Murder with Fried Chicken and Waffles

Murder with Fried Chicken and Waffles (A Mahalia Watkins Mystery)
A.L. Herbert

Book Blurb:
Welcome to Mahalia’s Sweet Tea—the finest soul food restaurant in Prince George’s County, Maryland. In between preparing her famous cornbread and mashed potatoes so creamy “they’ll make you want to slap your Momma,” owner Halia Watkins is about to dip her spoon into a grisly mystery . . .

Halia Watkins has her hands full cooking, hosting, and keeping her boisterous young cousin, Wavonne, from getting too sassy with customers. Having fast-talking entrepreneur Marcus Rand turn up in her kitchen is annoying enough when he’s alive—but finding his dead body face-down on her ceramic tile after hours is much worse.

Marcus had his enemies, and the cast iron frying pan beside his corpse suggests that at last, his shady business deals went too far. Halia is desperate to keep Sweet Tea’s name out of the sordid spotlight but her efforts only make Wavonne a prime suspect. Now Halia will have to serve up the real villain—before the killer returns for a second helping . . .


I picked this book up because of a recommendation from a book list, and I’m glad I did. Mahalia Watkins, or Halia to her friends, runs a successful upscale soul food restaurant. She’s not getting rich, but she’s comfortable. Right off the bat, the reader learns of the importance of family to Halia; the restaurant is named not after her, but after her "grandmommy" Mahalia who taught her to cook.


This theme of cooking and family continues throughout the book. One late Saturday evening, Halia and her cousin Wavonne head home, leaving her business partner Marcus to finish his dinner meeting and lockup. They stop by the grocery story to pick up a few items her mother had requested for Sunday dinner the next day. When Wavonne claims to have left her purse at the restaurant and asks Halia to buy some make up for her, Halia decides to return to the restaurant so Wavonne can pay her back right away. Only when the two return Sweet Tea, they find Marcus dead. In order to protect her restaurant, Halia gets Wavonne to help drag his body outside. In the process, Wavonne swipes his wallet; before his body is even found, she’s using Marcus’s credit cards to buy expensive purses. If the police manage to connect the stolen card to Wavonne, she’ll be the prime suspect. Halia realizes it’s up to her to find the killer and clear her cousin’s name.

I enjoyed the characters of Halia and Wavonne; both seem well developed – it makes perfect sense that Wavonne would do something silly like stealing a dead man’s credit card and buying an expensive item. Supporting characters like Halia’s mom Celia and Jacqueline are also developed; I hope they show up in future books. Details around running the restaurant add to the story. I even enjoyed the recipes; frequently I find recipes in cozies less than appetizing.

There are a few minor criticisms. For someone so totally devoted to running her restaurant that she doesn’t have free time to date (a sore point for her matchmaker mom), she leaves it quite a bit during the story without much internal struggle. And Marcus’s car sitting in the restaurant parking lot for several days doesn’t cause much concern; when Jacqueline comes looking for Marcus, why isn’t she all over the fact it’s there, asking how long it’s been there, getting the police involved in finding him immediately, and so forth. I also think the assumption that finding Marcus in the restaurant will hurt its reputation is questionable; yes, they’ll probably have to close for a day or two, but given the public’s love of a juicy scandal and Marcus’s shady reputation, I’d expect people be lined up to see the spot where the dirty deed was done.


Overall, I enjoyed this book. Highly recommended.