Book Review: Buttercream Betrayal by Kim Davis (Cupcake Caterer Mysteries #5)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong, and charming, characters I enjoy spending time with

Cons: Mystery could be a little stronger

The Bottom Line:

Dog training murder

Great to see Emory here

Fans will eat it up

Murder Goes to the Dogs

It’s always fun to catch up with Emory Martinez and see what is going on with her life, so as soon as I heard about Buttercream Betrayal, the fifth Cupcake Caterer Mystery, I jumped to read it.  I was not disappointed.

In an attempt to train her woefully misbehaving dogs, Emory has signed them up for a dog obedience class run by Shawn Parker.  The class has gotten rave reviews online, but Emory finds that it has done little for her two dogs, as evidenced by their misbehavior at the graduation potluck.  It’s also at this potluck that Emory begins to hear gripes and grumblings not only about Shawn but his mother, Eloise, who is President of the condo association where most of Emory’s fellow students live.  A few hours later, Emory stumbles over the dead body of Eloise in the condo’s community center.  With the rumors that Emory has heard, can she sort out who killed Eloise?

One thing I enjoy about this series is that it is set in Southern California.  It’s always fun to me that Emory is running around locations not too far from where I live.  Unfortunately, I don’t get to spend too much time in the actual locations where Emory is solving crime, but that’s a minor complaint.

The draw also continues to be the wonderful cast of characters.  Everyone we know and love is back, and there’s a relatively new character we are getting to know better as well.  Just being in their presence makes me smile.  Then there are the suspects.  We don’t get to know them as well as the series regulars, but they provide some good distraction from what is really going on.

The pacing could be a little stronger, but there was enough action in the story to keep my interest.  I’ve got to admit, I didn’t see the ending coming, but it made perfect sense.

There is some discussion about what has gone on with the main characters in the last few books, some of it will, by necessity, spoil the events of the previous books.  If you want to watch these events unfold without knowing what is going to happen, you’ll want to read the series in order.  As a fan of the series, I would recommend all the books anyway, so why not start at the beginning?

The story is set in September, but instead of a typical fall pumpkin theme, this book embraces apples for most of the cupcakes and other treats that Emory is making here.  Many of them sound delicious, too, which makes me happy to have the recipes at the end of the book.

This is a charming series, and its fans will be happy to catch up with Emory in Buttercream Betrayal.

Enjoy the rest of the Cupcake Caterer Mysteries.

I am reviewing this book as part of a blog tour.  Check out the rest of the participants here.

And please enter the tour wide giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.