Gayle Trent - Killer Sweet Tooth: A Daphne Martin Cake Mystery

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Praise for Gayle Trent
and her delectable Daphne Martin mysteries

A sweet treat for cozy mystery fans.

Fresh Fiction

For people who love a tasty cake and a cozy murder mystery, Murder Takes the Cake is a delicious read.

Suite101

The breezy story line is fun to follow.... Daphne is a solid lead character as she follows the murder recipe one step at a time.

The Mystery Gazette

The folksy names, dialogues, settings, and characters all promise a good cozy (culinary) mystery. This was an easy, entertaining read. It reminded me a bit of a comfortable, enjoyable game of Clue.

A Bookworms World

Trent has written an absolutely captivating cozy, complete with all the traditional elements of the genre.... I hadnt even read past page seven, and I had laughed out loud numerous times. The dialogue in this book is filled with snappy wit.

Pudgy Penguin Perusals

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by Gayle Trent

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery Books trade paperback edition October 2011

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Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Trent, Gayle.

Killer sweet tooth / Gayle Trent.1st Gallery Books trade paperback ed.

p. cm. (A Daphne Martin cake mystery ; 3)

1. Martin, Daphne (Fictitious character)Fiction. 2. BakersFiction. 3. MurderInvestigationFiction. 4. VirginiaFiction. I. Title.

PS3620.R4454K55 2011
813&.6dc22

2011013024

ISBN 9781451600025
ISBN 9781451600049 (ebook)

This book is dedicated to Deborah A. Bassham, DDS, MS.
Without a late-night weekend visit to her office, the idea for
Killer Sweet Tooth would not have been born.

I T ALL began with a little bite of innocent sweetness. It was mid-January, and Brea Ridgedeep in the heart of Southwest Virginiahad been experiencing the type of Desperado days the Eagles would describe as the sky wont snow and the sun wont shine.

Benmy boyfriend... significant other... man I date?was working late to make sure an article was included in the Saturday edition of the Brea Ridge Chronicle. Hes not only the newspapers editor in chief, he also writes articles and is a perfectionist who has trouble delegating. This isnt the first Friday night hes had to call and cancel our plans at the last minute. Wed only been planning to go see a movie in nearby Bristol, but I was still disappointed. However, there were worse things than disappointment. My ex-husband Todds idea of a fun weekend evening had been to berate me and to prove how superior he was to me in both size and strength. Oh, yeah... good times.

Violet, my sister, was visiting her mother-in-law Grammy Armstrong this evening with her hubby Jason and their twins, my precious tween nephew and niece Lucas and Leslie. Anyway, Grammy was celebrating her seventieth birthday. Id made the cake for the occasion. It was a ten-inch round cake with a basket-weave border and an assortment of flowersroses, carnations and daisiesin the center. Id finished it off with a Happy Birthday pick in the center of the flowers. Violet and her family, as well as the rest of the Armstrong clan, were having a small gathering to wish Grammy Armstrong well.

I must selfishly admit, I felt as if everyone had left me out in the cold that night. Pardon the pun. But I was lonely. Lucky for meor at least I thought so at the timeMyra was lonely too. Myra is my favorite neighbor. Shes a sassy, sixtysomething (youll never get her to admit to any specific age) widow who knows everything about everybody in Brea Ridge (or can find out), who has a heart of gold, and who is as entertaining as they come. I saw her arriving home (she lives right next door), gave her a call, and she agreed to come over around eight for some freshly made cashew brittle and a game of Scrabble. Myra tends to make up words when playing Scrabble, but that merely adds to the challenge of the game.

At the sound of the doorbell, Sparrow, my one-eyed formerly stray gray-and-white Persian cat, raced down the hall toward my office. She has a little bed in there under the desk, and its her favorite hiding place. She has begrudgingly made friends with me, but she isnt comfortable around other people yet. Dont worry about the one eye. The veterinarian said she was probably born that way. Plus, its how she got her name. My nephew and niece, Lucas and Leslie, named her Sparrow in honor of Captain Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depps character in Pirates of the Caribbean. They said having one eye made Sparrow look like a pirate.

I opened the door and Myra came in wearing jeans, an oversized blue sweater, and a pair of tan Ugg boots. She deposited the boots by the door and rubbed her hands together.

Im so glad you called, she said. Ive been bored out of my mind today. Thats why I went out to the mall for a while.

Did you buy anything good?

Not a thing. I just window-shopped until the stores started closing. That made me even more depressed.

I know what you mean, I said. Cake orders have been slow since New Years... even with the Daphnes Delectable Cakes lawn sign I put up last week. Do you think I should add Its okay to stop by anytime and order a cake to the sign?

Nah. Thingsll pick back up. Valentines Day will be here before you know it, Myra said as we walked into the kitchen. Who knows? You might even get to make a wedding cake.

That would be wonderful, I said.

Id only been back in Brea Ridge for four monthsafter more than a twenty-year absenceand opened a cake-decorating business, which I run out of my home. I hadnt had the opportunity to make any wedding cakes yet, although I had been given the privilege of making a large, tiered cake for a guinea pigs birthday celebration. It was the closest thing to a wedding cake Id prepared so far.

I had the Scrabble board set up on the island with the two stools set on opposite sides. The cashew brittle and chocolate-covered raisins were plated and on a tray to the right side of the board along with a large bowl of popcorn. The Scrabble tiles were to the left.