Valley of the Sun

It's the first annual Zombie Fest Week in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Melanie Cooper and her partner Angie DeLaura are dressed in their best zombie costumes to man the Fairy Tale Cupcake truck. A genuine coffin, complete with a "corpse," rounds out the setting. When the coffin is opened at the event, Mel discovers a real corpse that looks frighteningly like her partner Angie. Does this have something to do with the dangerous mob case Joe DeLaura is working on?

In Dark Chocolate Demise (A Cupcake Bakery Mystery) by Jenn McKinlay, Angie and Mel decide to investigate. Fearing the victim was murdered in a case of mistaken identify, they worry that one of them was meant to be the real victim. Unfortunately Angie's multiple brothers take a dim view on the investigation and they smother the girls with security.


Adding to the mix Angie's current boyfriend Tate and her former

rock 'n' roller boyfriend Roach battle it out to be the macho protector. Too many male bodyguards cramps the girls' style.

These books are fun, the cupcakes sound delicious and there are recipes in each book. My only criticism is the feud between Mel and Angie and another cupcake owner Olivia Puckett from Confections. She is a psycho and the feud does not advance the story. Scottsdale should be big enough for more than cupcake bakery.

The first book in the series is Sprinkle with Murder.