Death and Wedding Cake

Sugar Creek Mystery #1

by Nova Walsh

A small town with big secrets. A caterer turned amateur detective. A wedding weekend plagued by murder and mystery.

Home is where the heart is for Abby Hirsch, a chef returning to her small Texas hometown to cater a wedding at her aunt's charming bed and breakfast. But homecoming turns deadly when Abby finds the body of the bride's rival dumped on the grounds.
With the wedding in jeopardy, a killer on the loose, and sparks flying with the new sheriff in town, Abby teams up with her best friend Cassie to get to the bottom of the murder. Amateur sleuthing leads them down a trail of secret affairs, shady business deals, and even more bodies. Can Abby cater the perfect wedding feast while narrowing down the suspect list? Or will the killer crash the wedding cake before Abby can serve justice?

Filled with delicious food, longtime friendships, mysterious twists, and lots of laughs, Death and Wedding Cake is a culinary cozy mystery with plenty of humor couched in the comfort of returning home. It's the perfect read for fans of Diane Mott Davidson, Joanne Fluke, and Jenn McKinlay.

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Fiction, Romance, Cozy, Ebooks, Mystery Thriller

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2023

About the author

Author Nova Walsh writes cozy mysteries full of humor, shenanigans, and friendships that last a lifetime. She mixes in a healthy dose of amateur sleuthing, some slow-burn romance, and a pinch of comedy in every book she writes.

Nova is a former chef/caterer who still loves to cook but loves to write even more. She’s an enthusiastic, if not totally successful gardener who loves travel, wine, and hanging out with friends.

Nova grew up in the southwest, and now lives in Galveston, Texas with her husband and son. When she isn’t writing, she’s often cooking, gardening, hiking, feeding stray animals, or trying to make her way through her endless TBR pile.

Reviews

[Mystery, She Read]

2.5 🌟

Mood/Seasonal Reading: no specific time but I think spring or summer as I’m pretty sure it was warm

This just had far too many silly decisions and impossible plot lines to be believable or very enjoyable sadly.

Want to say I’ll give the next in the series a shot but I’m not sure. I really enjoyed it to start but there were some glaring issues that were hard to look past.

[Doreen Petersen]

What an outstanding cozy mystery!!!

[Emmalynn]

Abby ruined this and Cassie was second. They are not amateur sleuths, they are incompetent busybodies ruining investigations.

[Maria]

This was a good start to a new series if you ignore certain things that are incredibly implausible, number one being that a culinary student right out of school, before she has even started her first job, is asked to come home and cater a large wedding BY HERSELF! And in the midst of the preparations, that also include sourcing linens, silverware, etc., she has time to investigate a murder. For that matter, how do you start an event business without having someone to help with the prep besides the chef? The story moves along at a good pace and the characters are likeable enough despite making terrible decisions. I will probably read the next two as the library has them.

[Amanda McGill]

2.5 stars. A good start to a new series. I enjoyed the characters even though some of their actions were questionable

[Issy]

in for a fun time, not a great time😉

[Stevie]

Delightful

This first in the series has all the elements of a terrific cozy mystery. There were many red herrings that led me to suspect the wrong people as the murderer and I was so surprised to discover who really committed the crimes. So well written! I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

[Cozybooklady]

Great story

I really enjoyed this book. I haven't read anything by this author, so this was a definite treat for me.
I like all the characters and the story itself was well done.
I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

[Lisa]

Cozy mystery

Abby returns home to the Texas Hill country from culinary school to help her aunt at her B&B. But the bride is seen fighting with the tents/table rental woman. The next day, the rental woman ends up murdered, and the blame seems to be on the bride. Abby investigates because if the wedding is canceled, the B&B will go bankrupt.

It's a nice mystery and fun for me, as Texas Hill country is one of my favorite places. 😍

[NANCY WADE]

Disastrous culinary cozy

Nova Walsh created interesting characters and a promising setting but her plot and storyline was predictable and the terrible number of typos and mistakes were distracting. The author would have benefited from a proofreader.

[Janelle]

DNF. Was just bored

[Stacey Johnson]

Death and Wedding Cake is a surprisingly good cozy mystery, the first in a series set in the Texas hill country. Aspiring chef Abby returns to her home in Texas after completing culinary school in LA. While helping her aunt prepare for a big wedding at the family B&B, Abby finds herself not only elbow deep in culinary preparations but also in the middle of a murder investigation.

[Deb Mervold]

A delightful cozy mystery with engaging characters.

[Janet Phoenix]

3.5 stars

[Pam]

I like the characters and the small-town setting. The mystery was good. However - the author used the plot device that I hate - with the main female character(s) trying to solve the murder alone - risking the official investigation and their safety! I will read the next one but if it uses the same plot then I'm done!

Amazon synopsis:
Home is where the heart is for Abby Hirsch, a chef returning to her small Texas hometown to cater a wedding at her aunt's charming bed and breakfast. But homecoming turns deadly when Abby finds the body of the bride's rival dumped on the grounds.

With the wedding in jeopardy, a killer on the loose, and sparks flying with the new sheriff in town, Abby teams up with her best friend Cassie and dives into amateur sleuthing to get to the bottom of the murder before the big day. Her investigation soon reveals secret affairs, shady business deals, and more bodies in this quaint small town.

Can Abby cater the perfect wedding feast while narrowing down the suspect list? Or will the killer crash the wedding cake before Abby can serve justice?

[Michele]

The real mystery...

Input from a professional caterer/wedding/event planner would have benefited the story greatly. The real mystery was how was a rookie caterer going to pull off a wedding reception for 200 guests (gourmet steak dinner and all) at a old country farmhouse turned B&B with no commercial kitchen and part time help and Aunt Meg all while solving a murder. I really wanted to love this book, having lived for several years in Austin and the surrounding Texas hill country and having worked in the wedding industry. I was much disappointed.

[Tambi Smith]

If you like your cozy mysteries with a generous helping of drama, small-town secrets, and a murder that’s anything but icing on the cake, then Death and Wedding Cake, the first installment in Nova Walsh’s Sugar Creek Mysteries series, is one you’ll want to sink your teeth into. When the preparation for an upcoming wedding celebration takes a deadly turn, secrets start bubbling to the surface faster than champagne, and someone has a lot more to hide than just cold feet. With wedding drama, suspicious characters, unexpected twists, and a killer who definitely didn’t RSVP, Death and Wedding Cake is a deliciously entertaining whodunit where everyone seems to have a secret, and “I do” apparently comes with a side of “I didn’t do it!” 😂 Death and Wedding Cake serves up all the things I love about a cozy mystery: quirky characters, secrets hiding behind polite smiles, and plenty of twists that put a real wrench in getting ready for the upcoming festivities. Nova Walsh creates a pre-wedding setting that is the perfect backdrop to mayhem because weddings already come with enough drama without adding a dead body to the guest list! Add the colorful community of Sugar Creek that includes charming small-town quirks, a cozy atmosphere, and plenty of town gossip, and it is the recipe for a story that kept me turning pages. The cast of characters is well-developed. Led by the courageous Abby and her enthusiastic sidekick Cassie, they are both relatable and endearing. Abby makes a wonderfully engaging sleuth, and Cassie is the enthusiastic sidekick who encourages Abby's sleuthing escapades. Their dynamic adds plenty of personality and some genuinely amusing moments to the investigation. They really drew me into their community with ease. I loved playing detective right alongside them, trying to uncover who was hiding what. Nova Walsh balances the tension of the mystery with mouth-watering kitchen scenes. You can practically smell the sweet aromas. The sensory experiences are sure to make you hungry, anxious, and deeply invested in whether the meal will make it to the tables before the murderer strikes again. Plus, it includes multiple mouth-watering recipes to try yourself! Overall, Death and Wedding Cake is the kind of mystery that makes you want to curl up with a cozy blanket, a cup of coffee, and a large slice of cake - preferably one that hasn’t been tampered with. 😉

Audiobook Review:
Tiffany Morgan does a fantastic job bringing this deliciously chaotic mystery to life. Her voice fits the cozy but suspicious atmosphere perfectly, and she gives the characters enough personality, making it easy to keep track of who’s who - even when everyone has a secret tucked away. I really enjoyed how easily this narrator changed her tone and delivery at precise times, making it easy for me to distinguish all the characters. She made the conversations feel natural rather than like someone simply reading off a page. The light humor, suspense, and dramatic moments were handled beautifully. She really knew when to keep things light and when to add just the right amount of tension. The pacing is just another win. The story moves along smoothly without feeling rushed, which made this audiobook easy to settle into. Overall, Tiffany Morgan gives the story that extra sprinkle of magic, because a murder mystery is always better when the narrator knows how to serve the drama.

[Kirsten]

suspend all disbelief

This story was so messy. Abby made decisions that are just plain insane. What amateur caterer takes on a 200 guest fancy wedding then almost shoot’s herself in the foot by getting involved in sleuthing to find a murderer?

Aside from being the person who found the victims, there was never a reason to get involved at all! No one asked for her help and the reasoning given was weak! She also made the most unbelievable decisions including breaking into a victims house and a suspects car, then confronting two people she thought were murderers ALONE!

The emotion was also wrong. I can get being upset about finding two dead bodies, but her emotions were far too intense for people she didn’t know at all. Then the budding relationship with the sheriff? Come on. That was way too quick and not at all believable.

Plus, this author made the police seem totally incompetent!

So many threads were left untied at the end, including any sort of explanation of how the murderer was strong enough to strangle one person and hang another?

I was looking for a new cozy series to get into but I just don’t think it’ll be this one!

[Cathy Hooper]

The definition of a cozy mystery generally includes an amateur detective, an off screen murder (or other crime), usually a small town, and occasionally said amateur detective specifically NOT working with the local police and foolishly venturing into dangerous situations. Many newer cozies also give the main character, aka our amateur detective, a niche job or hobby.
Death and Wedding Cake ticks all the boxes. We have Abby, a chef who has come home to cater a wedding at her aunt’s Bed and Breakfast (2 niches!)in a small Texas town, and a violent offscreen death in the first 40 pages. She and her best friend Cassie are determined to solve the mystery despite the pressures of prepping for the wedding, a full inn,and assorted unpleasant characters. Of course they do stupid things and take unnecessary risks. One thing I did appreciate was the fact that the police are nice guys, and the girls did feel remorse for at least some of their behind the scenes sleuthing.
All in all it was a pretty solid little cozy. I did finger the culprit before either cops or girls, but I am an experienced armchair detective. I will look for the next in the series.

[Heidi M]

Chef and Death

This is the first book in the Sugar Creek Mystery series, and I really enjoyed it. The story follows Abby Hirsch, a chef who returns to her hometown of Sugar Creek, Texas, to cater a wedding at her aunt's cozy bed and breakfast. What should have been a happy homecoming quickly turns into a murder investigation when Abby discovers the body of the bride's rival on the property.

Abby teams up with her best friend, Cassie, to uncover the killer before anyone else gets hurt. The story was entertaining and kept me interested, although it did feel a little long in some parts. I especially enjoyed the cast of supporting characters, who added a lot to the story.

This book had plenty of drama, including secret affairs, blackmail, and a demanding Bridezilla. I also liked the budding romance between Abby and Sheriff Ryan. This was my first time reading this author, and I thought the writing was very well done with no noticeable grammar or spelling errors.

Overall, this was a fun cozy mystery, and I’m excited to continue with the next book in the series.

[Lise]

Having finished culinary school in Los Angeles and landed a position at a prestigious restaurant, Abby Hirsch looks forward to a fulfilling future. When Aunt Meg asks for assistance with catering a wedding at her B&B, Abby has just enough time to go to her small hometown in Texas to help. Unfortunately, a worker is found murdered on site, and the bride is accused, putting the wedding in jeopardy. Abby and her best friend must work together to keep the wedding on track.

Even though these amateur sleuths take chances with their lives and liberty, the story is pure charm. The story was so readable, and I was drawn from page to page. The main characters are eminently likeable, and there is the start to a sweet romance for those people who enjoy that sort of thing. Death and Wedding Cake is a delicious beginning to a new series.

I'm looking forward to more adventures with Abby and Cassie.

[kathleen dunn]

If you enjoy simple, stupid and boring books, this one is for you! The summary I read made it sound like it would be fun…..NOT! It was too stupid! Abby, a caterer, gets involved in murders. She breaks laws repeatedly by interfering with the investigations, yet the sheriff who she immediately has a crush on, does nothing about it. The book could have been 1/2 the length it was had it not been for the redundancy (if Abby said one more time “I have so much to do for this wedding…”, I would have slit my wrists!!!). The characters had no appeal, personalities nor chemistry whatsoever. The most boring characters in any book I’ve ever read. And one of the worst lines in the book was when Abby rubbed in the sheriff’s face that she solved the mystery before he did! He should have told her to go to hell! But instead he laughed and kissed her! OH COME ON!!!

Stupid!!!

[Aղցela W.]

This was book 1 in the "Sugar Creek Mystery" series. This was a pretty good read. Abby Hirsch is a chef returning to her small town of Sugar Creek, Texas hometown to cater a wedding at her aunt's charming bed and breakfast. But homecoming turns deadly when Abby finds the body of the bride's rival dumped on the grounds. With a murder on the loose she teams up with her best friend Cassie to find the murder. This was a pretty good read that I found to be too long at times. I loved all the secondary characters in this book. This book had secret affairs in it along with blackmail and a Bridezilla. I also liked the romance between Abby and Sheriff Ryan. This was my first time reading this author. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

[Natelle]

Abby Hirsch returns to her small town to help her aunt run her very first wedding at her B&B. With skills acquired in culinary School, Abby feels assured she is up to the task. And she might be if she can stop getting distracted. But who wouldn’t be distracted by cat fights, bad wedding karma, dead bodies, and handsome sheriffs? With all that on her plate, how will she find time to plate the perfect menu for the bride and her guests?

The pacing of this story didn’t flow right for me. I also found how little time she had to order supplies and get them together exceptionally optimistic even in a small town. At least the storyline stayed true to itself and we all got answers in the end.

[Toni]

Definitely a great beginning

This was a very nice and suspenseful story. I loved the town and all the characters. Especially the sheriff and Abby's budding relationship. As Abby admitted in the story she does a few stupid things that had me stopping and processing for a moment until I was ready to go on. I think it is a hiccup in my own soul now that I need time to process things but it helps me not to rush over the important parts. As I was reading this, I found a really comfortable rhythm that made me see this series was definitely going to be my cup of tea... Or in this case wedding cake. I look forward to investigating other books in this series.

[Eileen Carter]

This is a cozy mystery set in a small Texas town. Abby comes home to help her Aunt Meg cook the food for a wedding, but instead of just cooking food she is sleuthing like Nancy Drew. When one of the ladies who had an argument the day before turns up dead in the yard it starts a whirlwind of activity.
This book had a great character which you could visualize well. Honestly reading this was like watching a Movie because of the details in the characters, setting, etc. If you enjoy cozy mysteries this is a perfect one for you. I look forward to reading the second book in the series.

[Shirley]

Culinary graduate Abbey has returned to her hometown to cater the first wedding event to be held at her aunt's B&B. A tight schedule and an indecisive bride don't deter Abbey from wanting to solve the murder of one of the vendors. Her sleuthing puts her at odds with the handsome local Sheriff, someone she is attracted to. Great characters, nice blend of small town life, mystery, and a budding romance.

[Tess Ailshire]

This was a cute story, though I believe indicative of someone who's never worked as a chef or run a B&B -- but then that's most of us. A heroine who in my opinion makes some very sketchy choices about how to accomplish her business, nevertheless accomplishes the objective while winning over the local sheriff. What more could a cozy mystery ask for? One minor plot inconsistency surprised me (Abby has to room with her aunt, but gets settled in her own room before once again rooming with the aunt) but overall the story was cute. The villain was no surprise to me, but since I read several cozy mysteries a week, it's to be expected.

[Kamyl Palma]

Scored this book during Stuff Your Kindle day. It’s my first time learning the cozy mystery genre, hence I had zero expectations for this. It was just okay, in the sense that even though it lacked thrill and suspense, I got to finish it still. It’s a quick read, and it got me curious enough.

I just hope Abby’s character was written in a different way, or snooping too much was just a pet peeve of me. 😅

[Cindy]

Texas and wedding

Enjoyable first book in a new series. I'm from Texas and loved that this book was set in Texas.

Abby is helping her Aunt with a wedding when someone ends up murdered. Abby and her best friend, Cassie decide to find who the murderer is. Love their friendship. The mystery didn't seem to be focus in this book which I kind of enjoyed. This was a great way to get to know the characters and Sugar Creek, Texas. I plan on reading the next book in this series.