A Wedding Cake Mystery

Piper Donovan, aspiring actress, returns home to New Jersey to bake wedding cakes at her mother's bakery, Icing on the Cupcake, between acting jobs. The latest book, Footprints in the Sand by Mary Jane Clark, shifts locations to Sarasota, Florida, for Piper's cousin's wedding.

When Piper and her parents arrive they discover Kathy's friend Shelley is missing. When an elderly neighbor reports seeing a man with a woman's body tossed over his shoulder, no one is sure she saw what she thinks she saw. But when Shelley's car is discovered with blood on the front seat, the police become concerned.

Meanwhile Piper encounters a young Amish man making large brightly painted disks he calls "hex signs." She orders one for the bride and groom and recognizes that young Levi is troubled. When she tries to draw him out, he shuts down.

We later learn Levi has a secret, but he is terrified to reveal it because he had been drinking. Levi is

on his rumspringa and has been indulging in what the outside world has to offer. Trying to protect his sister Miriam as well as keeping the secret leads to danger.

Wanting to ease her cousin's concerns before the wedding, Piper starts to ask questions.Why would anyone deliberately want to kill Shelley? Did Roz Golubock actually see the murder? Is she in danger now? What is making the young Amish man so jittery? Why was his cell phone found at the burial site?

I enjoyed this series especially for the relationship between Piper and her parents. Her father Vin is a worry-wort who fears the worst in every situation and her mother Terri is a "glass is half full" type of person despite beginning to lose her sight to macular degeneration. Piper returning to the bakery has tapped into a creative side that enables her to
decorate and sell gorgeous wedding cakes while she waits for other acting roles.

The first book in the series is To Have and to Kill.