After months of self-imposed anticipation, I finally sunk my teeth into Rachel Ekstrom Courage’s Murder by Cheesecake. And it was delicious. Because this is no ordinary cozy mystery, but a stranger-than-fan-fictionesque romp staring none other than The Golden Girls!
Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia are throwing a last-minute wedding for Rose’s cousin when Dorothy’s date turns up dead in a fridge full of cheesecake. (And yes, the Girls still serve the dairy delight; no cheesecake goes to waste on their watch.) When Dorothy becomes the prime suspect, they juggle sussing out the killer with orchestrating St. Olaf wedding traditions. Wackiness ensues.
What strikes me the most is the characters. Courage masters each Miami maven’s voice, from brand of witty one-liner to sartorial preference to colorful backstory. It’s as if the sitcom has shot off into a quirky, crime-solving dimension without missing a Miami Vice beat. Which is not only a joy, but a relief. Because whenever someone takes on a pop culture classic, there’s always this waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop feeling of they'd better get it right. But Ekstrom shows that she knows her Girls, honoring their memory in just the genre where their heart and humor always belonged.
And that, dear friends, calls for more cheesecake.
