MURDER IS A PIECE OF CAKE

Murder disrupts a young baker’s life.

Madison Montgomery is well on her way to fulfilling the conditions laid out in her great-aunt Octavia’s will for her to claim her inheritance. In spite of a devastating fire, Maddy is operating Octavia’s bakery, Baby Cakes, and learning to make tasty confections from her aunt’s old friend Hannah Portman and head baker Leroy Danielson. Maddy has also taken excellent care of Baby, Octavia’s bull mastiff, under the guidance of Michael Portman, Hannah’s veterinarian grandson, who’s also Maddy’s main squeeze. So what could go wrong? For one thing, Baby’s been off his feed ever since meeting Daisy, a female mastiff whose owner inquired about Baby’s stud service but then decided not to follow through. Second, Maddy’s best friend, Sheriff April Johnson, is being stalked by Clayton “CJ” Davenport, a high roller she wed when she was a teen beauty-pageant queen and never quite divorced. Clayton thinks he’ll get back at April by opening a fancy patisserie and putting Baby Cakes out of business. Instead, he’s put out of business himself with a fatal knife wound. Since Sheriff April isn’t considered a suitable investigator of her own husband’s murder, the Michigan State Police send Trooper Bob Roberts to solve the crime, and the short-tempered cop has just about everyone Maddy loves best in his sights. Sleuthing isn’t exactly on the top of Maddy’s to-do list, but if she doesn’t crack the case soon, there won’t be anybody left but Baby to stock the shelves of her newly opened store.

Burns proves that a girl and her mastiff can’t be defeated.