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It's sticky sweet but a satisfying new direction for author Mary Jane Clark. This wedding cake mystery focuses on a young soap star, Piper Donovan, and her fabulous co-star of "A Little Rain Must Fall," a daytime soap opera whose characters have just as much drama going on in their personal lives as in their show. As the story begins, struggling New York actress Piper has recently moved home to New Jersey after losing her role (she was killed off on the show). When she meets up for drinks with soap opera's leading lady, Piper learns she is getting remarried and leaving the show, which is moving to the West Coast. When Glenna Brooks begs Piper to ask her mom to make her wedding cake, Piper immediately agrees. Meanwhile back at the Icing on the Cupcake, her mother's bakery, something is going on with Piper's mom, and Piper soon fills in as leading wedding cake baker for Glenna and her husband-to-be. Mayhem soon begins when the soap opera stars appear at a private school auction, and one of them ends up dead. From there, the bodies start falling right and left, and everyone seems to lead a complicated life, with old romances and money issues taking center stage. This cozy has plenty of likeable characters and enough plot twists and changes of focus on whodunit to keep readers moving along. Like the sweet treats served up in the bakery, the book is easily consumed and enjoyed. There's plenty of modern material for consideration in this mystery, from the adult child returning home to aging parents to sibling struggles over a jewelry business to the demise of small local businesses in the face of big box stores. Even the villain's story seems to be a contemporary tale of survival amidst a struggling economy. There are no disappointments in TO HAVE AND TO KILL, although those who were hoping for a bit more on baking wedding cakes and the bakery business might find themselves hungry for more. (The author does include one recipe at the novel's end.) All in all, author Mary Jane Clark's new direction hits the sweet spot. § Christine Zibas is a freelance writer and former director of publications for a Chicago nonprofit.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, January 2011
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