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Hart of Texas Murder Mysteries #5
Cupid, Cupcakes and Carnage
It’ll be a Valentine’s Day to celebrate…if she makes it out alive.
Brilliant baker Rosie Hart is busier than ever as she prepares for Airlie Falls’s famed Valentine’s Day Farmers and Craft Market. The last thing she needs as she races to frost her cashew nut cakes is the mysterious appearance of a dead body found on her new fiancé, Jonah’s, property. To add icing to the cupcake, another long-dead body is found buried underneath it. For goodness bakes!
Rosie vows to leave the investigating to the sheriff this time—she has enough to juggle with her baking business and her nonagenarian friends who are entranced by a new seniors dating app. But when rumors begin affecting Jonah’s construction business, enough is enough. Getting answers will mean retracing the unexplained disappearance of a woman ten years earlier—a woman who had a dalliance with a now-famous actor and is supposedly speaking through a clairvoyant.
Can Rosie solve the case in time to ensure this Valentine’s Day is remembered for all the right reasons?
Brilliant baker Rosie Hart is busier than ever as she prepares for Airlie Falls’s famed Valentine’s Day Farmers and Craft Market. The last thing she needs as she races to frost her cashew nut cakes is the mysterious appearance of a dead body found on her new fiancé, Jonah’s, property. To add icing to the cupcake, another long-dead body is found buried underneath it. For goodness bakes!
Rosie vows to leave the investigating to the sheriff this time—she has enough to juggle with her baking business and her nonagenarian friends who are entranced by a new seniors dating app. But when rumors begin affecting Jonah’s construction business, enough is enough. Getting answers will mean retracing the unexplained disappearance of a woman ten years earlier—a woman who had a dalliance with a now-famous actor and is supposedly speaking through a clairvoyant.
Can Rosie solve the case in time to ensure this Valentine’s Day is remembered for all the right reasons?
344 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 8, 2023
29 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 8, 2023
I love Rosie Hart and have done since the first book in this fabulous series, Kaz Delaney has added more twists than a twisty mountain road in this one, she has pulled me in again as Rosie does her best to ensure that her fiancé Jonah’s name comes out clean when there is not one but two bodies found buried on his patio.
It is just about Valentine’s Day and the small town of Airlie Falls is gearing up for their full week celebrations ending in the markets and Rosie is flat out keeping up with all of the luscious deserts and treats that she is making for the markets and orders, let alone the organizing for the other events, so the last thing she really wants to be doing is investigating the death of two people found on Jonah’s place, but she is determined that she will get to the bottom of this, after all she knows how it feels to be linked to a murder.
Her friend Sheriff Kinead has finally allowed Rosie to add to the investigation when Rosie starts her investigation and they decide to share the clues they uncover, first they need to go back ten years ago when Jonah first bought the property and look at the previous owner and realise that she has been missing all of these years. Of course the Fab four who live at Riverbend are very willing to help as well and there are plenty of clues and people to question, will Rosie put herself in danger and will she keep up with all of her fabulous cooking?
I loved this one from page one, I loved being back in Airlie Falls and catching up with the wonderful people who live there, picking up a book in this series is like walking into a family reunion and it had everything a great cosy mystery should have, it is witty filled with mystery a touch of romance and it had me guessing till the very end and wow I didn’t see that coming. I would highly recommend this it is a fabulous story. I can’t wait to read the next one.
My thanks to the publisher for my digital copy to read and review.
It is just about Valentine’s Day and the small town of Airlie Falls is gearing up for their full week celebrations ending in the markets and Rosie is flat out keeping up with all of the luscious deserts and treats that she is making for the markets and orders, let alone the organizing for the other events, so the last thing she really wants to be doing is investigating the death of two people found on Jonah’s place, but she is determined that she will get to the bottom of this, after all she knows how it feels to be linked to a murder.
Her friend Sheriff Kinead has finally allowed Rosie to add to the investigation when Rosie starts her investigation and they decide to share the clues they uncover, first they need to go back ten years ago when Jonah first bought the property and look at the previous owner and realise that she has been missing all of these years. Of course the Fab four who live at Riverbend are very willing to help as well and there are plenty of clues and people to question, will Rosie put herself in danger and will she keep up with all of her fabulous cooking?
I loved this one from page one, I loved being back in Airlie Falls and catching up with the wonderful people who live there, picking up a book in this series is like walking into a family reunion and it had everything a great cosy mystery should have, it is witty filled with mystery a touch of romance and it had me guessing till the very end and wow I didn’t see that coming. I would highly recommend this it is a fabulous story. I can’t wait to read the next one.
My thanks to the publisher for my digital copy to read and review.
February 10, 2023
Cupid, Cupcakes and Carnage has been a fantastically entertaining story with the perfect balance of romance and mystery. I spent most of the book guessing at who the murderer might be but of course I was wrong. So many red herrings! In between this, I loved watching the growing working relationship between Rosie and Sheriff Frank Kinead. It was nice to see these two virtually working side by side to solve the murders at the centre of the story. Airlie Falls, the cute Texan town where the story takes place, and the over-the-top Valentine’s Day celebrations, is a place where I feel completely at home thanks to the warmth of the locals. Add in Kaz Delaney’s tongue-in-cheek humour, which Is scattered through the story, and the mouth-watering recipes at the end of the book and I am in my reading happy place.
February 5, 2025
DNF’d at 60% because I refuse to waste my precious reading time on a book that’s basically a melatonin supplement. It’s technically a cozy mystery, but where’s the mystery? All I got was fluff….literally so much fluff it should come with a pillow and a bedtime story. Life’s too short for boring books, besties.
February 11, 2023
I received this arc of Cupid, Cupcakes and Carnage in exchange for my honest review. This is the fifth book in Kaz Delaney’s Hart of Texas Murder Mysteries series. What a great book! It was great to return to Airlie Falls and see our beloved group of characters from the previous books including the star, Rosie Hart. As the book opens we learn that Valentine’s Day is approaching and the town of Airlie Falls celebrates it in a big way, and it is also the first Farmers and Craft Market of the year. Rosie and her new fiancé, Jonah had been away for a few days and returned to the news that a body was found buried on Jonah’s property. Further examination revealed that there was another body with the first one. One was recent and the other looked to have been there for 10 years, back to when Jonah purchased the land.
The sheriff, Frank and Rosie both start looking into the history of the property’s previous owners. Rosie starts visiting the involved parties and asking lots of questions. As she is able to learn things the sheriff isn’t able to, he allows her to aid in the investigation this time. It takes her to Dallas and other small towns nearby to meet with the woman and her husband who sold Jonah the property. The newest victim was identified and the other body was speculated at the identity. It was thought to be a woman linked in the past to the recent man who was killed and the same woman who sold the property to Jonah. So then, who was the woman Rosie met who claimed to be the woman who sold the property? This led Rosie and Frank to the local amateur theatre and to the senior living facility where her contacts helped her speak to others there who had known the victim before. She was contacted by a clairvoyant who provided some information. As they searched, there were a couple of attacks on two others involved back in the situation ten years earlier. It was quite exciting to read about.
This book was very well written by Kaz. There were lots of details and twists and turns in the story. I tried to guess who the killer was but when it was revealed, once again, I hadn’t figured it out. I had a great time reading and guessing and drooling over all the baked goods Rosie was creating for the market and her friends. I really love this series and look forward to reading the next book.
The sheriff, Frank and Rosie both start looking into the history of the property’s previous owners. Rosie starts visiting the involved parties and asking lots of questions. As she is able to learn things the sheriff isn’t able to, he allows her to aid in the investigation this time. It takes her to Dallas and other small towns nearby to meet with the woman and her husband who sold Jonah the property. The newest victim was identified and the other body was speculated at the identity. It was thought to be a woman linked in the past to the recent man who was killed and the same woman who sold the property to Jonah. So then, who was the woman Rosie met who claimed to be the woman who sold the property? This led Rosie and Frank to the local amateur theatre and to the senior living facility where her contacts helped her speak to others there who had known the victim before. She was contacted by a clairvoyant who provided some information. As they searched, there were a couple of attacks on two others involved back in the situation ten years earlier. It was quite exciting to read about.
This book was very well written by Kaz. There were lots of details and twists and turns in the story. I tried to guess who the killer was but when it was revealed, once again, I hadn’t figured it out. I had a great time reading and guessing and drooling over all the baked goods Rosie was creating for the market and her friends. I really love this series and look forward to reading the next book.
February 8, 2023
Cupid, Cupcakes and Carnage by Kaz Delaney is another interesting whodunit book. This is a series that gets getting better with every book. Once again I found several suspects to watch but was still surprised by the one who actually was guilty.
From the description you read how Rosie Hart is gearing up for Valentine’s Day. With her bakery this is a prime time to be busy. So she has no time to be helping to solve murder cases, not one but two it seems. If it hasn’t been on her fiancé, Josh’s property she probably would not have had anything to do with it. You can’t blame her for wanting to make sure Josh was not thought to be responsible for any of this chaos. Rosie along with her crew are on the case. I had no worries that they would solve it even if I was unable to do so earlier while reading. A series to be enjoyed at Valentine’s or anytime.
An ARC of the book was given to me by Tule Publishing which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
From the description you read how Rosie Hart is gearing up for Valentine’s Day. With her bakery this is a prime time to be busy. So she has no time to be helping to solve murder cases, not one but two it seems. If it hasn’t been on her fiancé, Josh’s property she probably would not have had anything to do with it. You can’t blame her for wanting to make sure Josh was not thought to be responsible for any of this chaos. Rosie along with her crew are on the case. I had no worries that they would solve it even if I was unable to do so earlier while reading. A series to be enjoyed at Valentine’s or anytime.
An ARC of the book was given to me by Tule Publishing which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
January 17, 2023
A past paced cozy mystery.
It’s a busy time of year for Rosie as she is getting her baked goods ready for the Valentine’s Day Market, when all of a sudden, a dead body is found. This time it’s on her fiancé Jonah’s property. And it isn’t just one body, it is two. Rosie, being a fan of mysteries, wants to help solve the case. She will do whatever it takes to find the killer. She refuses to let her fiancé be the subject of gossip and finger pointing.
While I was reading this book, I had a few characters that I thought were guilty, but one by one, they were checked off my list. The killer was a surprise to me. I never could have guessed this one I really enjoyed this book. It’s always fun to revisit the characters from previous books in the series and I liked how Frank finally allowed Rosie to help in the investigation. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery and likes small towns.
It’s a busy time of year for Rosie as she is getting her baked goods ready for the Valentine’s Day Market, when all of a sudden, a dead body is found. This time it’s on her fiancé Jonah’s property. And it isn’t just one body, it is two. Rosie, being a fan of mysteries, wants to help solve the case. She will do whatever it takes to find the killer. She refuses to let her fiancé be the subject of gossip and finger pointing.
While I was reading this book, I had a few characters that I thought were guilty, but one by one, they were checked off my list. The killer was a surprise to me. I never could have guessed this one I really enjoyed this book. It’s always fun to revisit the characters from previous books in the series and I liked how Frank finally allowed Rosie to help in the investigation. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery and likes small towns.
May 22, 2023
This is book 5in the Hart of Texas Murder series. Rosie is busy preparing for Valentine's day at her bakery when she and Jonah find a body buried in his backyard. That's bad enough but there is a second body under it that is much older. The small town spreads the gossip and speculation faster than anyone can say yummy. This book can be read as a stand alone.
July 14, 2023
Rosie is at it again, this time to protect the freedom and reputation of her fiancée after dead bodies are found on his property. Rosie is not about to let is not about to let his reputation and business flounder over gossip and what’s clearly a mistake. This time she’s working with Frank to investigate the murders, much to Rosie’s delight.
January 3, 2024
I really enjoy these cozy mysteries! The relationship building as the series goes on is fantastic & the storyline was very enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews