Daphne Martin is a cake designer and owner of Daphne's
Delectable Cakes. One night, she has her friend Myra over
for a hot night of Scrabble fun, but when Daphne's cashew
brittle causes Myra's filling to come out, an emergency call
to the dentist is in order. Dr. Bainsworth accommodates
Myra and arranges to meet the ladies at his office shortly,
but when they get there, they find only his dead body.
Since the Brea Ridge police arrive to find the the women
standing over the
dentist wielding an oversized toothbrush and a giant model
of a molar (they thought they heard someone else in the
office after they discovered the body), they quickly become
suspects in Dr. Bainsworth's death.
Daphne finally gets home in the wee hours of the morning
(and after being questioned by the police for hours), only
to find what appears to be Elvis Presley meeting her at her
house. Apparently, the E.I.E.I.O. (Elvis Impersonators'
Evangelical Interdenominational Outreach) is meeting in Brea
Ridge for the next few days, and they would like Daphne to
make a few cakes for them. However, Daphne's boyfriend Ben
is suspicious of E.I.E.I.O. and their motives. Do they
really just want cakes made, and are they really just a
missionary group? Or are they a front for something more
sinister?
His questions take on more meaning when Daphne and Myra
begin snooping around and discover that the cashier at a gas
station near Dr. Bainsworth's office saw an Elvis
impersonator around the time of the murder, and he had blood
on the sleeve of his jacket. Not only that, but Scottie
(the impersonator who actually hired Daphne) has become
uncomfortably close to Daphne -- he drops by unannounced, he
begins placing lunch orders, and he performs a routine with
Daphne that leaves Ben storming out of the room. Could
Scottie be doing all of this just to throw Daphne off the
trail of either just him or all of the impersonators?
This was a cute, fun mystery, although Myra's character got
a bit tedious at times. She was a little overbearing to the
point of nearly being a caricature. And Ben was nearly so
insecure for my liking that I wanted Daphne to play the
field a bit. But I really liked Daphne's character -- she's
clearly smart, thoughtful, and creative. It wasn't a
stretch to see her trying to solve her own mystery or run
her own business. I will definitely read at least one more
book in this series.
They say sugar is bad for your teeth, but can it actually
kill you? The Brea Ridge police seem to think so when they
find cake decorator Daphne Martin wielding an oversized
plastic toothbrush over a dentist’s dead body. Daphne moved
back to her small Virginia hometown just months ago to open
her Daphne’s
Delectable Cakes business and already she’s been mixed up in
murder. Now she’s got to prove her sweet innocence again.
After hours of police questioning, Daphne returns home to
find Elvis Presley in her driveway. She’s certain she’s
hallucinating until the leather-clad hunk orders up a pink
Cadillac cake for a convention of the Elvis impersonators.
Daphne accepts, but her reporter-boyfriend Ben is suspicious
of Elvis’s intentions. Does the King want to make Daphne his
confectionery queen? Or is the convention a ruse for a more
sinister operation? Daphne’s own investigation into Dr.
Bainsworth’s murder, meanwhile, reveals the dentist made as
many enemies as he did fillings. Just about anyone could
have done him in, but it’s up to Daphne to find the
killer—and finish Elvis’s cake—before she’s the one singing
“Jailhouse Rock.”
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