Cutthroat Cupcakes

Cursed Candy Mysteries, Book 1

By: Cate Lawley

Narrated by: Meg Price

Killer cupcakes?

Seems improbable to Lina, but when an attractive detective snaps cuffs on her and accuses her of witchy crimes, she's forced to reconsider.

The murder weapon? A cupcake topper sold in Lina's shop Sticky, Tricky Treats.

The method? A killing curse.

The curse's origin? Lina...sort of.

Except, Lina hadn't a clue that she was a witch and certainly didn't know she'd accidentally cursed some of her confections.

She's got to catch the killer who used her magic to murder or possibly face a conviction as an accessory.

Now, if only the wizard detective assigned to the case weren't such a distraction.

Cutthroat Cupcakes is a magical witch culinary cozy with a touch of romance, the first of three books in the Cursed Candy Mysteries series!

©2020 Catherine G. Cobb (P)2021 Catherine G. Cobb

Fun and light, like candy

I was looking for something to listen to over the Halloween season and after listening to a few samples I preferred this narrator to the others. The story itself is straightforward, with characters that I found promising. There’s a lot of potential with all of them, and I plan on listening to other books to find out what she decides to do with them. The mystery was a little bit abrupt, and I found myself wishing there was more of a twist because they figure out who the murderer is sort of by accident and fairly early. I was sort of hoping they would turn out to be wrong at the last second but no dice. I like the way the author is handling magic and its uses and limitations, and look forward to seeing more development on that as Lina learns to use her powers. I did find some of the phrasing and internal monologue kind of repetitive, and I wish we got to know Lina a little more (where and how she lives, her training for making candy, maybe watching her make it) just for the comfort aspect…but I understand how dropping us into the middle of the arrest felt like a more compelling start to the story. Overall I enjoyed this and found Lina to be interesting because on the edge of death, she thinks about her business instead of loved ones, and wonders what that says about her, which as a small business owner without much close family I could uncomfortably relate to. So many leading lady characters are overly selfless and nurturing and have these loving family and friend relationships to prove they’re “good-hearted people” and it’s fun to see something different being done here.