DEATH BY CHOCOLATE CHIP CUPCAKE

Some bakers’ bid to earn extra cash turns deadly.

Winter is no time to run a boutique chocolate shop in Eastport, Maine. As the summer visitors leave, the Chocolate Moose empties out. Jacobia Tiptree and Ellie White, partners and best friends, find themselves closing in the midafternoon after a day without a single customer. Ellie is especially bummed because she’s developing a new recipe for chocolate pizza that she’s sure would be a hot item if only someone would brave the cold and come try it. Then, a bolt from the blue: Retired screen actress Ingrid Merryfield drives up in her stretch limo. The Eastport native has bought majestic Cliff House and wants to pay Ellie and Jake handsomely to provide late-night desserts for her housewarming party. Cliff House’s creepy reputation gives the pair pause, but the gig offers them their best chance to keep the Moose open. So Jake enlists her daughter-in-law, Mika, and her stepmother, Bella, for the overnight stint. Naturally, Jake’s cream-filled cupcakes aren’t even half gone when guests start dying. Actor Gilly Blaine disappears over a cliff. Film critic Audrey Dalton’s body turns up in an empty room. And while Jake wonders who’s next, an unexpected storm topples a tree in the driveway, trapping everyone inside. Jake and Ellie brave the deluge in a Chris-Craft moored by the dock, then return for the rest of the Moose crew. Hours and gallons of rain later, they finally discover who has it in for Ingrid and her guests.

And Then There Were None, only wetter.