Murder Takes The Cake

This review first appeared on my blog: http://www.knittingandsundries.com/2011/03/murder-takes-cake-by-gayle-trent-book...

One of the best cozy mysteries I've ever read, Murder Takes the Cake, like all cozy mysteries, has it's main emphasis on the characters; however, the mysteries here are pretty darn good, too.

We meet Daphne Martin, 40 years old, who has recently moved from Tennessee (where her ex-husband Todd is in prison for 7 years for trying to shoot her), back to the small town in southwestern Virginia where she grew up. Her new cake decorating business, Daphne's Delectable Cakes, is just getting off the ground when she finds her only customer, Yodel Watson, dead on her living room sofa.

When word gets out that Yodel, the malicious show more town gossip, died from poisoning, it doesn't seem to matter that she never got to taste the cake that Daphne made. With the help of one gossip in particular, the wife of a police officer, Daphne's fledgling business is shot in the foot by the rumor that her cake may have been the cause, and Daphne, with the help of her old beau, Ben Jacobs, who is now the editor of the Brea Ridge Chronicle, sets to work clearing her name. On the way, she discovers that Yodel kept a journal filled with malicious facts and gossip about the townspeople. When Daphne reads some of the pages, she discovers an old scandal involving her own family (including her mother, who thinks she should have given Todd another chance), one that may lead to Yodel's actual killer.

This delicious first in a series is filled with fun, mystery, and baking and cake decorating tips like this one: "Using unwaxed, unflavored dental floss, I cut the dough - floss somehow cuts it more neatly than a knife.". It is also filled with all sorts of savory and unsavory characters, as well as all of the gossip and intrigue of a small town.

And, of course, the killer isn't who we think it is (but there are so many possibilities).

If you like cozies, you'll love this one. Even if cozies aren't your preferred genre, you won't go wrong in reading this one; it IS an enjoyable read!

QUOTES

"Hard-nosed. Is that the word I'm looking for? And she sure ain't two-faced. She didn't like Yodel when Yodel was living; she ain't gonna pretend to like her now that she's dead."

If you're ever trying to forget your problems, don't watch TV. The gardening channel did a show on poisonous plants growing in your own backyard. Many of the women's channels had infidelity-themed movies, and the crime channel did a special on wrongly accused people getting justice after spending years in the penitentiary.
Even the most inane things made me think of either Yodel or Mom or Vern. Or both. Take the commercial of the woman serving brownies to a group of friends, for example. My first thought was, "I wonder which of the men she's seeing behind her husband's back?" Then, "I wonder if those brownies have been laced with poison?"

All I could do now was play it cool. Snoopy cool. Joe Cool. Stay Alive Until I Can Get Away cool.

Writing: 4 out of 5 stars
Plot: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Characters: 4 out of 5 stars
Reading Immersion: 4 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING: 3.875 out of 5 stars show less

In this delightful new series by Gayle Trent, we are introduced to Daphne Martin, now returned to her Virginia hometown and trying to establish her new business as a free lance cake decorator. When Daphne is delivering a spice cake to one of her more difficult customers, Yodel Watson, she finds her reclining on the sofa in her bathrobe. Except for one thing, she is not just resting, she is dead! As Daphne explains to the police over and over after Yodel’s death is declared suspicious , I was just delivering a cake. Honest!

Yodel’s daughter, Annabelle calls Daphne from Florida and asks her to retrieve her mother’s diary and tells Daphne exactly where to find it. Of course, Daphne can’t help but peek into the diary and is appalled show more when she finds some volatile secrets concerning her own family and many others in the town It seems there are a lot of people who would be happy to see the end of Yodel . The suspense is heightened when Daphne finds a warning painted on her walkway to MIND HER OWN BUSINESS.But of course, she just can’t do that! The fun begins as Daphne tries to find out who is the real murderer and the truth about her own family.

Trent has written an absolutely captivating cozy, complete with all the traditional elements of the genre. There is the requisite disliked victim, the nosy neighbor, the town blabbermouth and a host of possible suspects in a cast of colorful characters. Motives abound and there are enough red herrings and real clues to keep the reader guessing until the very end. Throw in a town full of petty feuds, the local beauty shop’s hot bed of gossip, a little budding romance between characters and you have the recipe for a delicious mystery.

I hadn’t even read past page 7 and I had absolutely laughed out loud numerous times. The dialogue in this book is filled with snappy wit that will regale the reader time and time again. The Characters are so well drawn, the reader will feel as if they are real. The plot is well constructed and well paced with just the right amount of subplot to keep up the interest. If you are a fan of the cozy mystery, this is one you will definitely want to read. If you are like Diane Mott Davidson or Joanna Fluke, you will be enthralled as Ms. Trent gives a lot of cake decorating details and the book contains some mouthwatering recipes. Highly recommended.
5***** show less

“I awoke the next morning with my head throbbing. Still, headache or not, it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and I had a lot to do. I wanted to make a cake that Mom would ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ over; but since that was an impossibility, I had to settle for pleasing myself and Violet’s family. Mom thought I was ‘silly’ for leaving a ‘perfectly good job in order to stay home and make cakes’. I pressed my fingertips to my temples and tried not to think about Mom. Instead, I focused on my plans for the day. First stop, ibuprofen and coffee.” – From Murder Takes the Cake

After Daphne Martin dodges a (literal) bullet from her ex-husband, she decides to start a new life and career as a cake decorator in her old show more hometown.

However, Daphne’s Delectable Cakes isn’t off to a good start when Daphne delivers a third cake to her fussy first client, Yodel Watson—and finds her slouched in the den, stone cold dead. The authorities have to sort out if Yodel died before Daphne delivered the cake…or after.

An exceptional first book in a new culinary cozy mystery series by Gayle Trent, Murder Takes the Cake follows Daphne as she navigates her new life, new career and potential new love interest—all while dealing with her Mom’s disapproval, the town’s suspicion, dozens of colorful characters (some problematic, others delightful), rumors, an influx of clients and the holidays. Whew!

First-time author Gayle Trend deftly weaves an engaging plot with mouth-watering descriptions, believable characters, universal themes (like Mother-Daughter conflict and the effects of small-town gossip) and a compelling mystery: who killed Yodel Watson and why?

When Yodel’s daughter, Annabelle asks Daphne retrieved a tell-all diary from her Mom’s house, Daphne can’t help but sneak a peek. But what she reads about her *own* Mom in the diary yanks Daphne into the center of a web of innuendo, local dirt, and a dark family secret.

Are some secrets worth killing for?

I’m impressed with Gayle Trent’s story-telling and writing skills, especially since Murder Takes the Cake is her debut novel! I’m salivating for more and can’t wait to dig in to her second book in the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating series, Dead Pan.

If you enjoy well-written cozy mysteries with quirky characters, true-to-life dialogue and dexterous word painting, I highly recommend Murder Takes the Cake.

-- Janet Boyer, author of Back in Time Tarot show less

This is a snappy, cozy read right from the start.

Daphne Martin has left a failed marriage, crummy apartment and dead-end job and moved back to her hometown, Brea Ridge, Virginia, to start over. She has started her own cake decorating business and her first customer is Yodel Watson, the meanest gossip in town.

When Daphne goes to deliver the cake, which is #3 in trying to satisfy Yodel’s vague request, a voice yells “Come in! It’s open! Come in!” in response to her knock. What she finds is Yodel lying on the sofa — dead. The voice is a grey parrot named Banjo. What a great start for a new business.

Daphne’s notoriety from finding Yodel dead isn’t the only thing that dampens her business. Seems the police chief’s wife is a show more blabber mouth and Daphne is her prime subject.

The suspects are many — almost everyone in town has suffered from Yodel’s vicious tongue. When it becomes known Yodel kept a diary, things get a bit more hairy.

Brea Ridge is a small town and it has its own secrets, but some are not as secret as their owners would like.
The characters are good and there is even a budding romance. Daphne does have a problem with her Mom and a past event, but things do get ironed out.

My only rough spot is when Daphne sets up to work on her cakes and becomes a little more detailed in the particular tips she uses for her designs. If you’re into cake decorating, this would be of interest. With that written — I’d still read more books from this author and series. show less

I LOVE baking, I LOVE mystery, and I LOVE Gayle Trent's work! This is a new to me author and her work is FANTABULOUSLY done. From page one, I was pulled in, and stayed hooked until the mystery was solved. From baking, to delivering said baked to her clients, to strange happenings that end in a murder, this first Daphne Martin Cake Mystery novel is a home run hit with this new fan!

Daphne Martin is back in her hometown in Virginia and opens her bakery. That's all she thinks she'll be doing: making cakes. That is, until she shows up at her first clients home to deliver the goods and finds her dead. And, people are blaming HER. What's a baker to do? So, now, through tons of hilarious, quirky moments, lots of fun mystery, and some awesome show more culinary tips, too, Daphne Martin sets out to seek the clues for this unusual, yet cozy-at-it's-finest mystery.

If you love cozy mysteries, look no further than Gayle Trent's un-put-downable, delicious crime solving series! From a talking parrot to a gossiping old citizen to some shocking family secrets, this five star novel will make it's way to your bookshelf to stay. You'll be pulled in, mixed up and thrown into the crime solving oven of mystery. Gayle's love for her readers shows in this yummy culinary mystery. Definitely recommended to all. I'm already hungry for the next dish of Daphne Martin mystery! show less

Having been sent the second book in this series for review, I decided to start at the very beginning. The first chapter worried me. It felt rather clumsy and I was not reassured by the introduction of murder suspects with crass motives hard on the heels of the discovery of the corpse. It was not long, however, before I found myself aligning to the author's style and enjoying her cheerful wit. The characters are interesting although some of the relationships are rather broadly drawn. In many ways, this book challenged my prejudices: I would not have expected to enjoy so much technical detail about the making of decorated cakes but it fitted into the narrative without breaking the flow. While lacking the deftness of MC Beaton's Agatha show more Raisin stories, this small-town amateur detective story had much of the same appeal. show less

3.75 Stars — Murder Takes the Cake is the first book in Gayle Trent’s Daphne Martin Cake Mystery series. Daphne has recently returned to her childhood home in a small Virginia town. She’s recently divorced from an abusive husband who is serving prison time for trying to shoot her. Her fresh start in life is opening her own cake decorating business, Daphne’s Delectable Cakes. Unfortunately for Daphne, she discovers one of her first clients dead when she delivers her cake order. The deceased happens to be a spiteful busybody who kept a journal full of the town’s secrets. When it’s revealed that the victim was poisoned, fingers point to Daphne and her cakes. Soon she’s forced to solve the mystery in order to save herself and show more her business.

I’ve decided that cozy mystery is my new genre for 2011, and Murder Takes the Cake is the first one that I’ve read (unless you count the Sookie Stackhouse books). Because I’m new to cozies, I can’t compare this book to others. But, I can say that I really enjoyed it! The mystery itself was a fairly simple one, so in my opinion the book’s strength came from the intersting characters and their interwoven relationships. The author did a great job making the small town characters’ quirky personalities pop off the page. I loved Daphne, and I could really connect with her. There was just the barest hint of romance between Daphne and her long lost boyfriend Ben who helps her solve the mystery. The only thing that slowed the story down somewhat was the detailed descriptions of Daphne’s cake decorating. Some of it I enjoyed learning about, but it did take up a big chunk of the story.

Murder Takes the Cake is a quick and entertaining read fans of cozy mysteries and even chick lit would enjoy. This book was first published in 2008. The copy I reviewed is the March 2011 trade paperback edition. Up next in the Daphne Martin Cake Mystery series: Killer Sweet Tooth.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less