set of characters. Gwen has bones of a good one but needs to develop a backbone in her dealings with her employees. I sense that the next book may well do that.
The recipes are nice and a pleasant addition.
August 13, 2013
I usually like foodie mysteries but this one just didn't do it for me. I hated it right from the first chapter and it just didn't get any better. Honestly there wasn't a likable character in the whole thing and the whole Jewish thing seemed overplayed to me. For the most part, the mystery kind of got swept under the rug in favor of trying to save the deli itself. Not a series I would continue.
August 22, 2011
3.5
Quick and easy read with a simple plot and simple characters. The editor took their job too seriously when it came to the character development and the plot development but then forgot how to spell or look for extra spaces.
Interesting enough for me to read the next one and hope that these 2d characters become 3d.
Quick and easy read with a simple plot and simple characters. The editor took their job too seriously when it came to the character development and the plot development but then forgot how to spell or look for extra spaces.
Interesting enough for me to read the next one and hope that these 2d characters become 3d.
November 8, 2010
A fast read, entertaining and mindless.
February 22, 2021
Great start for a new series. Gwen (Katz) inherits her Uncle Murray's Jewish Deli in Nashville. So she leaves New York behind and begins a fresh start. But nothing seems to be going right. First she can't find the list of distributors and vendors her uncle used so supply orders aren't going well and then a customer dies in the deli and the coroner says food poisoning. Katz says no way and sets out to prove it. On top of the murder and supply issues, a Realtor wants to buy her deli and put up high-rise buildings. As if she doesn't have enough issues. The words just flowed through this book which made for a good read. It moved fast and smoothly. Not sure who to believe and who the killer might be but also why keeps you guessing to the end. Everyone loved Murray. Will definitely read the next one.
February 24, 2023
I love the name of this book. It tells you right from the beginning you may not want to eat the brisket. This book was a quick read. I figured out within the first several chapters who the killer was but I enjoyed getting to that point. Especially since I hadn't figured out that the murdered person was an accident. It was supposed to be someone else. I enjoyed watching how the main character dealt with things being thrown at her, including the differing relationships with those that work with her. It was interesting to see how she changed in the short amount of time in which the book took place. I walked away from the book feeling satisfied with the ending. I wasn't ecstatic about it, the developer is a sleaze and i think she should've told him know, but I was satisfied with how it ended. That is a big deal for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2018
This debut mystery has sat, unread, on a bookcase in my home for roughly five or six years. I have no idea why it took me this long to pick it up. It’s a breezy read, set in a Nashville restaurant. Gwen Katz, the niece of the founder, has taken over her uncle Murray’s authentic Jewish deli. Things aren’t adding up and money seems to be missing. Then, a local celebrity dies of poisoning while performing karaoke at a private party at the restaurant. Gwen, working with the police, the restaurant manager (her uncle’s former girlfriend who doesn’t really like Gwen) and her uncle’s trusted accountant, Gwen tries to figure out what is occurring at her restaurant, all while dealing with developers intent on buying out her restaurant.
November 25, 2020
Gwen's Uncle Murray dies and leaves her a faltering deli in Nashville, TN. Of course her second-in-command resents her, a smarmy local tycoon wants to buy her out, and everything she touches at the deli turns to crap.
This book was a super quick read and was fairly entertaining in general. The characters were pretty flat and there was literally no investigation at all. It would have been a good opener for a light beach-read type romance trilogy but it fell short as a mystery. I don't have the second book and probably won't look for it but I have the 3rd and I'm definitely willing to read it but it won't be at the top of my TBR pile. This book was a solid okay.
This book was a super quick read and was fairly entertaining in general. The characters were pretty flat and there was literally no investigation at all. It would have been a good opener for a light beach-read type romance trilogy but it fell short as a mystery. I don't have the second book and probably won't look for it but I have the 3rd and I'm definitely willing to read it but it won't be at the top of my TBR pile. This book was a solid okay.
November 4, 2020
A Brisket, A Casket book #1 in the series A Deadly Deli Mystery. I know what Nash is going through with the loss of a beloved Uncle and the thought of losing the Deli he put blood sweat and tears into it to get it wear it is today. So when shady characters are interested in buying her out well Nash is going to fight tooth and nail but first she has to find out who killed a beloved business man at a event for his Japanese partners at her deli. Now she has to figure out who wants her dead too. Figuring out who did it will leave you in a Pickle.
July 24, 2021
Different and Delightful
Excellent story- line that kept me guessing from the beginning. The main character is believable and funny. I am a true Southerner, so I especially enjoyed Gwen's confusion at some of our sayings. She is a perfect mix of sentimentality and hardness mixed with a hidden vulnerability. Very well written ; I look forward to reading more in this series. But I do have one big complaint ; most Southerners are like me: NO SUGAR EVER in our cornbread!
Excellent story- line that kept me guessing from the beginning. The main character is believable and funny. I am a true Southerner, so I especially enjoyed Gwen's confusion at some of our sayings. She is a perfect mix of sentimentality and hardness mixed with a hidden vulnerability. Very well written ; I look forward to reading more in this series. But I do have one big complaint ; most Southerners are like me: NO SUGAR EVER in our cornbread!
January 26, 2021
I wish there was ten stars. First time reading Delia's books, I loved this story. Murder story in a Deli. So fun to read another fresh new story . I cant wait to read the other 4 in the series and find more from her.
July 3, 2024
This was a pretty typical ‘who dunnit’ murder mystery. Mild action, slight intrigue, lots of food talk, main character finds herself through adversity… I read this one after reading the second book in the series and I have to say I enjoyed this one quite a bit more than its sequel.
March 9, 2018
JUST LOVE A COZY MYSTERY EVERY NOW AND THEN....GREAT READ....
October 31, 2020
Pretty standard cozy mystery.
February 11, 2021
Loved it
April 10, 2021
Really liked this book. looking forward to the next in the series.
June 4, 2023
Nice weekend read. Mystery with a little romance… it will leave you wanting to read the series.
March 6, 2024
A fun start to a cozy series
Good setting fun characters. Great concept, A Jewish deli in Nashville. Mystery was not overly complicated. Look forward to the next in the series
Good setting fun characters. Great concept, A Jewish deli in Nashville. Mystery was not overly complicated. Look forward to the next in the series
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July 15, 2025A good first one. I'm looking forward to reading more. On a sad note, I did get kind of hungry when I was reading.
February 2, 2022
This is first in a series that features a MC who moves from NYC to Nashville when she inherits her uncle's deli. It was a good mystery but - there were some scenes that strained credulity or were just dumb.
Rounded down to 3 ⭐
Rounded down to 3 ⭐
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews