Murder by Cheesecake

Murder by Cheesecake is a 2025 cozy mystery by Rachel Ekstrom Courage. Ekstrom Courage is also the author of YA thriller Nothing Bad Happens Here. The novel is the first in a series of novels featuring the four characters from the Golden Girls (1985-1992), a hit sitcom about four older roommates and their Miami adventures. In the novel, Rose, Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia plan to host Rose’s family for a midwestern wedding in Miami, only to discover a body in a freezer full of cheesecakes. The lighthearted mystery includes themes of Agency in Later Life and Overcoming Stereotypes, Tensions Between Individual Desires and Collective Traditions, and Friendship as A Source of Strength and Security. Murder by Cheesecake was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. Its sequel, Death on the Lanai, is slated for publication in April 2026.

This guide is based on the Kindle e-book edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide contain depictions of cursing, anti-gay bias, graphic violence, and death.

Plot Summary

The mystery novel opens in 1980s Miami. Rose Nylund faces a family dilemma. Her cousin Nettie, who is like a daughter to her, needs a new venue for her wedding, as the previous hotel in her hometown of St. Olaf, Minnesota, burned down. Rose’s roommates, Dorothy Zbornak, Blanche Devereaux, and Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo persuade her to host the wedding in Miami with their help. St. Olaf has many elaborate wedding traditions, and it will be difficult to ensure the ceremony includes them. Dorothy resolves to find a date for the wedding, hoping to end her romantic dry spell and mitigate some of her bad memories from her unhappy marriage to Stanley Zbornak. She decides to try a VHS dating service, where she will be shown tapes of eligible men and select those she may wish to contact. Rose is anxious that this could expose them to harm, but Dorothy is nonplussed. She watches the tapes and chooses to contact a man named Henry Pattinson, who seems to share her intellectual interests and reminds her of the famous actor Tom Selleck. She and Henry speak on the telephone and seem to get along. He agrees to attend the wedding with her.

Rose greets the engaged couple, Nettie and Jason. Rose learns that while Jason loves St. Olaf’s traditions, he is skeptical of his family’s offer to host wedding events, as they tend not to respect his boundaries. Rose does not particularly like Jason’s brother-in-law, Chip, who seems overly friendly. Blanche, who is flirtatious with eligible men, is smitten with the best man, Jorgen. Rose busies herself with the first wedding event, a Welcome Tuna Tea featuring fish, with many cheesecakes for dessert. Rose and the others are assisted by Jason’s sophisticated and snobbish sister, Patricia. During the event, the four roommates find a dead body in the freezer but decide to serve the cheesecake anyway. Patricia resolves to cover it up and seems reluctant to call the police. Rose tries to convince her skeptical cousin Gustave, the mayor of St. Olaf, that she can honor her family’s traditions and has not changed during her life in Florida. Gustave and other family members are upset that Nettie is marrying a man who is not from Minnesota, and Nettie becomes upset at the reminders of their insularity. The police arrive and question the four women.

The police seek out Dorothy for further interrogation. They reveal that the murdered man was carrying a piece of paper about the date and time of her meeting with Henry, and Dorothy realizes he may be the victim. The police immediately assume Dorothy’s failed romantic date might have proven a motive for murder, upsetting her. Rose reluctantly explains to Nettie that her successful wedding with all the St. Olaf traditions is not just emotionally important: It ensures that she will have full access to her inheritance as a direct descendant of the town’s founder. Gustave grows more doubtful that Rose truly appreciates the value of St. Olaf’s culture and can stage a proper wedding.

The next day, the group attends the traditional wedding shower, where the bride and her friends take a ceremonial shower to signify a new life and then have a traditional party with gifts. Chip is absent from the event due to an injury. The event is interrupted when Dorothy is taken away in handcuffs. Dorothy struggles to convince the police she had no real animus toward Henry, but she is released. Rose is furious with Dorothy, especially after Jason’s family demands total control of the wedding, and Gustave adds more requirements. Sophia breaks the tension by suggesting the four women solve the murder so that the traditional wedding can proceed. Dorothy and Sophia search the hotel in disguise, while Blanche and Rose investigate the Bryant family’s mail, finding evidence of significant debt and ties to the sugar business. Dorothy and Sophia discover that Jorgen is having an affair with another local woman, Mrs. Corzon, which intensifies Blanche’s resolve to solve the case. Dorothy returns to the scene of her date with Henry; he appears to have changed clothes before leaving abruptly. This is her first clue that Henry had a twin brother. With Sophia’s help, Rose takes her relatives on a bus tour of Miami and learns that one of her aunts may have seen a murder suspect: a person who was limping. This, combined with the reference to Chip’s earlier injury, hints that he was involved.

Dorothy struggles to convey the new information to the police, who still suspect her. The four friends have a more relaxing night at Nettie’s bachelorette party, which is set to include St. Olaf’s traditional requirement of a clown. Rose is happy when her relatives dance and are comfortable in the gay bar Sophia chose for the evening. Rose overhears cryptic references to a local criminal named Big Sugar, which reminds her of what she read in the hotel mail. The event ends much differently than she expected when the hired clown turns out to be an adult entertainer. This spikes Rose’s anxiety about Gustave and his standards, which only intensifies when Nettie calls her and announces she is canceling the wedding. Nettie explains Jason is obsessively planning the traditional ceremony. As a result, she feels he loves St. Olaf more than her. She insists Rose take her to the airport, where she will call Jason and demand they elope. They get into a waiting car, only to realize they have been kidnapped by a man who thinks they are a threat to his boss, who he refers to as the General. Jason rescues them, inadvertently proving the heroism necessary to make him a true St. Olaf groom. Dorothy, Sophia, and Blanche discover that Henry’s twin brother Morty was the actual murder victim. They suspect Morty was somehow involved in local criminal activity. Rose realizes that happiness matters as much as tradition and resolves to relax about the wedding.

Patricia and Chip come by with a cheesecake, and Chip repeatedly denies Jason’s suspicion that he knows of the General. The next day Chip calls to invite the group to a rehearsal dinner on the Curzon family’s boat. Rose thinks this is a peace offering, so they all agree to attend. Chip sails them out into the bay in a motorboat and pushes Nettie and Jason overboard. Dorothy forces him to confess to Morty’s murder, as Morty was stealing from his smuggling operation. Sophia incapacitates him with her purse and the four women return home to prepare for the wedding. The ceremony adheres to many traditions, and Gustave apologizes to Rose and promises Nettie her inheritance. Henry stops by and tells Dorothy he is leaving Miami but asks to stay in touch. Rose apologies to Dorothy for her earlier judgmental behavior. The four friends celebrate the newlyweds and their new success at solving crime.