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A Baker's Dozen #1
Dying for Cupcakes: Christian Cozy Mystery
A divorced baker home again. A sheriff in a hospital bed. One cafe kitchen the town is watching.
Sammy Baker, Cafe Baker and Amateur Sleuth. Sammy came back to Sunny Cove with her life in the back of a RAV4 and was hired at Just Like Grandma's cafe the same morning. She wants her name cleared and the home she has just found kept. A visiting sheriff has already decided why she did it.
Helen Honeycutt, Owner of the Just Like Grandma's Cafe. Helen has run the cafe on Main Street for years and hears everything her customers say over their coffee. She wants her cafe full and Sammy kept on. Customers who were glad to eat those cupcakes now want to know whose hands are near their food.
Sheriff Alfred Jones is on a hospital ward, and the man sent to investigate wants a confession, not an answer. If the easy version sticks, Sammy loses the job, the apartment over the cafe, and any name in Sunny Cove but the woman who poisoned the sheriff.
One cupcake put Alfred Jones in a hospital bed. Sunny Cove has already decided whose hand it came from.
• amateur sleuth — a cafe baker working her own case
• culinary cozy mystery — lemon cupcakes, dinner rolls and glazed donuts
• wrongly accused heroine — the only suspect the county has
• small-town gossip — a grapevine that reaches the cafe before she does
• fresh start after divorce — a whole life packed into one car
• hometown return — back where everyone remembers her father
• motherly mentor — a cafe owner who stands by her
• handsome small-town sheriff — a sheriff she met over a cupcake
• clean cozy fiction — no profanity and no graphic violence
Perfect for fans of small-town amateur sleuth mysteries, culinary cozies set in a cafe kitchen, and start-over heroines with a faith-friendly heart.
Start the Bakers Dozen series with Sammy Baker's first case today.
Sammy Baker, Cafe Baker and Amateur Sleuth. Sammy came back to Sunny Cove with her life in the back of a RAV4 and was hired at Just Like Grandma's cafe the same morning. She wants her name cleared and the home she has just found kept. A visiting sheriff has already decided why she did it.
Helen Honeycutt, Owner of the Just Like Grandma's Cafe. Helen has run the cafe on Main Street for years and hears everything her customers say over their coffee. She wants her cafe full and Sammy kept on. Customers who were glad to eat those cupcakes now want to know whose hands are near their food.
Sheriff Alfred Jones is on a hospital ward, and the man sent to investigate wants a confession, not an answer. If the easy version sticks, Sammy loses the job, the apartment over the cafe, and any name in Sunny Cove but the woman who poisoned the sheriff.
One cupcake put Alfred Jones in a hospital bed. Sunny Cove has already decided whose hand it came from.
• amateur sleuth — a cafe baker working her own case
• culinary cozy mystery — lemon cupcakes, dinner rolls and glazed donuts
• wrongly accused heroine — the only suspect the county has
• small-town gossip — a grapevine that reaches the cafe before she does
• fresh start after divorce — a whole life packed into one car
• hometown return — back where everyone remembers her father
• motherly mentor — a cafe owner who stands by her
• handsome small-town sheriff — a sheriff she met over a cupcake
• clean cozy fiction — no profanity and no graphic violence
Perfect for fans of small-town amateur sleuth mysteries, culinary cozies set in a cafe kitchen, and start-over heroines with a faith-friendly heart.
Start the Bakers Dozen series with Sammy Baker's first case today.
114 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 14, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
November 15, 2018
Hidden below the surface
An okay read. The plot started out really well but then just fizzled out whilst the characters were good they did need a bit more fleshing out.
After leaving her husband she gets into her car and heads back to the town she calls home. Okay there is no-one there for her (as her father has died in prison after being falsely accused of embezzlement). However she is lucky not only to get a job but also a place to live. However her joy is tempered when she is hauled down to the police station after a sheriff falls ill. He had just consumed one of her cupcakes. Now she has to find out what happened. Others had eaten her cupcakes with no ill effects. Can she clear her name.
An okay read. The plot started out really well but then just fizzled out whilst the characters were good they did need a bit more fleshing out.
After leaving her husband she gets into her car and heads back to the town she calls home. Okay there is no-one there for her (as her father has died in prison after being falsely accused of embezzlement). However she is lucky not only to get a job but also a place to live. However her joy is tempered when she is hauled down to the police station after a sheriff falls ill. He had just consumed one of her cupcakes. Now she has to find out what happened. Others had eaten her cupcakes with no ill effects. Can she clear her name.
June 9, 2025
A quiet cozy Christian mystery with delicious sweets broken hearts forgiveness and new beginnings. I loved it and devoured it. I did the audiobook version of this and adored every word.
November 29, 2019
Ms.Doyle has a delicate touch in her writing style she's created some lovely caracters , vibrant and challenging life along the way. This cozey is a good start to a new small town mystery series especially with Mrs.Baker starting a new life in in her past life, one never knows skirting around the edges of town and the new baker in town seems to enjoy solving a mystery. I enjoyed reading this cozey mystery so I hope you'll take the time to also enjoy " Dieing for Cupcakes "🙄 Kat
July 15, 2019
Samantha Baker has moved back to her home town in Sunny Cove. She is working as a waitress at cafe and living in the apartment upstairs. She is lucky to have both.
She is making some cupcakes to help with the menu as she loves to bake. When the sheriff gets one he is positioned. Everyone looks to her as her father has a past of being in jail or embezzlement.
To find out who really did dit Samantha starts to find out who did and what happened to her father.
A quick read that started off a bit slow but picked up as it went. The characters were pretty good. I will try another book and see if I can get into the characters better. Not a bad read.
She is making some cupcakes to help with the menu as she loves to bake. When the sheriff gets one he is positioned. Everyone looks to her as her father has a past of being in jail or embezzlement.
To find out who really did dit Samantha starts to find out who did and what happened to her father.
A quick read that started off a bit slow but picked up as it went. The characters were pretty good. I will try another book and see if I can get into the characters better. Not a bad read.
May 24, 2019
Yummy story!!
I really enjoyed the characters. They were real and different . Just enough unique to be possibly real. The story line had hope in with the drama. I like these clean, Christian stories. They are short enough to get housework done and long enough to be a whole story.
I really enjoyed the characters. They were real and different . Just enough unique to be possibly real. The story line had hope in with the drama. I like these clean, Christian stories. They are short enough to get housework done and long enough to be a whole story.
January 27, 2020
Cozy mystery is a perfect name
What a good enjoyable afternoon read. God puts you in just the place you need to be whether you want to be there or not. He is with us through the good, bad and ugly paving the way. He sure was with Sammy all the way!!!
What a good enjoyable afternoon read. God puts you in just the place you need to be whether you want to be there or not. He is with us through the good, bad and ugly paving the way. He sure was with Sammy all the way!!!
March 2, 2020
Great mystery
I gave this book 5 stars because it was a good clean mystery. I also bought quite a few of her other books including this whole series. Donna Doyle is now one of my favorite authors.
I gave this book 5 stars because it was a good clean mystery. I also bought quite a few of her other books including this whole series. Donna Doyle is now one of my favorite authors.
January 25, 2020
New author to me and this was a great read. Clean mystery. Characters were fun to get to know and hope to read more in the series soon.
December 8, 2025
THIS ONE IS EXTREMELY HARD TO RATE BECAUSE IT IS SO SHORT.
PREMISE: In this book we follow Samantha (Sammy) Baker who's husband has decided that her best friend is more appealing than she is. So Sammy decided to move back home to Sunny Cove, Illanois. After a very brief interview with cafe owner Helen, Sammy is hired to work at Helen's Cafe 'Just Like Grandmas'. Sammys job is to fill in where needed. Waiteress the customers and do some baking. Everyone is impressed with Sammy's first batch of cupcakes including local sherrif Alfred Jones. That is until Alfred winds up in the hospital with poisoning and Sammy is the clear suspect. Her reacquaintence with highschool bestie Heather inspires Sammy to solve the mystery herself to avoid being wrongly convicted.
THOUGHTS: I liked this book a lot, but I docked a star because the book is so short. Granted length is not a reason to dock a star, but when the minimal length takes away from what could have been a more fleshed out plot it warrants that deduction.
I like Sammy as the MC and love how much she loves to bake and will definitley continue the series.
The reveal at the end seemed very much like a plot convenience and while that made sense given the page count, I hope it doesn't continue in future books.
4 Stars!
xoxo.
PREMISE: In this book we follow Samantha (Sammy) Baker who's husband has decided that her best friend is more appealing than she is. So Sammy decided to move back home to Sunny Cove, Illanois. After a very brief interview with cafe owner Helen, Sammy is hired to work at Helen's Cafe 'Just Like Grandmas'. Sammys job is to fill in where needed. Waiteress the customers and do some baking. Everyone is impressed with Sammy's first batch of cupcakes including local sherrif Alfred Jones. That is until Alfred winds up in the hospital with poisoning and Sammy is the clear suspect. Her reacquaintence with highschool bestie Heather inspires Sammy to solve the mystery herself to avoid being wrongly convicted.
THOUGHTS: I liked this book a lot, but I docked a star because the book is so short. Granted length is not a reason to dock a star, but when the minimal length takes away from what could have been a more fleshed out plot it warrants that deduction.
I like Sammy as the MC and love how much she loves to bake and will definitley continue the series.
The reveal at the end seemed very much like a plot convenience and while that made sense given the page count, I hope it doesn't continue in future books.
4 Stars!
xoxo.
June 20, 2020
I thought this book was really good. It's sweet, clean, and tightly written. Book 1 is the only one I have read, so far. I have all 13 of them in my Kindle and plan to binge read them before I read anything else, as long as they keep on being as good as the first one. I'll let you know. The characters are great, especially Sammy (short for Samantha) and the hunky Alfred Jones (Sheriff of the hometown). I also like the elderly lady she met in the town she stopped in on her way from New York to her destination. I am happy to see that there are Christian values and includes mentions of Jesus. I'll let you know what I think of the rest of them.
July 4, 2024
Sammy's marriage falls apart and she moves back to her hometown. She arrives just in time to become a suspect in the local sheriff's poisoning. Can she clear her name? Does it involve her father's unjust imprisonment? GOTTA READ TO FIND OUT!
I was hesitant, being that this is a Christian cozy mystery, but ended up being suprised. The religious overtones are very mild. It was present and pleasant instead of beating you over the head with the Bible. I think someone that didn't care for the Christian aspects would still enjoy the over all story.
I did take away one star because the writing style is more tell than show and I prefer the opposite.
Overall enjoyed this quick read.
I was hesitant, being that this is a Christian cozy mystery, but ended up being suprised. The religious overtones are very mild. It was present and pleasant instead of beating you over the head with the Bible. I think someone that didn't care for the Christian aspects would still enjoy the over all story.
I did take away one star because the writing style is more tell than show and I prefer the opposite.
Overall enjoyed this quick read.
February 25, 2026
I really enjoyed officially meeting Sammy in this book, but I’d read a little Christmas novella that came out this year after the series had ended quite some time ago. Since I’ve had this book for a while now, I was glad to read and find out just what brought Sammy to Sunny Cove. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t expecting to be accused of trying to poison someone, nothing says welcome like a sheriff who thinks you’re guilty, right?
Sammy ended up digging up something a lot bigger than what she expected and definitely hadn’t expected to get some welcome closure over something that’d happened a while back in her life. Looking forward to reading more of Sammy’s adventures!
Sammy ended up digging up something a lot bigger than what she expected and definitely hadn’t expected to get some welcome closure over something that’d happened a while back in her life. Looking forward to reading more of Sammy’s adventures!
March 11, 2026
2.5 stars rounded down. This was just okay, I'm aware it's a Christian book but it went REALLY heavy on the preaching in the first chapter, which made me highly uncomfortable. Luckily it stops with the preaching tone after the first chapter, and religion is mentioned here and there, but not shoved down your throat. The mystery was a little lacking, our protagonist has all the clues handed in her lap and the book definitely does more telling rather than showing, but I guess you gotta be a little heavy-handed when your book is barely over a 100 pages.
January 19, 2020
Sammy becomes Baked and Investigater
Sammy is moving from the big city to Sunny Cove her hometown. She has a job waiting for her at Grandma's Cafe. Her baking is extraordinary and business is booming. However, she becomes a murder suspect when the cupcakes she shared with the deputy who became poisoned because of the cupcakes. The sheriff showed no desire to look further for the killer. The only thing she could do was investigate for herself. Fun mystery!
Sammy is moving from the big city to Sunny Cove her hometown. She has a job waiting for her at Grandma's Cafe. Her baking is extraordinary and business is booming. However, she becomes a murder suspect when the cupcakes she shared with the deputy who became poisoned because of the cupcakes. The sheriff showed no desire to look further for the killer. The only thing she could do was investigate for herself. Fun mystery!
February 27, 2021
A fun, quick afternoon read! I didn’t intentionally seek out this Christian bakery murder mystery, but I’m glad it found its way to me. It’s Christian “lite” with few mentions of God and church, otherwise I likely would have found it overwhelming. The storyline is entertaining and the main character is easy to like. I love the setting and other characters, which makes me look forward to reading the rest of this series! Highly recommend if you’re looking for a quick, light hearted story.
July 28, 2023
This was short and quick. It wasn't a murder, which was disappointing to me because I prefer those mysteries for some reason. And the character was very lightly Christian. I imagine throughout the series she might become more serious in her faith, but I wanted more from that aspect. I also felt a little let down by the lack of a spark of romance. Again, I imagine the rest of the series might flesh this out, but I wanted a little more from that too.
July 2, 2020
This entire 13-book series was available on Kindle Unlimited, and it sounded like something I would enjoy, so I downloaded it. This one (book 1) is all I've read so far. It is a quick and easy read and filled with interesting characters; however, at 80 pages, there is not much depth to the story. The mystery is solved much too quickly. I'm not sure I will read anymore books in this series.
January 2, 2023
Nice cozy mystery
I really liked this first story in A Baker's Dozen cozy mystery series. I enjoyed getting to know Sammy and the other characters. I especially liked the way she showed kindness to the young man with intellectual differences. It was interesting how the mystery tied in with her past. I will be reading the next book in the series.
I really liked this first story in A Baker's Dozen cozy mystery series. I enjoyed getting to know Sammy and the other characters. I especially liked the way she showed kindness to the young man with intellectual differences. It was interesting how the mystery tied in with her past. I will be reading the next book in the series.
April 27, 2023
A nice Christian cozy mystery that is subtle and not “in your face”. This is the first installment in the series. I enjoyed it as it was a quick and easy read. I will try the next book because I enjoyed several of the characters even though I felt a few were lacking in development (hence the 3 stars).
July 3, 2019
Enjoyable read
I enjoyed this book as the characters were realistic and the story line flowed well. I hope some of the characters in this story are in the next and developed further.
I enjoyed this book as the characters were realistic and the story line flowed well. I hope some of the characters in this story are in the next and developed further.
December 8, 2020
Cute quick read. Didn’t realize it was a Christian series but luckily I’m not being beat over the head with it.
The characters are sweet and I love them. The story is entertaining.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
The characters are sweet and I love them. The story is entertaining.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
February 8, 2021
Christian Fiction
This was a fun and quick read. I enjoyed the different characters and hope to be reading more about them soon. It was a good reminder that God is still in control even when it doesn’t feel like it.
This was a fun and quick read. I enjoyed the different characters and hope to be reading more about them soon. It was a good reminder that God is still in control even when it doesn’t feel like it.
August 22, 2022
This quick read was well worth it. I thoroughly appreciate that this ‘Christian cozy mystery’ actually had Christian content in it (but in a natural and non-overbearing way). Well-written, fun characters and wonderful setting. I’m excited to explore more in this series.
December 10, 2018
Quick read
This book was a fun quick read. I can’t wait to read the next book and hopefully there will be more sleuthing.
This book was a fun quick read. I can’t wait to read the next book and hopefully there will be more sleuthing.
January 27, 2019
Love
This was a great book, I read it in one morning, grandkids were asleep and this was a great way to spend my morning. I can't wait for the next one!
This was a great book, I read it in one morning, grandkids were asleep and this was a great way to spend my morning. I can't wait for the next one!
April 11, 2019
Quick Christian Story
Doors are always opened as you move forward in life. Don't be afraid to start over, and try new cupcakes.
Doors are always opened as you move forward in life. Don't be afraid to start over, and try new cupcakes.
July 25, 2019
Loved this cozy mystery. Well written, clean, and engaging from the beginning. Highly recommend.
December 30, 2019
Well done Donna Doyle
A short 40 min read. Perfect for that wait in a Medical Clinic 😀 Loved it from the start to the end. Can't wait to see these characters grow.
A short 40 min read. Perfect for that wait in a Medical Clinic 😀 Loved it from the start to the end. Can't wait to see these characters grow.
December 31, 2019
Good story.
I enjoyed this christian mystery. It is a story of forgiveness, friendship and growing faith. I will read more of this author's work.
I enjoyed this christian mystery. It is a story of forgiveness, friendship and growing faith. I will read more of this author's work.
December 31, 2019
Fun cozy mystery.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews