Friday Cozy Mystery Book Review: Wedding Cake Crumble by Jenn McKinlay

Publishing date: Apr. 8, 2018

From the Publisher:

Wedding bells and death knells are ringing for the Fairy Tale Cupcake crew in this latest mystery in the New York Times bestselling series

With Angie and Tate's wedding just around the corner, it's a happy--but very busy--time for Mel. Not only is she doing double duty as both the maid of honor and best man, but her bakery, Fairy Tale Cupcakes, has just been hired to provide cupcakes for a famous author's book signing. But when the author turns up dead, it's just the start of a murder mystery that Mel must solve.

My Thoughts:

This was the first book I read in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series, so I was expecting to take some time getting up to speed. Not so: I was quickly familiar with the characters, who are charming and just plain fun to hang out with.

The murder mystery was solid. I liked how the author (or characters) didn't take herself too seriously, and made a little fun of the fact that there was yet another murder in their small little town and social circle. In fact, the first few chapters reveal that several murders were committed before we get to the main crime: the murder of a local author with lots of skeletons in her closet.

The story drags a little toward the last quarter of the book, when two of the main characters get married. But I imagine that faithful readers will enjoy this part.

Jenn McKinlay has the cozy mystery genre down. I'd recommend this series, and think I might go read book one now... 

**NetGalley copy provided for review**

Friday around the web: Crime and Science radio, how to start a book club for kids, and kitten food crisis

It's September! I thought this month would never get here... Here in southern Mississippi, each fall month gets us closer to humanly tolerable temps. Currently we're battling the nineties with umptienthousand percent humidity, but we're getting closer to November, when we can go outside and breathe again... :-)

But enough about the weather already. This week on the Twitterz, it was a short week with a hodge-podge of news, like that there will be a new Agatha Christie novel (not sure I'm cool with that, but I'll keep an open mind). For my fellow crime writers: Crime and Science Radio will be hosting webcasts on various crimey topics, starting Saturday with Hollywood Storytelling: Science Fact or Make Believe? This looks like a promising resource...

If you're interested in starting a book club for kids, read my author pal Caroline Starr Rose's blog for a step-by-step guide. Great advice there.

And for some Friday fun, here's a picture of kitten ChuChu, trying to get my attention when I'm editing, but the food bowl is also empty:

Happy weekend, all. Stay frosty...

Friday around the web: Wimpy Kid cover reveal, summer reading, and Mumford video

It's Friday! This is where I tell you what newsy items I caught during the week, mostly from Twitter. The past week seemed to be full of fun stuff.

Like the cover reveal of the eighth Diary of a Wimpy Kid book called Hard Luck. Looking forward to this one; I always like the pure funny of this series. It's out in November, so all of America can buy it for the holidays. It's even green for color-coordination.

In other news, Publishers Weekly reported on summer reading programs all around the country. Pretty cool to hear from librarians, as always. I especially liked this quote from Lurine Carter from the Detroit Public Library's children's/teen department:
"Life is very serious, not only in Detroit but all over. We try to relieve their minds. We want the library and the reading to be a pleasant getaway.” Amen to that.

And for a last bit of humor: check out the Mumford and Sons new video, featuring a bunch of funny famous dudes.

Happy weekend, all!

And The Story Of The Week Is...

...this giant rubber duck going under the Tower Bridge in London. I don't even care so much about the story, but the image made me smile.

You can get the details at ITV. Hat tip to Sarah Weinman who posted the story on Twitter.

Happy weekend, guys!