Author: Lee Hollis
Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496713865
Kensington Publishing
312 Pages
$7.99; $5.99 Amazon
April 30, 2019
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Liddy Crawford, best friend of food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell, is getting married. The wedding is the talk of the town in Bar Harbor, Maine, including snide gossip about the age gap between the bride and her groom, local lawyer, Sonny Lipton. But the cruelty of the comments is nothing compared to the nasty wedding cake baker, Liddy's quarrelsome cousin Lisa.
So when the belligerent baker is found facedown in a three-tier cake, the victim of a poisoned slice, there are more suspects in town than names on the guest list. With Sonny getting cold feet, Liddy getting hot under the frilly collar of her wedding gown, and a killer possibly crashing the ceremony, Hayley vows to solve the crime before her best friend walks down the aisle...
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When Hayley Powell is chosen to be her best friend Liddy's matron of honor, she doesn't expect everything to turn into a nightmare: a gown that makes her look like Little Bo Peep, having to deal with Liddy's horrible, over-the-top mother Celeste, and worst of all, Liddy's cousin Lisa, a baker who's been employed by Celeste to make the wedding cake. Liddy and Lisa obviously hate each other, and it shows in Lisa's choice of cakes, when she ignores Liddy's wishes. The only good thing in her life is her boyfriend Bruce Linney, a co-worker at the Island Times. She never thought they'd get to the point where they'd like each other, but here they are, almost in love.
After Liddy has had enough and asks Hayley to make her cake instead, Lisa goes on a rampage, and when Hayley goes to her shop to see if she can smooth things over, she finds a very dead Lisa. Now with Liddy front and center as a killer, Hayley decides if she wants Liddy's wedding to go off, she needs to find a killer. That is, if she can stay alive long enough to figure it out...
I do love reading this series. It's gotten better over time and is still going uphill, which is more than some series do, so that's a big plus. This time out, Liddy is finally marrying her attorney boyfriend, Sonny Lipton. But Sonny seems almost like a third party to the wedding, not having anything to do with the planning, and not even showing up on time - or at all - of some of the events. So of course Liddy is a nervous wreck. A raging nervous wreck. Hayley is doing her best to help Liddy keep it together, but if Sonny doesn't get his act together, there won't be any wedding.
What ensues is not so much the actions of a bridezilla, but a bridezilla's mother. Celeste is every man's (and woman's) nightmare. No wonder Liddy is the way she is. Celeste isn't someone I'd want to come across in a dark alley. Or even a light one. But it explains a lot about Liddy's personality, at the very least.
Then there's the murder investigation itself, which Hayley knows has to be solved before Liddy's big day. But when Hayley starts digging, other people become involved. People like Bruce and even Sal, Hayley's boss. And what they discover is going to rock everyone back on their heels, and quickly...
I really enjoyed this book. My only complaint is in a spoiler below, because it pertains to a major part of the story. It gives the reasons why thing went the way they were, so please don't read it if you haven't read the book.
At any rate, I enjoyed reading this book and I was pleased at the way everything turned out in the end. When the murderer was discovered, the reasons, while rather twisted since the wrong party (I felt) was targeted, still made it all interesting enough that I was glad to have finished it. Recommended.
More on Lee Hollis's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/lee-hollis/
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