Murder Takes the Cake

By: Gayle Trent

Narrated by: Carol Herman

Cozy murder mystery.

When the meanest gossip in Brea Ridge dies mysteriously, suspicions turn to cake decorator Daphne Martin. But all Daphne did was deliver a spice cake with cream cheese frosting - and find Yodel's body. Now Daphne's got to help solve the murder and clear her good name. Problem is, her Virginia hometown is brimming with people who had good reason to kill Yodel, and Daphne's whole family is among them.

©2011 Gayle Trent (P)2012 BelleBooks, Inc.

Series needs a new narrator

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better narrator

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator made the main character sound 80, not 40, she also made some of the other characters sound like toddlers.

Baking up cakes or murder?!?

Every town has their local town gossip and holder of all information about everything and everyone that has done something less than stellar. But not everyone is asked to bake their first cake for their new business, just to find that the customer is that town's gossip, and Daphne's cake delivery finds her dead on her own couch. This is what happens to Daphne when she moves back to her hometown planning to start her cake baking business there. Rumor has it that Daphne's cake poisoned her customer. Finding connections to Daphne's families less than perfect past doesn't help either. She can either find the real murderer or say good bye to her yummy cakes. She does just that with the help of, Ben, the town's newspaper editor and Daphne's old "sweet treat".

This is an intriguing mystery with lots of fun additions. Family relations are perfectly portrayed with feelings or love, jealously, family togetherness, and a checkered pasts. Cakes are described so deliciously that I had to take cupcake breaks throughout the book. But best of all, the relationships between the town characters was priceless. Would I want to live in that town? I probable do if I knew all of my town's secrets. Great fun to read this start of the Daphne Martin Cake Mysteries. I listened to this on audio and really enjoyed the narration too.

Narrator

The narrator is supposed to be 40 years old but she sounds older. Should have had a younger narrator.

I tried to like it

I tried to like this book. I forced myself to listen from beginning to end. The storyline was weak. The mystery took second place to family problems that were never solved. I was actually more interested in the family problems than the actual murder. This book also reminded me a little of another series which involves cooking. Only that book established it's characters better. The narrator sounded like Betty White. The lead character is supposed to be 40 yet she sounds like she doubled that at least. More than likely, I won't buy the next book in the series.

Not impressed

I made it through the first chapter. The reader did not have different voices for each character. It made it more difficult to listen. The main character 's back story was missing descriptive elements that made it seem real. I am not interested enough to continue listening.

Could not finish

What would have made Murder Takes the Cake better?

Maybe with some other Narrater I could have finished listening. But after one hour I just quit. Without even going to listen to the end.

How could the performance have been better?

Another Narrater!

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

dissapointment