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!