Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay
Edition: Kindle
Pages: 222
Publisher/Date: Berkley Prime Crime / March 2, 2010
Price: $7.99 on Amazon
Reading Challenges: Women Authors, Where Are You Reading (Arizona)
The Unlikely Sleuth: Mel Cooper, owner of Fairy Tale Cupcakes.
Synopsis: Mel and her best friend Angie, co-owners of a cupcake bakery, receive their first big event order: a wedding. Except that wedding is between their other best friend, Tate, and his bitchy, control-freak designer girlfriend. Biting their tongues, the girls agree to accommodate the bridezilla, but when Mel stops by to go over cupcake flavors she finds the bride-to-be dead. Being suspected of murder, Mel must find the real killer to clear her own name.
Plot Pace Rating: 3/5 – It was a pretty quick read so I didn’t have a lot of time to get bored. The action was mild, but spread throughout the book. The ending had some suspense to it.
Mystery Rating: 2/5 – I will give it the fact that it had one mystery and stuck to solving it (and everything that seemed to stray from that plot eventually tied in). Here’s my problem and it’s probably my biggest *#$(&@(& with CM books: the mystery was fueled by overreaction and ignorance (on the part of the sleuth), incompetence (on the part of the police). It was just given that Mel was a suspect, but there wasn’t any real evidence behind it. But she was certain she was about to be arrested. She made herself a suspect just by overreacting to everything and the story progressed by her ignoring the obvious. It may be a cute story, but it doesn’t make for a good mystery.
Character Rating: 3/5 – I liked Mel and Angie. I thought they were funny and, as I’m an avid cupcake baker, I felt a kinship to the two. Not unlike the standard CM characters, they were pretty flat. But, still, I enjoyed them.
Romance Rating: 4/5 – Mel has a crush on Angie’s older brother – and has since they were in school. She’s giggly and awkward around him, but that’s about as far as it goes. It was cute.
The Best: The cupcake ideas (and the recipes are in the back!)
The Worst: The issues with the mystery plot I mentioned above. I would’ve really liked this if it wasn’t for that.
Series Rating: This was the first book in the series and, while I liked it enough to start the second book, I ended up shelving it about a quarter of the way through because it seemed to be just about the same ignorant/incompetent mystery plot as the first. I might go back to it, though.
0 comments :