Death by Chocolate Chip Cupcake

A Death by Chocolate Mystery, Book 5

By: Sarah Graves

Narrated by: Susan Boyce

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Jake and Ellie are taking a break from perfecting their chocolate-pizza recipe to cater a housewarming party hosted by movie-icon Ingrid Merryfield. Miss Merryfield is famous for her old-Hollywood glamour. Her new home, Cliff House, has a reputation too - for being haunted. But she isn’t concerned, and some of her guests even try to summon a spirit during the party, using a Ouija board. What arrives instead is a freak autumn storm that downs an ancient tree, traps everyone on the property, and leads them to stumble upon a hidden room - where they find film critic Audrey Dalton, apparently frightened to death.

Though Jake and Ellie don’t intend to get stirred into the mix, there’s no avoiding it - especially when they discover a locket in the victim’s hand, with a picture of Ellie and the word “next” on it. Is someone trying to write her out of the script too?

Jake and Ellie begin sifting through suspects and motives, a search that takes them from a long-lost family graveyard to an antique smokehouse and finally to Cliff House’s overgrown gardens. Is there some ghostly presence involved - or a flesh-and-blood villain? And either way, can they ensure that Ellie avoids meeting her very own, very permanent Hollywood ending?

©2022 Sarah Graves (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Good listen

The story over all was good but I get tired of all the massively ridiculous situations they get themselves in and out of. 🙄

Action scenes are intense!

For a cozy mystery series, these books have very intense action scenes. And just when they are dealing with one problem, another one pops up! It always seems as if there is no way out, but I reassure myself that of course there is. Sometimes I speed up the narration through these parts just to avoid the anxiety inducing details! LOL
I do recommend the books, however. They are enjoyable and have well developed characters and interesting plots.

I loved this book and series.

Yes,it was a bit hard to follow and I found I needed to pay closer attention and reread some parts, like I never quite got what happened to Brian. I may have zoned out during that.
But it is fiction and cozy and a very enjoyable wild ride.

My favorite so far

Engaging. Kept me thinking all the way through it. I related to some aspects that I won’t mention because of not wanting to release spoilers.

Mostly good writing and narration

I’ve listened to all of Sarah Graves’ books and enjoyed the stories but her excessive use of adverbs (e.g., liquidly, clingingly) gets annoying. The narrator did a great job with e everyone’s voices except the main character, Jake. The staccato was like listening to William Shatner’s Captain Kirk. If not for those 2 issues, I’d go 5-star on this one.

OMG!!! THE BEST YET!!

I love this series!!!
It was like being on a runaway roller coaster. Please Sarah Graves more soon!!

Loved it!

I really love this series, from the start its been great. Hope she writes more. Very well written. Love the narrator. She did a great job.

Where are the cupcakes?

(Includes spoilers) Graves “Death by Chocolate” is uncharacteristically confusing, disjointed and reads as if someone else wrote it. Make no mistake - Graves delivers the same purposeful and descriptive language she is known for - it’s just the storyline falls apart beginning at chapter 5 and never recovers. How many times does she leave her family with a serial killer…how many times does she say we have to get out of here and then she leaves them behind? And every time she comes back Micah is making food…breakfast, lunch, fondue (everyone is dead who are you cooking for). Then random details - a pizza paddle appears (we brought it…) but why? Someone is pouring coffee….but then oh, wait, there’s no power…so now she’s heating it in a pan. And on and on. Lastly - the book starts with the cookie pizza idea of Ellie’s…next thing you know it’s appearing everywhere (stealing a paper plate of the yummy goodness from the killer!!) except the title. I expect better story structure and continuity from such a seasoned author.

Surprisingly Terrible

I’ve listened to almost every book in this series and enjoyed each. This one was repetitive, lacked originality, no clear purpose, it was sad. I painfully listened to the very end. Huge disappointment.

Death by Chocolate Chip Cupcake

I really enjoy her writing but I felt there was too much minutiae in this storyline.