What is the title of your latest release?
AT DEATH’S DOUGH
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Love, loot, and lethal secrets—when Delilah O’Leary’s romantic Valentine’s Day turns into a hunt for a gangster’s lost treasure, she and her detective boyfriend Calvin Capone—great-grandson of the infamous Chicago mobster—must crack the case.
I think I could manage to say all that in an elevator, as long as the building we’re in has at least four floors.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I didn’t! When I pitched the series, I set it in Hyde Park on the south side of Chicago. My editor nudged me to move it to a small town. I had to make a quick pivot to a place where all the elements I’d crafted (deep-dish pizzeria, cop descended from Al Capone, mobster lore) still made sense.
Luckily, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (lightly fictionalized in the books as “Geneva Bay”) turned out to be an even better setting than I could’ve dreamed. It has all the elements I wanted, plus the benefit of being a small town on a stunning lake, ringed by mansions.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely. She’s a good friend to her found family and best of all, a fantastic cook. Since I’m no whiz in the kitchen, I need friends who can cook!
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
funny, loyal, and Type-A
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Early on, I had the idea that the body of a scuba diver would be discovered under the lake ice. I wanted a climactic scene to show Delilah and one of her friends diving under the ice.
That led me to learn way more about scuba diving than I ever intended! Several scuba diver friends read the first draft, and one of them made a note like, “You just killed Delilah about six different ways.” That experience was humbling!
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I’m always editing, in small ways and large. I’m trying to get better about just pressing on until I finish a draft, but I can’t seem to help myself.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Chocolate covered nuts are a real favorite—I love the combo of salt and sweet. Kettle corn is another top choice for the same reason.
Describe your writing space/office!
My daughter went off to college last year, so I’ve colonized a corner of her bedroom. It gets the best sunlight in the house.
Who is an author you admire?
This question is a trap! How can I name just one?!
I’ll pick someone who’s safely dead so that I don’t have to play favorites among the living—Arthur Conan Doyle. In addition to creating one of the best-known detectives of all time, he was a scientist, a physician, a social campaigner, and an all-around interesting person. Read Julian Barnes’s book Arthur & George to discover his role in getting a pardon for a wrongly convicted man.
Is there a book that changed your life?
NATE THE GREAT by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. I read it in my elementary school’s library and was instantly smitten—it’s an illustrated, fair-play mystery for children. I remember thinking I wanted to write a story just like that someday.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was working at my day job at Virginia Tech’s vet school when I saw my agent’s number pop up on my cell. We’d already had a few setbacks in trying to sell the Deep Dish Mysteries (the acquiring editor left for a new job before the deal was inked). I ran outside, took the call in a pretty grove of trees in front of the building, and did a little solo happy dance. That was March 9, 2020. The pandemic shut the world down less than a week later, so it was another two months before the contract went through, and I could really relax.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Traditional mysteries set in the UK
What’s your favorite movie?
The Princess Bride. I can recite most of the dialogue by heart, but it never gets old.
What is your favorite season?
Spring—it’s full of possibilities, and the weather here in Virginia is usually spectacular.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I prefer low-key celebrations. My birthday was last week, and my family did a 12-mile bike ride to a farm/brewery. The next day, my girlfriends made dinner for me. Perfect birthday weekend.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Gosh, too many! So let me put in a plug for an obscure gem—Great Canal Journeys on Amazon Prime. It’s a low-stakes, low-octane show featuring a charming elderly couple tootling around European canals. The ultimate comfort watch.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Anything I don’t have to cook for myself, really. If I have to pick something, I’ll say Japanese food with French desserts.
What do you do when you have free time?
What free time?
What can readers expect from you next?
Deep Dish #6 will be out in Fall 2026. It’s tentatively titled MURDER IN THE UPPER CRUST and involves the nefarious goings-on at a swanky wellness retreat.
Deep Dish Mystery #5
The next book in the delectable Deep Dish Mystery series by Mindy Quigley, set in a Wisconsin pizzeria.
It’s February in the ritzy lakeside resort town of Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, and love is in the air. Pizza chef Delilah O’Leary is gearing up to celebrate her first Valentine’s Day with hunky police detective Calvin Capone, great-grandson of the infamous Chicago mobster. But their romance is put on ice when a shocking discovery plunges them into a century-old crime with ties to Capone’s notorious forefather.
As old secrets surface, Delilah realizes that nearly everyone in town—from Capone’s cagey cousin to her own quirky customers—has something to hide. With the pressure mounting and the past closing in, Delilah must help Capone follow a trail of clues that could lead them to a priceless treasure... or into a deadly trap. Can Delilah serve up justice before history repeats itself? Or will she and Capone end up sleeping with the anchovies?
Mystery Cozy | Mystery Culinary [St. Martin's Press, On Sale: October 28, 2025, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250326300 / eISBN: 9781250326386]
Mindy Quigley has won a number of awards for her short stories, including the 2013 Bloody Scotland prize and the 2018 Lightbringer award. Her work as the coordinator of a pastoral services program at the Duke University Medical Center provided the inspiration for her bestselling Reverend Lindsay Harding mystery series. She’s writing a new mystery series for St. Martin’s Press, which will debut in August 2022.
Before she started writing fiction, she worked in project management roles with university research centers, including the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic and the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland.
She lives in Virginia with her history professor husband, their two children, and their miniature Schnauzer.
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