Substance abuse is not unheard of in Florida, but it tends to get covered up in the high echelons like Coral Groves. The members all placidly attribute Sunny’s collapse due to extreme dieting, but a later visit by Robert’s policeman cousin Gordon Smith informs her that it was a drug overdose.

Alma also convinces Miriam to network at the Stepford Wife-ish Women’s Club, where she alarmingly sees Sunny Weatherman face plant into her highly mayonnaised chicken salad. It’s at this vulnerable moment that Miriam’s best friend Alma Diaz lures her into auditioning for a cooking host spot on UnMundo morning show’s La Tacita short cooking segment. This is only reinforced when Robert passes up the academic position at Florida International University for a much higher paying job in the Department of Environmental Resources and Management. It’s especially stressful since her own parents have just left for the Dominican Republic to pursue their own opportunities, leaving the Cuban-American feeling more alone than ever. It would not have been her first choice to live so near her in-laws in Coral Shores, which may be geographically close to her Hialeah but is economically - and ethnically - a world away. ReyesĪs much as Miriam Quiñones-Smith loved living with her family in New York, the struggle to raise a son on the salaries of two academics was enough to lure them back to her home city of Miami. Mango, Mambo, and Murder: A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery by Raquel V. Details at the end of the post on how to enter to win a copy of the book, and a link to order it from Amazon and one from an indie bookstore. Reyes, along with a fun interview with Raquel. This week we have a review of the first in a new series, Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V.

Raquel v reyes