Rita Lucero's training is as a cake decorator -- although
she's been working as a sous chef for her uncle in
Albuquerque. But she treks to New Orleans to get her
husband (from whom she's been separated for two years) to
sign divorce papers. But when she arrives at Phillippe's
upscale cake shop to meet him with the papers, she finds
several unexpected things -- the most upsetting being his
dead body with a chef's knife in his chest.
The discovery of the body comes after Phillippe had a fight
with his best friend Ox, which came after it was discovered
that a cake they were about the deliver had been destroyed.
And in addition to Phillippe being killed, Ox has been
attacked, presumably by the killer. Rita soon becomes a
suspect, especially after it's discovered that since she was
still technically married to Phillippe, she inherits
everything that was his. However, the inheritance is
bittersweet, because the beautiful shop that he had worked
tirelessly on is in big trouble -- besides being in
financial trouble, there has been a saboteur in the shop
lately doing things from stealing equipment, ruining orders,
and possibly selling shop secrets. Could the saboteur and
the killer be one and same?
Miss Frankie, Phillippe's mother and someone who is holds a
fondness for Rita, asks Rita to stay in New Orleans for
awhile and take charge of the shop until everything gets
sorted out. More importantly, Miss Frankie asks Rita to
find out who is responsible for Phillippe's death and for
the shop's downward slide. She doesn't trust the police
department to wrap things up, but she knows Rita's talent
for cake decorating and she trusts her more than she trust
anyone else in the shop.
It soon becomes obvious to Rita that there are suspects
galore, which make this a fun mystery to read. There are
plenty of people with motives, some less obvious than
others. Rita's character is great, and her relationship
with Miss Frankie is refreshing (it's nice to see that not
every mother-in-law relationship is hellacious). I was
disappointed that there wasn't a little more wrap-up with
Rita's aunt and uncle at the end of the book, but I'm hoping
that will be revisited more in the second book (which I will
definitely be reading). As an avid watcher of cake
decorating shows, I definitely also enjoyed the luscious
descriptions of the elaborate cakes and the work that went
into them, even if they were fictitious!
New Orleans pastry chef Rita Lucero is out to bake her way to the top. But when she finds her almost-ex-husband killed with a chef's knife in his back, she becomes suspect number one. Now it's up to her to find the real killer before she winds up as the next victim served.
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