Death by the Dozen

Death by the Dozen
Jenn McKinlay
276 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Source: Goodreads win!
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Mel and her baking partner, Angie, are entering a local bake off contest with the chance to win ten thousand dollars and a lot of publicity for their cupcakery.  But when one of the judges is found murdered and frozen in a trailer, Mel finds herself not just baking but also investigating the murder.  Hopefully she can catch the killer before s/he comes after her, too!

I loved this cozy!  The plot was fantastic as was the diverse cast of characters.  Early on the novel Mel gets an intern from the local high school, Oz, who really shakes up the bakeshop.  I thought he was a great character in the novel.

If there's one thing I love more than a cozy, it's a cozy with a cat, or in this case, a teeny tiny kitten named Captain Jack!  The cat the author described me reminded me a lot of my own cat, Mittens, who is now unfortunately two years old and no longer a baby kitten.

There was on problem I had with this book: the cupcakes!  I started the book last night and when I was running errands earlier today and accidentally stumbled upon a local cupcake bakery, I had to go in.  They even had cookie dough cupcakes, which were mentioned in the novel and I knew it was meant to be.  And it was delicious.  So basically, be warned that this book will make you crave all things sugary, not that there's anything wrong with that.

What was really great about this cozy was that even though it was the third in a series, it can definitely stand alone.  I haven't read the first two books in the series, but I had no problem following the plot or figuring out the different personalities of the characters.  I love that!  I think I'm going to have to go back and read the first two, though, just for fun.

PS: Even though I was provided this book free through a giveaway, that didn't affect my review.  It was really good, read it!