Publisher's Weekly Review
This fluffy first in a promising new cozy series from bestseller Clark (Dying for Mercy) introduces 27-year-old, down-on-her-luck actress Piper Donovan. After a painful breakup and too few acting gigs in Manhattan, Piper has returned home to Hillwood, N.J., where she's assisting her mother, Terri, at the family bakery, the Icing on the Cupcake. Piper is pleased to be preparing the cake for the upcoming wedding of her friend Glenna Brooks, the star of A Little Rain Must Fall, a daytime soap opera that Piper appeared in before her character was killed off. An actual murder, the cyanide poisoning of one of Glenna's A Little Rain Must Fall co-stars and her former lover, Travis York, threatens to derail the wedding. After further dangerously sticky developments, Piper confronts the surprising killer. Piper having to deal with Terri's macular degeneration lends some emotional weight. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Struggling actress Piper Donovan moves back in with her parents in New York City. With no immediate prospects for work, she helps out with the family bakery business. When her friend Glenna, star of a daytime soap opera, gets engaged, Piper agrees to create the wedding cake. Then Glenna's costar, Travis York, dies at a charity auction of cyanide poisoning. There's no shortage of suspects, including Glenna's fiance, Casey Walden, and her ex-con ex-husband, Philip. But who was the real target? When Piper learns that Glenna has been receiving threatening letters, she decides to investigate, with the help of her ex-neighbor Jack, an FBI agent. Clark's latest mystery is the first in a new series, in which all the entries will involve wedding cakes. The intriguing premise will interest fans of foodie crime.--Kan, Kat Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
Clark abandons long-suffering TV newscaster Eliza Blake (Dying for Mercy, 2009, etc.) to launch her new Wedding Cake Mystery series with this glossy tale of premarital homicide.Glenna Brooks and Piper Donovan have both appeared on the soap opera A Little Rain Must Fall, but that's where the similarity ends. Glenna, continuing as the show's most popular star, is about to marry Casey Walden, a teacher at the Metropolitan School for Girls, which her daughter attends; Piper, who's been virtually unemployed since her character was killed off, is moving back in with her parents. Since everything about Glenna's wedding has to be perfect, she wants famous photographer Martha Killeen to snap the pictures and Piper's mother Terri, who owns The Icing on the Cupcake, to make the cake. But the course of true love doesn't run smooth, and murder interrupts a high-profile charity auction at which the cast has gathered to benefit the school. Was the killer Glenna's embittered ex-con husband Phillip? Casey's brother Arthur, a jeweler who's not about to share the proceeds of the family business? Casey's yearning ex-girlfriend Jessie Terhune, an opportunistic drama teacher? Soap-opera king Quent Raynor, scheming for a coup that will publicize his show's move to Los Angeles? Or Martha herself, whose financial woes have made her desperate for the sort of comeback she could achieve by photographing a murder in progress?Rated PG-13 for brief violence. But no sex, no language, no detectionnot even Piper's FBI friend Jack Lombardi does himself proudand only a single recipe, which you can find on dozens of online sites.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Piper Donovan is newly single and struggling to find acting jobs after her soap opera character was killed off. She moves back in with her parents and helps out in her mom's bakery, which is renowned for its beautifully decorated cakes. When one of Piper's famous former costars asks if the bakery can make her wedding cake, Piper gets involved in a real-life soap opera replete with murder, romance, family issues, and a varied cast of characters including an FBI agent, a director, a photographer, a costumer, a jeweler, a drama teacher, and more. Verdict The first book in best-selling suspense author Clark's (Dying for Mercy; Lights Out Tonight) new series is an old-fashioned whodunit set in a modern world that's high on suspense and low on gore. The number of characters with motive for murder keeps you guessing, and the action-packed short chapters keep the story moving. You'll also learn a little about cake decorating, and there's a sweet surprise at the end. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/10.]-Samantha J. Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
