Delighted to share with you a lovely review of Death al Dente from Fresh Fiction, a review site and community for mystery, romance, and women’s fiction. Here’s a taste:

“This is Budewitz’s first novel-length mystery, and it’s a good one. She has avoided the pitfalls of contrived plots, pushy amateur detectives and shallow connection to the deceased that plague a number of long-running cozy mystery series and has produced a book even a non-mystery reader will find engrossing and satisfying.

As a reader, you will come to care deeply about Erin and her family as well as the cast of characters, each with their own backstory and niche they fill in the small town of Jewel Bay, Montana.

Leslie Budewitz also deftly handles the expressions of grief the murder victim evokes from her friends and acquaintances, helping you become even more enmeshed in Erin’s desire to find the killer.

Although romance and dating plays a certain role in Erin’s life, her core relationship outside her family is one with the town’s sheriff’s detective, Kim Caldwell, an estranged friend who was as close as a sister when they were children. This is a hallmark of the maturity and care with which DEATH AL DENTE is crafted. It is not simply a formulaic cozy mystery, it is a novel strong enough to stand beyond the confines of its genre. I highly recommend it.”

My legal posts will return after Labor Day. Meanwhile, I have shared links to a few stories on legal issues for writers — forensics, Stupid Criminal Tricks, and more — on my Facebook page, so please join me there!