Reyes, Raquel V.

The first “Caribbean Kitchen Mystery,” Mango, Mambo, and Murder, won the 2022 Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery, but Reyes’s sequel is somewhat convoluted and ends abruptly. Add this title, with its varied cast and a great deal of Spanish dialogue, where the first was popular.

The character-driven debut introduces a fresh protagonist, a Cuban American woman trying to maintain her culinary heritage and Spanish language while attempting to find friends and a killer.