Description
From Booklist Prolific series author McKinlay adds another smart, engaging read to her Cupcake Bakery series. Melanie Cooper’s mom sponsors Lupe, a skateboarding tomboy with college aspirations, in a local beauty pageant, and she convinces Melanie and Angie DeLaura, co-owners of Fairy Tale Cupcakes, to provide the cupcakes for the competition. When head judge Mariel is found strangled with a sash under the cupcake display table, Lupe is the lead suspect. Mariel gave Lupe insultingly low scores and referred to her as trash, prompting the teen to threaten her. Melanie tries to pin down alibis and motive, the latter being no easy task, as no one liked the victim. Meanwhile, Melanie is struggling to understand why she broke off her engagement to a man she still loves. McKinlay is able to balance all the story lines with clarity and realism. The cupcake-recipe element provides much of the humor in this entertaining foodie mystery. Fans of Laura Childs may also enjoy this series. --Amy Alessio Praise for the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries "You're in for a real treat with Jenn McKinlay's Cupcake Bakery Mysteries."—Julie Hyzy, New York Times bestselling authorxa0“McKinlay’s characters are delicious.”—Sheila Connolly, New York Times bestselling author“Full of warm and likable characters.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Good plotting and carefully placed clues make this an enjoyable, light mystery, made a little sweeter with recipes for the cupcakes Mel’s team creates.”— The Mystery Reader Jenn McKinlay has baked and frosted cupcakes into the shapes of cats, mice, and outer space aliens, to name just a few. Writing a mystery series based on one of her favorite food groups (dessert) is as enjoyable as licking the beaters, and she can’t wait to whip up the next one. She is the author of the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries, including Going, Going, Ganache, Red Velvet Revenge, Death by the Dozen, Buttercream Bump Off and Sprinkle With Murder , the Hat Shop Mysteries, including Cloche and Dagger and Death of A Mad Hatter , and the Library Lover’s Mysteries, including Read It and Weep, Book, Line, and Sinker, Due or Die, and Books Can Be Deceiving. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her family. Read more
Features & Highlights
- Sugar and spice and murderous vice.That’s what pageants are made of…
- Normally Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura wouldn’t be caught dead at a beauty pageant, but when Mel’s mom asks them to provide cupcakes for the seventy-fifth annual Sweet Tiara contest as a favor for her best friend, they can’t say no. Plus, between cooking up a daily display for the three-day event and sponsoring a cupcake creation challenge for the participants, Fairy Tale Cupcakes will get great publicity.But the world of pageants is even hotter than Mel’s kitchen. A high-strung judge and a pushy stage mom target Lupe, a young friend of Mel and Angie’s, at the competition and aim to take her out—by any means necessary. When the same judge shows up dead underneath Mel and Angie’s cupcake display, Lupe is crowned the lead suspect. Now Mel and Angie will have to find the real killer quickly or Lupe may be strutting the catwalk in prison pinstripes…
