Sugar Plum Poisoned - AUDIOBOOK (Cupcake Bakery Mystery, #15), by Jenn McKinlay

 

Available October 10, 2023   AUDIOBOOK   7h 15m     Narrator Susan Boyce

I always enjoy dropping into Fairy Tale Cupcakes to see what Mel and Angie are up to, especially during the holiday season. In this case, Angie gets the story rolling with the visit of an old friend. When Angie was touring with Roach, Shelby Vaughn was the opening act. Now out on the road again after the death of her manager in a house fire, Shelby is spending Christmas doing a show at the local Hotel Grande and Angie is beyond excited. In fact, she's so excited that Mel briefly feels a bit of jealousy at that relationship. There's a murder to distract Mel, however, when Shelby's controlling manager is found dead in her dressing room. Not exactly the Christmas any of them were expecting.

I won't detail the plot further except to say there are several suspects and twists and turns, not to mention some good ol' fashioned Christmas cheer and humor. See if you can catch and identify all the movie quotes. And, big hint, don't ever allow Ray to be decorate your home for Christmas. But, anyway, who killed surly manager Doc Howard? Shelby was with Angie, phew, or, hmm, was she? How about his angry ex-wife who blames Shelby for the breakup, not to mention the daughter of her former manager who has some blame to cast Shelby's way, too. Maybe it was the loan shark? Doc did owe him a considerable amount of money. Maybe we should take a long look at....oh, never mind. Enough teasers. I sorta had it figured out by the end but was going back and forth between suspects until almost the big reveal, so it kept me guessing, which is part of the fun.

Note, I read/listened to the audio book. Chapter changes are simply stated and flow naturally from one into the next. Given that the story takes place over the Christmas holidays, the cast is fairly large and of diverse ages. I was definitely impressed by narrator Susan Boyce who did an excellent job differentiating these voices, not to mention making them match the conditions of the moment. Nope, not explaining that one. You'll just have to read the book. Jenn McKinlay's prose comes alive in this version. Thanks #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for allowing me this early listen to an author I have thoroughly enjoyed for years no matter which series I'm reading. Thanks to #Berkley for keeping those books coming, too!