Murder Most Sweet
Everyone in Lake Potawatomi, Wisconsin, knows Teddie St. John. Tall, curly-haired Teddie is a superb baker, a bohemian bon vivant, and a mystery writer. Teddie is walking her American Eskimo dog, Gracie when her four-legged friend finds Teddie’s missing silk scarf. Only problem: the scarf is tied tightly around the neck of a beautiful blond woman, the fiancée of a touring British author.
Before you can say “Wisconsin kringle,” Teddie becomes a murder suspect. Everyone in town knows all too well that the distinctive scarf was hers. But there are more layers to this case than there would have been on poor Kristi’s wedding cake. Tavish Bentley should be bereaved after his sweetheart’s strangling. Instead, the dashing Brit takes a shine to Teddie’s witty wisecracks and to-die-for cookies, and soon he’s mooning over her instead of mourning his bride. That is when he’s not dodging the attentions of Annabelle, an obsessive fan who’s taken to stalking him.
And when a second murder shocks the community, the plot thickens to the consistency of fondant as Teddie stands accused of not one, but two, murders. With the help of her friends Sharon and Char, can Teddie clear her name and deliver a killer’s just desserts?
Series: A Bookish Baker Mystery – Book #1
Author: Laura Jensen Walker
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Culinary/Author
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Page Count: 289
Rating: 
I enjoyed Murder Most Sweet, the first book in a new writer and baker based cozy series, “A Bookish Baker Mystery.” The characters were interesting, had quirks, and room to grow, and Gracie, the dog, is just plain fun. The setting of small-town America is almost required in these types of books. Each town has a special distinction and character that make it unique, and Lake Potawatomi, Wisconsin, is no exception.
Teddie is a realistic character who isn’t perfect, but who does the best she can with what she has and who she is. A cancer survivor, a writer, and a baker are just a few of her accomplishments. She isn’t letting anything stand in her way to fulfill her dreams, not even murder. As a mystery writer, she knows about murder, but real life isn’t like one of her books. Finding out that she could not only be arrested for a murder she didn’t commit but that she could lose her publishing contract galvanizes her into action. She can’t leave the investigation up to the police, or she will end up behind bars, or worse. When a second body shows up, and she is the only suspect the police are looking at, Teddie knows she has to find answers.
Suspects abound, motives are almost limitless. The danger is constant. This book has lots of action, twists, turns, and red herrings. Readers will be on the edge of their seats, waiting to find out how Teddie unveils the killer. Teddie, the writer, fits the pieces together, while the baker part of her makeup works continually as she finds it the best way to think while trying to sift out a killer. In the end, the killer is found, and Teddie has new ideas for future books. Readers will most likely know who the killer is before they finish the book, but it won’t stop them from wanting to read every word. Murder Most Sweet will be a fun and compelling read for lovers of all things baking and murder.
Other writer based engaging reads are Lynn Cahoon’s unusual literature-based B&B series “A Cat Latimer Mystery” or Kay Finch’s wonderfully entertaining “A Bad Luck Cat Mystery “.
About the Author:
Award-winning author Laura Jensen Walker has written several fiction and non-fiction books (17 and counting). Her books all share one common thread: humor. A lover of mysteries since she read her first Trixie Belden in fourth grade, bibliophile Laura is thrilled to be writing lighthearted mystery novels.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
Laura flew a typewriter across Europe in Uncle Sam’s Air Force in her twenties and lived in Oxfordshire, England, for three years, where she became a lifelong, tea-loving Anglophile. A native of Racine, Wisconsin, dog-lover Laura lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband and their canine daughter, Mellie.
Contact Laura: laurajensenwalker@gmail.com
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