The tension-filled fifth Deep Dish Mystery returns to Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, at the bitter time of February. AT DEATH’S DOUGH relates to pizza dough and, of course, to money being referred to as dough. We start in the lawless 1920s with a car carrying a special delivery going off the road. Then it's back to the present day. 

Surrounded by snow and lake ice, pizza chef Delilah O’Leary is short of bookings for Valentine’s Day. Despite her police detective boyfriend, Calvin Capone, wishing to play down his connection to Chicago mobsters, Delilah agrees to go along with a few other businesses in highlighting historical crime. Murders do not seem romantic to me, but everyone is desperate. Winters are long.

Delilah is suddenly an expert at ice fishing, which she does to help her Great Aunt Biz. Later, Delilah is also an expert at scuba diving. This reader didn’t know, and nor did the lady’s boyfriend. The fishing hauls up something unexpected, and a series of scares and crimes stems from the find.

With plump cat Butterball shown to be a scrounger, staff and guests alike feed him, and life is normal at Delilah & Son. Son is short for Sonya, a Bulgarian lady who is Delilah’s partner and chef. We learn a little about Bulgarian customs, as well as about Puerto Rico, the origin of another staff member, Daniel. Some recipes are invented for the romance theme. Again, I don’t love the association of recipe names with murders from the Prohibition era. Still, the details are provided in the back of the book, and if you make them, you can call them what you like.

Icy lakes and snowy hillsides feature strongly; this is a mystery to enjoy along with a hot cup of soup and warm bread rolls. Mindy Quigley keeps her cast busy during the off-season, so those of us who visit a pizzeria on a warm summer evening can still be there in spirit. AT DEATH’S DOUGH continues the theme of connections to historical crime, echoing into the present day.