Sprinkle with Murder is the first mystery novel in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series by author Jenn McKinlay.
Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are finally living their dream as the proud owners of Fairy Tale Cupcakes. But their first big client was a nightmare. She is a bride who wants 500 custom cupcakes for her wedding. When Mel stumbles upon his dying bride – by cupcakes – Mel becomes the prime suspect. To save themselves and their business, the ladies need to find the real killer, before the cupcake killer knocks others down.

Mel’s dream came true. Together with Angie, one of her best friends, she opened a cupcake bakery in the heart of Scottsdale, Arizona. Business was thriving, so much so that the owner of a general bakery across town had to drive several times a day to see how the business was doing.

The only dark cloud in Mel’s world is her other best friend, Tate. Tate is engaged to Christie, a formidable, selfish and demanding woman of charity. So it’s no surprise that Mel arrives at an early morning meeting with Christie and finds Christie dead. But when the police decide it’s murder and quickly begin to label Mel as the killer, she must act to clear her mind and save her business. Can she do it?

I started hearing great things about this series, so I finally gave in and started it. The plot is good, with a strong start and clues and red fishing lines that confused me until the very end. The characters are also very strong, and I grew to like them throughout the book. There are some interesting topics that start in this book, I can’t wait to see how it develops in later books. I can certainly see how the series will become a favorite, but to me it’s a bit too much of a typical first book to really engage me right away.

I find that sometimes the first book in a series is a bit awkward and messy as the author tries to cram everything in and set up the reader for the rest of the series. No comparison in this case. This is a pleasure to read. The main characters are all really, really likable.

The story is just complicated enough to keep you guessing. Typical of these murder/mystery books with the heroine owning her own bakery or yarn shop or antique store, but I like these so it works for me. 🙂 Extremely picky and removed one star because I find it too often for the main characters to throw old movie quotes at each other and quickly go from fun to annoying and the accompanying recipes pretty mediocre and simply vanilla or chocolate despite the fancy names. Again, it’s super picky. I will definitely read more of this series.

• Sprinkle with Murder

• Cupcake Bakery Mystery, Book 1
• By: Jenn McKinlay

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