The Diva Takes the Cake

Title: The Diva Takes the Cake

Author: Krista Davis aka Cristina Ryplansky

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Series: Domestic Diva Mystery, Bk 2

ISBN: 9780425228401

Pages: 304 + Recipes and Cooking Tips

Obtained: Personal copy via paperbackswap.com (back in 2009!)

Comments:

I read the first Domestic Diva mystery, The Diva Runs Out of Thyme, in early 2010.  I enjoyed it, so I'm not sure what took me so long to get around to reading this one.  I think it might have been one of those instances where I just had so many other books to read.  And at the time I participated heavily in the Games on PBS, so I may have had several books to read with deadlines.  Whatever the case, I finally read it!

Set around the wedding (and all the other events that entails) of Sophie's sister Hannah, each chapter is headed by advice from either Sophie or her nemesis, Natasha.  Like in the first book, they both have distinct voices.  Natasha is butting in and making things difficult for Sophie, as usual, but that isn't the real problem.  The real problem is the groom.  Is he a murderer?  What's going on with him and his family?  And even as this is going on, Sophie's tentative relationship with the Detective Wolf is apparently dying a quick death of it's own.  Long enough for Sophie to have to depend on her own detecting (with some help from family and friends).

While I didn't recognize the full drama going on behind the scenes, I did get part of it sooner than Sophie (once she had obtained certain clues, of course).  I did not guess the murderer correctly, so there's that.

Now I have some catching up to do with the rest of this series.  I think I might own the 3rd book, The Diva Paints the Town.  I'll look through my boxes.  Otherwise, I'll have to get it from the library.  If I'm fast enough, maybe I'll be able to read the 4th, The Diva Cooks A Goose by Christmas.