Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780425228401
Berkley Prime Crime Publishing
304 Pages
$7.30; $5.99 Amazon
June 2, 2009
⭐
Sophie Winston's sister, Hannah, is getting married -- again! And if you ask Sophie, her future brother-in-law is no prince. But is he a killer? That's the question on everyone's mind when his ex-wife is found hanging from a pergola. This is one event Sophie and her sister hadn't planned on.
As hidden family secrets begin to come to light, Sophie finds the list of suspects is almost as long as the list of wedding guests. Will the real killer be seated on the groom's side or the bride's? Or will he be standing at the altar? Either way, Sophie must solve the murder in time to stop her sister from making the biggest -- and possibly the last -- mistake of her life.
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Sophie Winston's sister, Hannah, is getting married (again) and Sophie is hosting a dinner at her home for the guests. Even though she doesn't like Hannah's fiancé Craig, she's willing to endure it anyway. When Sophie is returning home before setting everything up, a woman appears at her doorstep looking for Craig, Rather than give her name, she leaves telling Sophie she'll come back later.
Then, when Sophie goes to her rival Natasha's home to collect her dog, Daisy, the dog runs to the backyard where Sophie finds the body of the woman hanging from Natasha's new pergola. At first it's suspected the woman committed suicide, but Sophie's friend Humphrey, who is a mortician, tells Sophie the marks don't gibe, and that the woman was murdered. Now that the police are involved, the game is upped, and Sophie is doing her best to save her sister from a possible killer...
I read the first book in this series many years ago (2011), and I must have disliked it immensely to never read another one until now. I re-read my review. I was right. I dislike these characters. All of them.
Sophie is the worst excuse for a woman I can think of. She has no guts, and won't tell people to bug off - she's such a doormat she needs to have "Welcome" tattooed on her back. Her sister is mean and takes advantage of her; her mother likes Natasha much better than her own daughter; Natasha steamrolls over Sophie every chance she gets; etc.; etc. (Not to mention that not only did Natasha wind up with Sophie's ex-husband; she bought a home down the block from Sophie; she has the TV show that should have gone to Sophie; and she covets Sophie's home. Screw off, Nat).
These are horrible people. After Sophie has done a tremendous amount of work planning everything the way her sister wants, then Natasha waltzes in and changes everything to black and brown for a "modern" wedding. Gross. Ugly. And completely disrespectful to Sophie. What's up with Hannah that she would just allow this anyway?
But then it goes farther than that. Not only does everyone treat Sophie like she's a hired maid (and not a well-treated one, either), but Natasha tells Sophie's date - the homicide detective, Wolf - that he's not welcome at the dinner because he brings 'bad memories' to the guests about the murder. So what does this man do? HE DOESN'T GO. He leaves Sophie in the lurch. He's a homicide detective without a pair, if you know what I mean. I don't know of ANY detective in any book that would act this way. They'd tell Natasha to go stuff herself. Not this guy. He has a little a spine as Sophie.
What is wrong with this woman? She allows everyone to push her around, and she takes it. I couldn't stand being around these people at all. The best thing she can do is never invite any of them to her home ever again. Including the spineless detective.
Plus, are we supposed to take the advice at the beginning of every chapter? Most of it was laughable. 1) I'm not giving gift baskets to people who are invited to a wedding. My gift to them is the free food and drink. 2) An "A" list and a "B" list for a wedding? Must be nice to find out you were only invited as a seat filler. 3) You know what? I'm not a tour guide. If people show up early for a wedding and plan to stay a few days, they can go online just like everyone else and find out what the area has to offer. Also, maybe it's trending that a bride can buy two wedding gowns, but it's an extra cost that isn't needed, and is pretentious in the extreme. No thank you. Most of this 'advice' is really out there somewhere.
I couldn't stand any of these people to the extent that I really didn't care about the murders nor why they were committed. I only read the book because I wanted to see just how much abuse Sophie would take before she cracked. She never cracked. Draw your own conclusions.
https://www.amazon.com/Diva-Takes-Cake-Domestic-Mystery/dp/0425228401/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3282295541
More on Krista Davis's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/krista-davis/
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