Sprinkle with Murder

Cupcake Bakery Mystery, Book 1

By: Jenn McKinlay

Narrated by: Susan Boyce

Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are finally living out their dream as the proud owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery. But their first big client is a nightmare. She's a bridezilla who wants 500 custom cupcakes for her wedding. When Mel stumbles upon the bride-to-be dead - by cupcake - Mel becomes the prime suspect. To save themselves and their business, the ladies need to find the real murderer, before the cupcake killer ices someone else.

©2010 Jenn McKinlay (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Cute book... will listen to another

The story was enjoyable. I wanted a light story and it fit the bill.

While I found the narrators voice quality enjoyable, I wondered many times if she had read the story ahead of time. The tone of her voice did not fit the action several times and her sentences were choppy- which detracted from the storyline. I'm sure she's a fine narrator, but this performance could have used some fine tuning.

Sprinkled with Humor and a Sweet Treat!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would totally recommend this book to a friend. Especially if they love cozy mysteries, Stephanie Plum, and Hannah Swensen. It was like a cozy mystery of the both of those characters. The story was fun and light, and up until the very end I was unsure of the killer. I had my suspicions, but I will not tell you if I was right or wrong, why spoil the fun?

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sprinkle with Murder?

Memorable moments... I loved hearing about the Bridezilla moment with the main character (Mel) and Christie. To think about having that much money and think you are so entitled, I cannot imagine.

Which character – as performed by Susan Boyce – was your favorite?

I loved Mel of course, and I also loved her friend Angie.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I did listen to this book all in one sitting on a car trip. I loved it so much that I went out and got the rest of the series all in one swoop. I cannot wait to dig right in and fix that sweet tooth. This is the perfect blend of sweet confection, humor, and a little spice. Highly recommend.

Any additional comments?

Give it a try, my biggest surprise so far this year!

worth a listen

Good story, a little predictable. Narrative needed more emotion and character. Easy listen and did keep you interested.

Sprinkle with murder

The book was good and I enjoyed most of it except toward the last half. Not sure if the narrator developed a lisp when she became over excited or the audio cut off parts of words such as asked, which became ath and agth, and frosted cupcakes became froth,etc. etc. Certain words became much more mispronounced/cut off toward the end and I found I was dreading the mispronunciations/ or audio difficulty more than anticipating the conclusion. Other than that the storyline was good.

A Fun Cupcake of a Book

In Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay, Angie, Melanie, and Tate have been best friends since childhood. So when the two women decide to open a cupcake shop a few years after Melanie has finished culinary school, Tate, who comes from an insanely wealthy family and has made even more money as a successful stock trader, happily invests in the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery. He then brings them their first catering order, for 500 cupcakes for his upcoming wedding to the fashion designer Christie Stevens. Christie proves to be the worst bridezilla of all bridezillas, insisting that the cupcakes at her wedding must be of totally unique flavors and that Mel must sign a nondisclosure agreement that she will never serve the flavors created for Christie to anyone else. Then, too lazy to go to Fairy Tale Cupcakes to test her new flavors, Christie sends two assistants to pick up the box of new cupcakes. That night, while Melanie, Angie, and Tate are having one of their regular movie nights, Tate gets a call from Christie. The fiancee is upset that he insists on spending time with other women and includes a demand that Mel meet her at Christie’s fashion shop at 7:30 to discuss the changes she wants in her cupcakes. But when Mel shows up at Christie Stevens Designs the next morning, she finds the woman on the floor, dead. A cupcake lies near her outstretched hand.

It doesn’t take long before the coroner gives a preliminary ruling of foul play, and Mel becomes the chief suspect, both because she found the body and because cupcakes seem to figure into the case. Making Mel even more upset is the fact that her own mother thinks she did it, always certain that Mel has been deeply in love with Tate her whole life.

Next, Mel’s police officer uncle comes to investigate her followed by Angie’s older brother Joe, an assistant DA in their city of Scottsdale, AZ and upon whom she has long had a crush, comes by and asks questions that lead to further feelings of being attacked.

Feeling under strong suspicion for this crime, particularly since the media have decided that she, possibly with Tate’s help, committed this murder in a love triangle, Mel decides she must do her own investigating of the crimes. Doing so leads her in different directions, since Christie has created so many enemies for herself. In doing so, Mel connects further with her friends and renews old relationships before finally catching the killer.

This book was a whole lot of fun to listen to. I enjoyed the descriptions of all the types of cupcakes and the way the characters interact with each other. The rivalry between Fairy Tale Cupcakes and the Confectionary, whose owner, Olivia, has a serious (and rather strange) grudge against Mel and Angie, adds a nice touch of comic relief.

This book is performed in its audio edition by Susan Boyce, a fairly popular narrator who does a good job of getting into the heart of each book. She further embodies her characters to make them believable and ones you can become invested in, whether positively or negatively, depending upon the nature of the character. I thought her acting job (since narrating an audio book really is a form of acting, often more challenging than ensemble acting) was highly entertaining and fun.

Sprinkle with Murder is not nearly as developed in its characters or plot as the Library Mystery series by McKinlay, which I really love for its depth and creativity, but I still had a very fun time listening to the book. I give it four stars.

humor, romance (kinda), mustery

I enjoyed the story, the plot and the characters. I love cupcakes & good narratimg

A Lighter Mystery Sprinkled with Romance

I liked this book because it wasn’t too intense (as far as murder mysteries and psychological thrillers go) and spent some time building the characters. It’s intriguing enough to hold your interest and keep you entertained. It reminds me of a Hallmark mystery. The narrator is good, too, which always helps. Worth a listen.

Love Jenn McKinlay

I have read other books by Jenn McKinlay and loved the humor and writing and and characters. This book is right up there with the others I have read.

absolutely delightful!

this was an amazing story full of wonderful characters and a grate plot. I recommend everyone read it!

Hmmmmm

This book is kind of cute and campy. It seemed more suited to young adults. I don’t think there was a single person in the story who was married - except for Mel’s mother who was a widow. Very strange dynamics.