Murder Takes the Cake

Daphne Martin Mystery #1

by Gayle Trent

"Yodel Watson was dead. And some people blamed my spice cake." When the meanest gossip in Brea Ridge dies mysteriously, suspicions turn to cake decorator Daphne Martin. But all Daphne did was deliver a spice cake with cream cheese frosting. And find Yodel's body. Now Daphne's got to help solve the murder and clear her good name. Problem is, her Virginia hometown is brimming with people who had good reason to kill Yodel, and Daphne's whole family is among them.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Chick Lit, Mystery Thriller, Food

371 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2008

About the author

aka Holly Jordan, Amanda Lee. Gayle Leeson

Gayle is a Southwest Virginia based author who is working on the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating Mystery series. The first book in the series, MURDER TAKES THE CAKE tells the story of Daphne Martin, a forty-year-old divorcee who returns to her fictional hometown of Brea Ridge, Virginia to start her life over. She has left behind an ex-husband who is in prison for an attempt on Daphne's life, a dingy apartment and a stale career. She has started fresh in a new home with a new career, Daphne's Delectable Cakes, a cake-decorating company Daphne runs out of her home. She is thrilled to be living closer to her beloved niece and nephew, although being close to other family members brings up lifelong resentments and more than a couple complications. Daphne is also reunited with childhood friend, Ben Jacobs, a full-fledged HAG (hot, available guy). Daphne's business hits a snag when her first client turns up dead."

Series:
* Daphne Martin Mystery
* Myrtle Crumb

Reviews

[Tari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book for quite sometime now and finally got a chance to read it. Since the author has other series I was wanting to try, I know I'll like those after reading this one. I really enjoyed these characters, and I think Myra, Daph's neighbor had to be my favorite. She was nosy but in a lovable way. Daphne's niece and nephew were fun too. I loved how much they enjoyed being with their aunt and how she went out of her way to show them a good time just by simply baking with them.

I was glad that Daphne and Ben started seeing each other after reading that they were an item in high school. Ben was a really sweet guy--well who wouldn't love a guy that used to play Shaggy when you and your friends played being Scooby Doo characters, ya know? He was a good date and buddy to sleuth with.

There were some great red herrings in the story! At one point, I did start suspecting the person who ended up as the killer, but I didn't have the entire reasoning down. It all played out really nice, and I was proud of how Daphne handled herself in the showdown. She was really thinking ahead! I couldn't resist ordering the second book, then I discovered I have the third on my Kindle. Since this was a short-lived 5-book series, I'll have to savor it.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of murder mysteries, but I'm getting a little tired of the books where an unsuspecting, decidedly non-professional female detective finds herself in the middle of a hot mystery. This book falls deeply into that category, but unfortunately I can't even rate it as one of the better examples of this genre.

This book wasn't particularly well-written, the storyline felt old and used, and although I believe the author was trying to lend an air of authenticity to her protagonist's career as a professional cake baker by giving specific examples of how to mix and decorate cakes, it just was too little too juvenile to make me want to read any further into the series.

All I can say is that this was a very quick read that would be a suitable "palate cleanser" between better books, or something to toss in a beach bag for when you need something to read that doesn't require a whole lot of brain power. I'm glad this was a free download from the Amazon Kindle store, because I wouldn't have spent my own money on this one.

[Anastasia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Murder takes the Cake by Gayle Trent is the first book in the Daphne Martin Mystery series. Cake decorator, Daphne Martin finds her client dead while delivering a cake and becomes suspect. This book was just OK for me. I found it starnge that Daphne would be a suspect and become targetted for just finding the body, and strange that it would be expected of her to find the murderer. The culprit seemed rather obvious and Daphne came across as rather dense and irritating, resorting to watching movies to help her solve the case. The mystery seemed to take back stage with other issues in the book and especially the cake baking and decorating which was described in great detail.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for a layer cake, this is not the cake for you. A simple sheet cake with vanilla frosting, delightful..but nothing truly special. I was pleased to get this on my Kindle for a quick, mindless read, but that was definately all it was. With little to no attachment to the main character who was practically useless, an empty affair that was barely resolved at all, a mystery that was bland and involved more unlikeable characters and page after page of empty cake decorating blather, I'm actually going to change my score from 3 to 2 stars right now.

Not recommended. So many better chick lit mysteries out there with FLAVOR :)

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things aren’t off to a great start for Daphne Martin. She’s just returned to her home town to start a cake decorating business and her first client turns up dead. When it’s revealed that the woman had been poisoned, suddenly Daphne’s cake orders screech to a standstill and she realizes that, if someone doesn’t figure out who murdered her first customer, she might never get a second.

Our leading lady isn’t quite what I was expecting for someone with her history. She stands up for herself, is eager to be independent after several years of marriage, has serious issues with her family, and is surprisingly trusting. Her issues with her mother mellow out a little by the end, and we do end up feeling a little more understanding of her side of things, but there’s no escaping what a huge bitch she’s been. Her daughter is nearly murdered by her abusive husband, she has to go through a trial whereupon he’s sentenced to seven years for assault with a deadly weapon, and not only does she not bother showing up to support Daphne in court but she harasses her over divorcing him and encourages her to make up with him.

“He said he was sorry,” Mom had scolded me over the phone. “You made the man angry, Daphne. You know how you can be. A person can only take so much.”
I’d hung up on her. A person could only take so much.
(Gayle Trent, Murder Takes the Cake, p.16)

What had gotten him angry enough to turn a shotgun on her? She’d put a few extra miles on their odometer by stopping at a bookstore when he hadn’t given her permission to. Yeah, her mom’s a real gem. Like I said, the reasoning makes you understand her a little better, but this event was just the icing on a lifetime of treating her older daughter like the second fiddle. You kind of hate yourself a little for connecting with her.

And that’s probably my favourite part of the book. Her family feels like real people experiencing real drama. They’ve all taken sides on this and other issues, and you can feel the tension when they have to sit down with each other. It’s unhealthy, but entertaining. All the characters felt real, actually, and the relationships between them were wholly believable and had great chemistry.

The romantic interest is Daphne’s former best friend and current local reporter, Ben. They almost had a thing when they were in high school, but went to different colleges where Daphne met her asshole ex. Now that she’s single and home again, Ben’s fallen back into the best friend role very easily, and while he’s still sweet on her he’s not dopy and obvious about it.

There’s no Bad Cop! Halleluiah! Daphne has one scene with the police chief where she’s yelling at him for leaking information to his wife who then went on to spread slander about her baking all over town, and it certainly pisses him off that she’d be calling out his wife like that, but we never run into him outside that scene and Daphne herself is never a suspect. Despite his wife going around telling people the murder victim was poisoned after getting a cake from her, and setting the Department of Food and Agriculture to poke around her kitchen for a surprise inspection, Daphne had actually only been delivering it when she’d found the body.

The plot was easy to solve and Daphne really should have put it together sooner, but that’s something the author can work on in the next book.

But there’s always a flaw, and Cake has its cake decorating scenes.

I took out a Styrofoam block, my flower nail, and my number 12 and number 104 tips. Deciding to make yellow roses first, I filled a bag one-third of the way with yellow icing. I attached a square of waxed paper to the flower nail with a dot of icing. I put the number 12 round tip into the coupler and made a generous cone base for the rose. After I stuck the flower nail into the Styrofoam, I traded the round tip for my number 104 petal tip and retrieved the flower nail. I made sure the wide end was at the bottom, and I made the center petal. I followed up with the three top petals, five middle petals, and seven lower petals. Voila. One yellow rose.
(Gayle Trent, Murder Takes the Cake, p.57)

There is way too much information there, and it reads like a textbook. While you do learn a lot from these very specific, detailed instructions, you don’t feel any of Daphne’s love for her craft. It’s great that I’ve learned how to remedy peaks in my Swiss dots, but I’d rather have an easily read scene. And instead of having the decorating and baking scenes woven into the story unobtrusively, they’re in only a few focused instances, interrupt the flow of the narrative, and stick out like oil spills on ice flows.


The verdict? The abusive ex-husband is mentioned several times, but that’s forgiven for the ending where her refusal to get pushed around and her history of abuse ends up saving her life in a conclusion steeped in karma. The obligatory pet was a cute, fluffy stray with an empty eye socket, which captured the cozy-clean but realistic nature of the characters. The chemistry was aces and aside from the glaring decorating scenes it was a good first novel. I’m planning on picking up the second and seeing if this ends up one to follow.

[Patti TheLoveJunkee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Daphne Martin is back in her hometown to start a new life; after her husband tried to kill her, she moved back to the little town to start a cake business. She's delivering a cake to her first customer, Yodel Watson, but when Daphne gets there, Yodel is dead! (<-- yes, that's her name, lol, it's explained later in the story) Now, even though the cake never left the box, the neighbors are blaming her cake for the death! Daphne soon learns that just about everyone in the town had a reason to dislike Yodel, she was a cranky busybody who kept a diary of all the sordid happenings around town. Daphne peeks into the diary and learns a deep, dark secret about her own family. As Daphne speaks with her family and her neighbors, trying to uncover the truth, she ends up with information in the mystery of Yodel's death. She's asking too many questions though, and gets a threatening warning to back off. Through it all she's baking cakes and more cakes and trying to keep her business afloat. My thoughts: Murder Takes the Cake was cute, short read, but ultimately it couldn't hold my attention.

Daphne is a likeable character, but we don't know too much about her past except that she's got an abusive ex-husband who tried to kill her. She's also got bad relationship with her mother, but we never find out why; just that her mother and sister have a good relationship. Apparently her mother thinks she should forgive the ex, which leaves my jaw on the floor just thinking about it. When she discovers her mother's secret, Daphne is even angrier, and I felt like this part of the story was never resolved.

The neighbors were quirky and provided for plenty of red herrings. The problem with that is that some of those herrings made the characters seem inconsistent, because we never found out the reasons for some of their weird behaviors, such as the pet store owner being really mean or the grocery store clerk acting suspicious.

The history with the romantic interest was a little more detailed and I thought we'd see some sparks, but really it was just awkward.

Throughout the book, Ms. Trent spends a lot of time describing the baking and decorating process. I have to be honest, I don't cook or bake, so I wasn't very entertained by all the baking references (although I'll admit I didn't know you could freeze cake!). She does include recipes for the cakes at the end of the book, which is pretty cool if you do enjoy baking.

[KyBunnies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted at Bunny's Review

This is not a fast hot sizzling mystery I prefer to think of it as a slow cooking mystery that provides the right ingredients information exactly when the sleuth or reader needs it.

When starting this series I knew that Daphne was divorced and experienced an abusive ex-husband. I was thankful the author did not provide extensive details about the abuse. Any type of abuse to a person or animal is an automatic DNF – 1 star for me.

When Daphne stumbles upon a dead client she is accused of poisoning her client. But not accused by the police she is accused by the citizens in the community. What could be worse for a new business than for people to think she poisoned a client? What else is Daphne supposed to do than find the ingredients that killed her client? She needs to clear her name and make sure everyone knows that her cake was not part of the reason for the client’s death.

For me this was a fast short read. I started and finished it in one night. I do know that this author will be on my automatic buy/borrow list. No matter what she writes I will be reading it. Gayle Trent has proven she is worth my money and time to read any and all of her works.

The bad part is I read these books out of order and messed up some of the later secrets in this series. I highly suggest reading in order but that is my preference it is not required.

The bunnies and I give this book carrots.

Disclosure: This book was borrowed from the public library.

[Ronna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every town has their local town gossip and holder of all information about everything and everyone that has done something less than stellar. But not everyone is asked to bake their first cake for their new business, just to find that the customer is that town's gossip, and Daphne's cake delivery finds her dead on her own couch. This is what happens to Daphne when she moves back to her hometown planning to start her cake baking business there. Rumor has it that Daphne's cake poisoned her customer. Finding connections to Daphne's families less than perfect past doesn't help either. She can either find the real murderer or say good bye to her yummy cakes. She does just that with the help of, Ben, the town's newspaper editor and Daphne's old "sweet treat".

This is an intriguing mystery with lots of fun additions. Family relations are perfectly portrayed with feelings or love, jealously, family togetherness, and a checkered pasts. Cakes are described so deliciously that I had to take cupcake breaks throughout the book. But best of all, the relationships between the town characters was priceless. Would I want to live in that town? I probable do if I knew all of my town's secrets. Great fun to read this start of the Daphne Martin Cake Mysteries. I listened to this on audio and really enjoyed the narration too.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daphne Martin has recently moved back home to southwest Virginia. Daphne has opened Daphne’s Delectable Cakes. Daphne’s first client is Yodel Watson. Yodel has a reputation in town for being a town gossip. She is also not a very liked person. So when Yodel is found murdered. There is no love lost. The million dollar question is…Who didn’t want Yodel dead?

Murder Takes the Cake is the first Daphne Martin Cake Decorating mystery novel. This book is a re-release with some added, new material. I like Daphne. She is nice but she is a bit naïve. At the same time, I liked this quality about Daphne and hope she never really wises up. There were quite the wide ranges of interesting characters in this book. While I did have fun reading this book, there were some parts in the middle where I did skim over as I felt that the story could have moved faster. This book is just what a cozy mystery novel should be like…good story line, interesting characters, and some twists along the way. I did enjoy this book. Mrs. Trent serves up a tasty morsel with Murder Takes the Cake!

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

After escaping an abusive marriage Daphne Martin has returned to her hometown to begin her new life. As she works to begin a new business as a cake decorator Daphne fine herself in the middle of a mysterious death. The victim, Yodel Watson, is the town’s most notorious gossip. There is a long list of people who had reasons for wanting Yodel dead. Unfortunately, a few of Daphne’s family members are on that list. With the help of her old friend Ben and some new friends Daphne works hard to piece together what really happened to Yodel, and who is the most likely murderer.

I enjoyed this book very much. The characters are interesting and some of those on the periphery leave you wanting to know more about them. The action moves right along and keeps you engaged in the story. I was worried that one of the characters I rather enjoyed may be the murderer. I was so glad to find I was wrong. This book left me wanting more and I almost ordered the next book right away. I have added it to my “to be read” list.

[CJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite possibly the worst book I've read in a long time. The book was chock full of simplistic language and excruciating detail regarding which tips the protagonist used to decorate her cakes. I saw the ending coming a million miles away. I don't know if the author is a dumb as her character, but I sure hope not. The language of the book makes me think she is.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book this afternoon and I really couldn't put it down. It's the first of a series and one of the best things about it is that in addition to solving the murder mystery, the heroine also delves into a personal mystery, which not only added some layers to the plot, it was a refreshing way to get to know the protagonist. Four stars. And I recommend it to anyone who likes cozies.

[Maddie James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful and intriguing at the same time. Well written!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute mystery. Love the cake decorating and am now craving frosting and cupcakes. :) Nice light read for after the holidays.

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a snappy, cozy read right from the start.

Daphne Martin has left a failed marriage, crummy apartment and dead-end job and moved back to her hometown, Brea Ridge, Virginia, to start over. She has started her own cake decorating business and her first customer is Yodel Watson, the meanest gossip in town.

When Daphne goes to deliver the cake, which is #3 in trying to satisfy Yodel’s vague request, a voice yells “Come in! It’s open! Come in!” in response to her knock. What she finds is Yodel lying on the sofa — dead. The voice is a grey parrot named Banjo. What a great start for a new business.
Daphne’s notoriety from finding Yodel dead isn’t the only thing that dampens her business. Seems the police chief’s wife is a blabber mouth and Daphne is her prime subject.

The suspects are many — almost everyone in town has suffered from Yodel’s vicious tongue. When it becomes known Yodel kept a diary, things get a bit more hairy.
Brea Ridge is a small town and it has its own secrets, but some are not as secret as their owners would like.

The characters are good and there is even a budding romance. Daphne does have a problem with her Mom and a past event, but things do get ironed out.

My only rough spot is when Daphne sets up to work on her cakes and becomes a little more detailed in the particular tips she uses for her designs. If you’re into cake decorating, this would be of interest. With that written — I’d still read more books from this author and series.

[Stephanie Tiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daphne Martin loves baking cakes. So when her life takes a nose dive, Daphne decides to start a cake business in her hometown in southern Virginia. When Daphne finds her first customer, town gossip Yodel Watson, dead in her home, Daphne’s Delectable Cakes takes a hit. With business going slowly, Daphne realizes that the sooner she can clear her name, the sooner she can get back to work.
But, as it turns out, Yodel Watson’s gossiping has left her with quite a lot of enemies, and every one of them is a suspect. Can Daphne solve the case before she becomes the next target?
I thought this book was a good read. I liked the character of Daphne early on, her love of cakes and her niece and nephew. I was a little surprised by some of the other characters, things they would say or do, but for the most part, I felt they were still realistic characters.
The small town setting was perfect for the small business venture, as well as, the mystery behind the murder of Yodel Watson. I liked how, even though Daphne just moved back to town, she was meeting new people, they were not all acquaintances from her childhood, and that she was able to learn and get to know them, fairly quickly.
A large portion of this novel focused on Daphne’s family issues more than the mystery, or so it seemed. Since it took so long for the connection to be revealed, it seemed as though the novel had veered away from the mystery. I really wish that there had been more investigating into other possibilities during this section of the book, so that I did not feel that the mystery had taken a back burner to the main character’s problems. I realize that having a good main character, with a strong background is necessary for the book to work. I just felt that Daphne should have delved into more possibilities as far as motive is concerned during this time, in order to give the story more depth.
I was somewhat surprised by the ending. I figured out who the murderer was before Daphne, but only just before. I love being surprised by the end of a good cozy mystery, so this was a very good ending.
I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good cozy mystery, and cakes.
I bought my copy of this novel from bookoutlet.com and have been granted permission from the publishers at Gallery Books to use an image of the cover artwork above.
stephanietiner.weebly.com

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

How would you like to be the owner of a new cake making business and your first and only customer is poisoned? No, it wasn't your cake but try to convince your small hometown of that. That is the dilemma that faces our main character. First of all, my talent has NEVER been decorating cakes. I love to bake but when it comes to piping bags and making flowers or using fondant, forget it. Still, I enjoyed and was entertained and educated by the author's descriptions of cakes and cake decorating. The mystery was satisfying and with enough knots to untangle to be a good read. I liked Daphne and her family. Her relationship with her mother rang true, although her rekindled romance was a little on the fast and uncertain side, to me. Good book and I'll look forward to more.

[Ann Boytim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 First book in this series as Daphne has returned to her home town and given up a corporate job to open her own business as a cake baker. Getting a new business started needs lots of word of mouth and an elderly lady in town known for her gossiping is the first to ask Daphne to make her a cake but the first two cakes she makes are turned down and when she delivered the third one Daphne finds the woman on the floor apparently dead. This woman has made many enemies and writes down all the towns gossip so there are many suspects but the verdict comes in that she was poisoned now Daphne may be on the suspect list even though the woman never tasted the cake.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in the series. Daphne is starting her custom cake business. She takes a delivery to a particularly picky client named Yodel Watson and is shocked to find her dead. As the town gossip, Yodel had plenty of enemies. Even though she was dead before she arrived, there is a layer of suspicion on her and her cakes and Daphne is determined to clear her name and find out what really happened. She recruits her former boyfriend, Ben, who is now the editor of the local newspaper to help her in her investigation. This was a nice start to the series.

[Carla Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually enjoy murder mysteries - this one fell flat. Daphne, the protagonist, finds a dead body, and through her nosiness, finds out who the killer is. It didn’t have the charm of other females “detectives”, who actually relay info they obtain to the police. Instead, one cop’s wife was a horrible gossip - which would, in real life, cause that cop severe issues with the police department.

Overall, not terribly believable.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost wanted to 4 star it for a couple minor complaints, but the actual mystery plot was quality enough, in my opinion, to merit a 5 star rating. A lot of cozies get by with me on style and, well, coziness- but don't write plots and motivations that are as complex and plausible as they could be. This one did.

[readingwithmal · Rating 2 out of 5]

The narrator is supposed to be forty, yet she acts and talks like a whiny, naive preteen. I didn't expect to be reading the next Les Miserables, but I assumed the writing would be better - unfortunately, I was wrong. Even the murderer was pretty cliché and easily guessable.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new mystery series for me with Daphne and the characters surrounding her! The small town of Brea Ridge, Virginia has rumors flying about every part of the investigation and the town citizens lives. Character development and a good plot makes this a fast read!

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book was interesting and I did enjoy the characters. However, the editor should be fired! The ebook was riddled with grammatical mistakes. There is a difference between their, there, and they’re.

[Sue Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an OK start to a series. It didn't "wow" me but it did entertain me. I'll most likely read the next book. I wasn't fond of all the "Scooby Doo" references. I'm a generation past the Scooby Doo fans, so I never watched it and the references go sailing over my head.

[Janice Liedl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd literally lost track of the book and found it when cleaning out a box in our storage cupboard. Re-started it from the beginning and it was a fun bit of smalltown cozy mystery. The bakery conceit was well-intertwined and the cast of characters was varied enough to keep me going.

[Linda Roberti · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time I read this author. Delightful characters and light story line. Relaxing.

[Erinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many plot points going at once to keep me interested. Too, it delved so far into cake making detail the description of icing tip sizes was downright distracting.

[Kerrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. Gayle is an excellent writer. Great characters, great plot.

[Kris Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Icing and all!

Well written, real characters flaws and all, fun story line, good twist at the end. Ready for the next book!