Olivia "Livie" Greyson owns The Gingerbread House, a speciality cookie shop. She is aided by her best friend Maddie. Together, Livie and Maddie design cookie-themed parties and marketing ploys for the quaint shop. However, a fellow shop owner is not as taken with their delicious treats as most other locals are.

Livie wakes up one morning to find that her store's lawn has been covered with flyers telling everyone about the dangers of sugar. And, going further, the flyers advertise The Vegetable Plate, the shop next door. Of course, the logical conclusion is that Charlene Critch, the Plate's owner, is responsible. When Livie goes next door to confront her, she witnesses somebody running out the back door and finds that the Plate has been ransacked. Charlene believes that Livie actually did the damage herself and refuses to buy the story of the mystery man. But the mystery escalates when Livie discovers a dead body (who greatly resembles the man she saw running out of Charlene's store) one rainy night. While the police investigate, Livie can't help but be a little curious herself, since she's a bit too involved than she'd like.

First, there's the matter of the cookie cutters that have disappeared from her store. Then there's the matter of her own brother confessing to the murder, although she's convinced he's only doing so to cover up for someone else who may not even be the guilty party! There's the new guy in town who no one really knows anything about -- not to mention the mysterious dancing woman who may be a ghost!

Can Livie sort all of this out before her brother is falsely convicted of a murder? Or did her brother actually do it? And will she ever recover those vintage cookie cutters?

I really enjoyed the mystery found in A COOKIE BEFORE DYING. There was a great combination of wit and mystery, and the characters were a lot of fun to read. Although there were a lot of characters, there weren't too many that it got confusing. There were also enough clues that I kept having that "I know this an important clue" feeling, but it was just enough to keep me guessing without making the ending predictable or obvious.