Red Velvet Revenge

Angie and Melanie, owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcake bakery, are riding around town with Oz and Marty in an old Good Humor van that Oz recently purchased. They're discussing how it can become the bakery's delivery van, when the van breaks down. Shortly afterward Slim Hazard, who heads the Juniper Pass Rodeo, stops to help the gang out. Once Slim learns about the bakery, he talks them into becoming a vendor at the upcoming rodeo. Angie and Mel start baking cupcakes for the event, while some major favors are called in to make the van road worthy. They arrive in the decked out van, to find themselves assigned the spot right next to Billy Bobs BBQ. Billy Bob's BBQ owners Billy and Bob are upset to find themselves being next to the cupcake show more vendor. Angie agrees to a bet of putting their total sale against Billy Bob's, with the loser having to work the others person's business.

After checking into their hotel rooms that are over the local saloon. They are watching the rodeo parade, from there balcony, when Slim is shot in the shoulder. It's thought that one of the cowboy's in the audience just got carried away with the excitement and shot his gun in the air. Later Mel bumps into the rodeo's star, Ty Stokes. Stokes who is drunk as a skunk, when he realizes who Mel is he tells her he wants a dozen cupcakes delivered to his room the next morning. While Mel and Angie are looking for Ty to make the cupcake delivery, they find him in a bull's pen, apparently gored to death. When the bull is cleared of Ty's murder the hunt for the human killer begins with Mel and the rest of the bakery gang helping with the investigation, will they be able to find the killer before one of them becomes the next victim.

I was glad to see Angie dump her boyfriend rock star Roach since they didn't seem right for each other. Some of the relationship issues that were presented in the earlier books are resolved while some others are moved in a whole new direction. It was also nice to have a murder victim who was not associated with Mel or one of her friends or family for a change. The characters are were well written and the secondary characters and the new characters are just as memorable as the main characters are. Figuring out who the murderer isn't always easy because the author includes very detailed backstories for the characters, which means there are are a number of red herrings along with some twists and turns. show less

The summer may be heating up, but sales are cooling off at Fairy Tale Cupcakes and owners Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura will do anything to beef up sales so they jump at the offer to sell cupcakes at the annual Juniper Pass Rodeo. Unfortunately, their time in Juniper Pass will be anything but calm as one person is shot and another person murdered. Soon Mel and Angie find themselves involved in yet another murder case and working hard not only to save their business but to catch a killer.

"Red Velvet Revenge" is the sweetly done forth book in Jan McKinlay's Cupcake Bakery cozy mystery series. I love this series especially the characters - Mel, Angie, Tate, Marty, Oz, even their over-the-top battles with Olivia Plunkett. Each of these show more characters (okay maybe not Olivia) have grown throughout the course of the four books and I'm glad McKinlay isn't letting the Angie/Roach/Tate storyline dragged on too long. While the cupcake bakery setting is a good one, it was a nice touch to see the characters away from that familiar setting and the rodeo setting is a nice one - I felt like I was there taking in all the action while reading the book. I literally dreamt of cake pops halfway through reading the book! The mystery is well plotted with plenty of suspects, red herrings, and twists and turns. This is one of those rare cozy mysteries where I actually felt sympathetic towards the killer and wanted to know more about what happened to said killer in the future.

"Red Velvet Revenge" is a delightful cozy mystery and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. show less

Angie and Melanie, owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcake bakery, are riding around town with Oz and Marty in an old Good Humor van that Oz recently purchased. They're discussing how it can become the bakery's delivery van, when the van breaks down. Shortly afterward Slim Hazard, who heads the Juniper Pass Rodeo, stops to help the gang out. Once Slim learns about the bakery, he talks them into becoming a vendor at the upcoming rodeo. Angie and Mel start baking cupcakes for the event, while some major favors are called in to make the van road worthy. They arrive in the decked out van, to find themselves assigned the spot right next to Billy Bobs BBQ. Billy Bob's BBQ owners Billy and Bob are upset to find themselves being next to the cupcake show more vendor. Angie agrees to a bet of putting their total sale against Billy Bob's, with the loser having to work the others person's business.

After checking into their hotel rooms that are over the local saloon. They are watching the rodeo parade, from there balcony, when Slim is shot in the shoulder. It's thought that one of the cowboy's in the audience just got carried away with the excitement and shot his gun in the air. Later Mel bumps into the rodeo's star, Ty Stokes. Stokes who is drunk as a skunk, when he realizes who Mel is he tells her he wants a dozen cupcakes delivered to his room the next morning. While Mel and Angie are looking for Ty to make the cupcake delivery, they find him in a bull's pen, apparently gored to death. When the bull is cleared of Ty's murder the hunt for the human killer begins with Mel and the rest of the bakery gang helping with the investigation, will they be able to find the killer before one of them becomes the next victim.

I was glad to see Angie dump her boyfriend rock star Roach since they didn't seem right for each other. Some of the relationship issues that were presented in the earlier books are resolved while some others are moved in a whole new direction. It was also nice to have a murder victim who was not associated with Mel or one of her friends or family for a change. The characters are were well written and the secondary characters and the new characters are just as memorable as the main characters are. Figuring out who the murderer isn't always easy because the author includes very detailed backstories for the characters, which means there are are a number of red herrings along with some twists and turns. show less

Mel and Angie may not be ready to ride in a rodeo, but they are more than willing to sell cupcakes there. When a chance meeting with a rodeo owner results in a offer to come to his rodeo and sell cupcakes, they are ready to leave the heat of the city and head up the mountain. Luckily, their intern Oz has inherited an ice cream van, which they clean up and outfit for cupcakes. It’s all good, right up to the point where their new friend gets shot. Much happens in this well-written and delightful cozy. Besides attempted murder, outright murder, sabotage, challenges to outsell another vendor, there is romance is in the air. Author Jean McKinlay never fails to give her readers a story that is entertaining as well as enticing.

I had a great time listening to this cozy mystery! I have been slowly working my way through this series after picking up the first book in the series not quite a year ago. This is the fourth book in the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries and while it can be read as a stand alone readers of the series will appreciate checking in with the cast of characters. I found myself quickly caught up in this mystery and I may have developed a mild craving for cupcakes before reaching the end of the story.

This installment takes the cupcake crew to the rodeo. I have to tell you that this development worried me a bit since sometimes when a series hits the road it looses some of its charm. There was no need to worry since the key characters went on this trip show more together so I didn't find myself missing anyone. The Juniper Pass rodeo had its own quirky group of characters including the man who runs the operation, the unpleasant rodeo star, and the owners of the food truck serving Barbecue right next to the Fairy Tale Bakery's cupcake truck.

Of course, there were a few problems for the crew to work out. There was a shooting at the rodeo's parade injuring Slim, then the rodeo star is murdered, and to top things off someone has sabotaged the cupcake bakery's food truck. Nobody knows if these events are connected but Melanie and her friends are in the middle of it all especially since they were the ones to discover the bull rider's body. There are some developments between Tate and Angie that kept the story interesting on the romantic front.

Susan Boyce continues to do a fabulous job with this series. I love the voices that she uses for this quirky group of characters. She really does a great job in bringing the story to life and is able to add a lot of excitement to the reading. Ms. Boyce has a very pleasant reading voice and I had no problem listening to her narration for hours at a time. I look forward to listening to more of her work in the future.

I would recommend this series to others. This book is filled with great characters and a mystery that kept me guessing. I also love the fact that we get to see enough of the dessert making process to make the cupcake bakery seem real (and to make me crave a few desserts). I can't wait to start the next book in the series very soon! show less

The weather is pretty in Scottsdale so when Fairy Tale Cupcakes is invited to be a vendor at the Rodeo in Northern Arizona, Mel and Angie jump on the opportunity to escape the heat.

Taking their new refurbished Cupcake Van they arrive at the rodeo and immediately get embroiled in murder. Besides trying to investigate the death of a rodeo cowboy, Mel and Angie have to also salvage their business due to some tapering with their products.

A fun mystery - good thing I'm just eating cupcakes in my mind!

In this installment, Mel and Angie take the cupcake van to a rodeo up north. The head of the rodeo is glancingly shot and then the star of the rodeo ends up dead. At first he appeared to be gored by a bull, but when no blood turns up on the bull's horns and the medical examiner agrees it was something else, they must find the weapon and the killer. Needless to say, Mel become involved. Also Mel and Angie make a bet with the barbecue vendor next to them regarding sales. When they find their freezer unplugged, they are sure the men next door did it, but they lack evidence. This one just didn't quite work for me as well as some of the others in the series. It may be because I didn't really like the rodeo characters and setting. The book show more ends with a big cliffhanger. show less