Killer Cupcakes by Leighann Dobbs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Two-Point-Five (2.5) stars to Leighann Dobbs‘s Killer Cupcakes. I was browsing free books on iBooks on my iPad looking for an electronic cozy this afternoon when I stumbled upon a name that kept popping up… Killer Cupcakes. Well, given that I like Diane Mott Davidson and Joanne Fluke, I gave it a try. 58 minutes later, the book was finished. I’m still unsure of what just happened in the last hour.
Story
Lexy took an opportunity to change her life, leave her cheating boyfriend and open her dream bakery showcasing cupcake tops (don’t ask where the bottoms go!). She meets a hunky new detective who lives next door to the house she takes over from Nans, her grandmother, when she moves into a retirement home. They flirt. Suddenly Lexy’s ex-boyfriend Kevin is found poisoned after eating her cupcakes! The detective has to whisk (oops, I mean frisk!) her to see if she’s gone rogue. Along with Sprinkles (her dog) and a few friends (Cassie — her assistant and best friend), and the grandmother’s roommates, they quickly solve the murder on their own. Then Lexy can date the detective.
Strengths
1. Cute premise
2. Quick read
Weaknesses
1. Was so very simple, basic and eventless
2. Writing comes across like it’s for new or young adult readers
Final Thoughts
I read up on Ms. Dobbs… she was a former software engineer who quit her job to write. And now she has about 15 books published. So… I must either be missing something or she gets a lot better after her first book. While the mystery wasn’t very exciting or ground-breaking, it meets all the traditional cozy requirements… thus I’m left suspecting the books and the author found their groove as the series continues.
It was just too quick… Of the 169 pages, 30 were recipes and a preview of the next book. In the remaining 139, the pages were only filled up 50% of the time. Essentially, the page count is barely 100… and so the first 30 pages introduce the background, the middle 40 pages theorize on suspects and the final 30 pages detail the confrontation, capture and summary.
Let’s call it a short story intro to a new series and I can get behind reading another one! But that will be when I need a break from something intense and I have an hour of free-time.