Dead Pan

FIrstly, I will qualify this by saying that while I normally enjoy mysteries, I don't really like 'cozy' ones so please take my review with a grain of salt. I thought this one looked quirky and funny (which is why I requested a copy) but overall I found it quite bland and boring. The story was just one big predictable cliche piled on top another big predictable cliche.

If you are looking for something cute and mindless, it's not bad. But if you want an intriguing storyline & fleshed out characters, perhaps you should move on to something else. Its one redemning quality is the description of the baked goods (gets me every time). Perhaps a recipe or two would help?

"Looking at the photographs fromt he Oklahoma Sugar Art Show started me thinking. I needed to work on my fondant figures in addition to my painting. I decided to start with the figure molding. My nerves needed the distraction." -- From Dead Pan

The breezy second installment of the Daphne Martin cake decorating mystery series, Dead Pan cooks up a delightful culinary cozy mystery that is arguably even better than the first scrumptious book, Murder Takes the Cake.

Dead Pan features some of the quirky, memorable charcters from the first book (e.g. Myra, China York, Belinda Fremont and her award-winning guinea pigs, etc.) and introduces some new ones.

In this installment, brain-damaged Fred Duncan gets violently ill at the Brea Ridge show more Pharmaceuticals Christmas party along with dozens of others; a doctor in attendance just happened to have a vaccine on hand that counteracts the Campylobacter bacteria--curing everyone except for poor Fred, who ends up dead.

Was the breakout mere coincidence? Or did someone have murder on their mind?

Nosy but likable cake-decorator Daphne Martin finds herself once again in the middle of a police investigation, much to the dismay of her sister, Violet.

I ate up Dead Pan and loved every bite. I can't remember being this entertained and delighted with a cozy series--the first installments of the [[ASIN:042519213X Coffeehouse Mysteries]], maybe?

It was interesting how the author incorporated dialogue between Daphne and real-life Food Network judge and sugar artist, Kerry Vincent. I knew who Vincent was, so her "cameo" was a pleasant surprise (although I'm not sure how Ms. Vincent would feel about being fictionally inserted into a mystery!).

I can tell you this: I'm very much looking forward to reading book 3 in the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating series, Killer Sweet Tooth, which is supposed to come out sometime in 2010. Author Gayle Trent has a knack for creating fun characters, believable dialogue and gentle mysteries, and I'm thrilled I discovered her and the Daphne Martin culinary cozy mystery series!

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

This is the second book in Trent's Daphne Martin Cake Decorating series. I have not read the first book, Murder Takes the Cake. Daphne is a dessert caterer and because of her Nancy Drew type activities in the first book she has gained a private detective reputation in her little Virginia town. After a local Christmas party, a young man named Fred dies from food poisoning. Or, at least, that's the assumption that gets Daphne involved since she supplied the cake for the party. Worried for her business and that other people will get sick, Daphne starts nosing around to figure out what happened. Then there's a Campylobacter bacteria outbreak in Brea Ridge; random people are getting sick with something that the local pharmaceutical company show more can quickly cure using one of their new, experimental vaccines. Was Fred's death and the other cases accidental or murder?

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has thought this but this series is very similar to Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear series: A divorced woman who left an abusive husband starts a catering business and investigates crimes. I'm a fan of Davidson's series, especially the recipes, and think I still prefer Goldy to Daphne. I liked Daphne; she's warm with a good sense of humor, doesn't exactly know what she thinks of her relationship with Ben, her sorta boyfriend, and makes cakes for a living. Desserts have always been my favorite. The story/mystery wasn't too complicated or too long and I was surprised when I started reading it that I lost track of time since I wasn't expecting much. There are elements of the funky here - middle-aged women playing games like Guitar Hero and such. The technical info about cake making and conventions was interesting but I'm not too sure that I am interested enough to want to read the next one. show less

This second novel about a cake decorating amateur detective in a small town has much of the frothy charm of the first but this time the plot is too slight and the mystery is too obvious. The strength and the weakness of this series is that little is subtle. It is refreshing to have an author directly confront the suspension of disbelief that is required to accept the cozy absurdity of a person who is repeatedly involved in murders when it is not their job.

My first copy of this came as a free PDF under LibraryThing Early Reviewers but I get no recreational pleasure from reading fiction on my PC so I bought a print on demand copy. It was very very disappointing to find that 20% of the book (yes, 40 of the 200 pages) was promotional show more material. Discovering this when the story ended long before the book was particularly frustrating. show less

Dead Pan is the second in a series of mystery novels that attempt to put baking and murder in the oven and produce something delectable. For those who like their reading to be quite light, airy and with plenty of sweetness, this might prove to be irresistible but I have to confess that it was not to my taste.

The only thing I found particularly notable about the writing was the tendency to use plenty of contemporary references. This is the first book I have read where the heroine (and one of her friends) spend time playing rock guitar video games! I did not find any particular richness in the descriptions, resonance in the characters or language that was startlingly brilliant, amusing or both though. Perhaps I was just struggling with show more the concept of a cake decorator, Daphne Martin, who seems to find herself at the centre of yet another twisted skein of deceit and death? That said, I recognise that the idea of medical examiners and forensic anthropologists playing front line detective is also rather far-fetched so I had better be wary of attempting to dismiss Dead Pan on grounds of realism, since I have been drawn to novels with those other unlikely settings.

It reminded me of the gentle investigations pursued by two older ladies in Simon Brett's novels, with a touch of the whimsy that pervades the work of Jasper Fforde. If you like that style of mystery, then Dead Pan is probably one to put the kettle on for. My palate simply prefers things a little more savoury. show less

This was a fun little bubblegum mystery. Or, perhaps it was a cupcake read? Anyway.
The book started out a little roughly for my taste; I’m not sure if it’s because I haven’t read the first book, but a few of the regular characters were hard to get a bead on. Too, the first few chapters felt padded, as if fluffing the story up to meet a word count.
Other than those two small things, the blend of small town Virginia, cake decorating, and murder is delightful. The author appears to successfully avoid the pitfall of over saturating her book with cakey gimmicks, yet the tips and procedures she did include in the storyline are interesting and technically correct as far as my armature cake decorator brain is concerned. The mystery is show more not too hard to solve as the clues come out, but there’s enough complexity to keep it from being too obvious. I’m looking forward to reading the other two books in the series, and I’ve already begun recommending this book to my friends. Overall, quite a nice little read! show less

When half the town gets sick from food poisoning following a party at the local pharmaceutical company. Daphne Martin finds herself being questioned by the police since she had provided the cakes for the party. For Fred Duncan a his bout of food poisoning turns fatal. Now his Mom Connie would like Daphne to find out who caused his death. While doings this for Connie, Daphne also has to cater a birthday party for a group of pet guinea pigs, work at her cake decorating, and test driving a guitar playing video game for her sister to see if it's appropriate for her niece and nephew.

The author has a writing style that is light and breezy and is easy to read. The plot if well developed with twists and turns with a few red herrings thrown in. show more The characters are believable by the way they have started to let their individual personalities start to show through. show less