It’s a blazin’ summer in Willow Bluff, Georgia, and chef Jessie Haynes has prepared the best darn wedding buffet the town has ever tasted. Love is in the air—peppered with the tantalizing aroma of fried chicken, and just a dash of… murder?
At the centre of Jessie’s pitch-perfect dinner table sits a tiered red velvet cake, decorated in pearly-white icing and delicate pink roses, just waiting for its moment to shine. But when groom Tommy Prescott takes a bite, he immediately slumps to the floor, dead. His wedding toast becomes his eulogy as his bride collapses in a sobbing heap of tulle and lace beside him.
Back at Honeybee’s Diner, Jessie dusts down her apron and rolls up her sleeves, fixin’ to find the killer—fast. But as folks around town start to spill the beans, she realizes this investigation won’t be a piece of cake. The happy couple were surrounded by bad apples—was it the one of groom’s grown children who feared they would lose their inheritance? Or the bride’s former foe, in an extreme case of sour grapes?
Honing-in on the bride’s years at Willow Bluff High, Jessie has success in her sights. But then the wedding planner goes missing, and the investigation looks to be well and truly cooked. Terrified the blushing bride could be next, the race is on for Jessie to follow the breadcrumbs and catch this killer before the whole case crumbles…
A deliciously gripping cozy mystery that will leave you hungry for more. If you like Ellery Adams, Deany Ray or Agatha Christie, you won’t be able to put this down.
Skylar Warren is a Chicago native and a graduate of Chicago State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Media Arts and Theatre. She now lives in New York City and works as a claims adjuster. In her spare time, she enjoys watching mysteries and solving puzzles.
My thoughts: Jessie has been hired to cater a small event, which turns out to be a wedding, and then after taking a bite of wedding cake, the groom drops dead.
Jessie didn’t make the cake but unfortunately that doesn’t stop the gossip-mongers of Willow Bluff from claiming her diner is closing down.
So Jessie and co start another investigation, this time to find out who poisoned the cake – and why the groom sprung a surprise wedding on his bride, young enough to be his granddaughter, excluding his children from the event.
Carefully asking questions about the bride’s previous life in the town. Samantha left under something of a cloud and she might be the intended victim, if it wasn’t her ageing beau.
Funny, with great characters (I want Tee to be my friend) and not a book to read when hungry as the descriptions of the amazing food Jessie whips up will make you drool. It’s another highly enjoyable and clever mystery. Can’t wait for the next one!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
