Cake Popped Off (Cupcake Catering Mystery Series)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in the Series
Publisher: Cinnamon & Sugar Press (September 22, 2020)
Print Length: 295 pages

Synopsis

Cupcake caterer Emory Martinez is hosting a Halloween bash alongside her octogenarian employer, Tillie. With guests dressed in elaborate costumes, the band is rocking, the cocktails are flowing, and tempers are flaring when the hired Bavarian Barmaid tries to hook a rich, hapless husband. Except one of her targets happens to be Emory’s brother-in-law, which bodes ill for his pregnant wife. When Emory tracks down the distraught barmaid, instead of finding the young woman in tears, she finds her dead. Can she explain to the new detective on the scene why the Bavarian Barmaid was murdered in Emory’s bathtub with Emory’s Poison Apple Cake Pops stuffed into her mouth?

With an angry pregnant sister to contend with, she promises to clear her brother-in-law’s name. As Emory starts asking questions and tracking down the identity of the costumed guests, she finds reasons to suspect her brother-in-law has been hiding a guilty secret. Her search leads her to a web of blackmail and betrayal amongst the posh setting of the local country club crowd. Can Emory sift through the lies she’s being told and find the killer? She’ll need to step up her investigation before another victim is sent to the great pumpkin patch in the sky.

 

Includes spooky Halloween recipes!

Review

This is the second cozy I’ve read recently that floored me when the killer was revealed. Normally I have a clue as to who might be guilty but in this case? Nada, zip, zilch, nothing.

I always love cozies when food is involved especially anything sweet. The descriptions of the various cupcakes, muffins, and other items had me drooling all throughout the book. Thank goodness for recipes at the end!

This is quite a diverse cast of characters and many of them are endearing and others, well we just hope that they see the light and turn their attitude around. I’m talking to you Theodore (not that he can hear me or even read this since he is a fictional character!). I adore Emory, she is one tough woman but at the same time has a vulnerable side when it comes to her past and possibly even her family. Emory and Carrie learn some interesting news from their mother in this book which will be an adventure as they seek to learn more about this secret.

Tillie is also another favorite character and as a woman in her 80’s, I just hope I am something like her at that age. She seizes life to the fullest, much to the chagrin of her son and one grandson.

We saw Emory’s high school friend Brad a little bit but not much and I hope he makes more of an appearance in the next book. But we do have a lot of interaction with Brad’s new beau, but that would be because he is the detective assigned to the murder case.

The crime was quite intriguing – a young woman ends up dead during a costume party at Tilly’s. Why would someone want to kill her? Emory and Tillie feel that they have to do their own sleuthing much to the dismay of Detective O’Neill (Brad’s beau). But they are instrumental in helping solve the murder and the clues they unearthed really came together at the end. I didn’t suspect this character in the least and to learn what led up to this moment was incredulous. WOW is all I can think to say when the killer revealed themself.

This is a fantastic new series, but make sure to start with the first book because it will set up how Emory and Tillie met and it will explain the relationship of many characters.

We give this 5 paws up.

About the Author

Kim Davis lives in Southern California with her husband. When she’s not spending time with her granddaughters she can be found either writing stories or working on her blog, Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder, or in the kitchen baking up yummy treats.  She has published the suspense novel, A GAME OF DECEIT, and cozy mystery, SPRINKLES OF SUSPICION. She has had several children’s articles published in Cricket, Nature Friend, Skipping Stones, and the Seed of Truth magazines. Kim Davis is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

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