Buttercream Bump Off by Jenn McKinlay

And, congratulations added to Jenn.  Buttercream Bump Off appears on the New York Times' extended bestseller list for mass market paperbacks for Jan. 23.  Congrats, Jenn!

From the moment Melanie Cooper and her business partners, Angie DeLaura and Take Harper encountered a giant cupcake on the corner of Fifth and Scottsdale, Jenn McKinlay's second Cupcake Bakery mystery takes off on a funny journey that never quits.  The cozy mystery, Buttercream Bump Off, is filled with laugh aloud moments in the course of a murder investigation.

Mel and Angie are the active partners in Fairy Tale Cupcakes, a bakery in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona.  Since it's close to Valentine's Day, they plan a special raffle, tickets available with the purchase of four cupcakes.  They're also holding a couples' class for cupcakes (recipes included in the book).  Right in the middle of the class, Mel's mother, Joyce, shows up in her pajamas to say she has her first date since her husband died ten years ago, and she needs Mel's help on a shopping trip.  It's too bad the shopping trip ended with a man's heart attack, and Joyce's evening out ended with her date dead in the hot tub.  And, Joyce is on the top of the investigating detective's list of suspects.

McKinlay incorporates Valentine's Day and a number of romances and roadblocks to those romances.  Poor Mel is dating Angie's brother, Joe, a hot lawyer, who falls asleep every time he shows up at her apartment since he's working long hours on a murder case.  Tate doesn't recognize that Angie loves him, and she turns everything up-side-down by dating a rock star.  Then, there's the elderly man who has taken to hanging out in the bakery, eating cupcakes to try to win the raffle.  And, of course, there's poor Joyce, whose hot date led to hot tub death. 

Between the bakery business, their own version of "cupcake wars" with a competing bakery, and romance, it's a wonder Mel and Angie have time to investigate a murder case.  But, Mel isn't going to let her mother remain the number one suspect, even if it means sneaking around Scottsdale. 

Jenn McKinlay's latest mystery is funny, creative, and filled with interesting characters.  Add in those cupcake recipes, and Buttercream Bump Off is a recipe for success.

Jenn McKinlay's website is http://www.jennmckinlay.com/

Buttercream Bump Off by Jenn McKinlay.  Berkley Prime Crime, ©2011. ISBN 9780425239247 (paperback), 240p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - The publisher sent me a copy of the book, in hopes I would review it.