Miriam Quinones, after a stop in the Dominica Republic with her son Manny to visit her parents, heads to San Juan, Puerto Rico to do some work for her Miami cable show as the festivities for the Three Kings Festival begin. There are so many descriptions of yummy food--were there more because Miriam is pregnant and craving things or did they all just sound that good?! Her friend Alma pops up as the guest of a new boyfriend, a bitcoin investor that turns out to be walking on the edge. Properties in San Juan are being purchased and re done as homes for Miami big wigs. When Miriam catches wind of an elderly man who didn't want to sell and wound-up dead, she enlists her buddies to help figure out if the two are connected and find out a bit about a police corruption case too. It had a lot of layers to follow but was a good mystery read. ( )

The latest in the Caribbean Kitchen series seemed all over the place to me. Miriam and her son Manny head to the Dominican Republic to visit with her parents and find them worried over a never-ending list of repairs in the resort that they manage. She's only just gotten settled there when she finds out that she's off to Puerto Rico to film a Three Kings Day special for her show. Her BFF Alma, buddy Jorge, and long-lost cousin are on-hand to get caught up in a confusing plot that includes crypto-currency, money laundering, and unscrupulous real estate deals. It seemed like too much for a single book, and I found the ending rather sudden. It wasn't a bad book, but not quite the same as the two previous books in the series. Read the first two before picking this one up.

Thanks to Crooked Land Books for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley. ( )

After a slow start, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to another culture in this third book of the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series.

Miriam is a Spanish language TV food personality (who is very pregnant in this book) who is sent over to Puerto Rico to film some cooking show segments. Though she is not a chef, she is a cultural anthropologist PhD and is extremely knowledgeable about food customs.

The book presents one of the best casts of characters anywhere and I found myself learning a lot about the Caribbean food and culture.

Definitely a series for me to go back and start at the beginning so I can catch up before the fourth book comes out.

One thing contributing to the slow start, for me, is that I don't speak or read Spanish and there is a lot of Spanish. Once I got my Google Translate app open and switched to Spanish, it was easy to follow along.

Highly recommended!!

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.) ( )

Dominican Republic, bilingual-conversations, English/Spanish, food-anthropology, cultural-anthropology, cultural-differences, cultural-diversity, cultural-exploration, cultural-heritage, situational-humor, family, recipes, cozy-mystery, multicultural, multigenerational, amateur-sleuth, Latinx, series, Puerto Rico, TV/film-industry, TV-personality, sabotage, friendship, greed*****

Miriam has a PhD in culinary anthropology, has a foodie program on Spanish language TV, is married to a wonderful husband (whose mother is from The Pit), has one small son and is pregnant. Husband gifts her with arrangements and tickets for her and small one to visit her family in the Dominican Republic. While there, work calls and she has to meet them in Puerto Rico. And bad things happen there and to her parents concerns.
Very current problems and people.
As one who isn't bad at printed Spanish but awful at spoken, the bilingual English/Espanol adds a lot to everything. The cultural aspects are a good learning experience, as are the food anthropology lessons and the recipes, and the political attitudes, not to mention learning about flora and fauna of the Carib tropics. I love this entry into this fun series!
I requested and received an EARC from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )