Summary
A bakery mystery. Rita goes to New Orleans for the express purpose of getting her estranged husband, Philippe, to sign their divorce papers. He’d been stalling long enough. But she shows up in the middle of a disaster at his bakery, Zydeco Cakes. After a season of sabotage and conflict, a major cake is ruined just before delivery, one of the employees is knocked out, and Philippe is found dead. Now, instead of being an ex-wife, Rita is a widow. And a murder suspect.
Review
For me, this was a good mystery but not a great story. The setting of the bakery was interesting, the characters were well defined (and there were a lot of them), and the mystery kept me guessing all the way to the end. My theory was all wrong. And I like when a mystery keeps me guessing almost as much as I like when I can puzzle out the solution on my own!
I just didn’t click with the story in a way that made me want to drop everything and keep reading. I didn’t love the characters. And characters often make or break a book for me. Many of the characters in this one were abrasive in their own quirky ways, maybe as part of their “artistic” personalities.
The writing is good. I would definitely read more from this author. I’m just not sure I clicked enough with the characters to dive into another in this particular series. Other readers might enjoy these characters even if they weren’t a good fit for me. If you are a mystery fan, and the premise of this one sounds interesting, give it a try and see what you think!