Book ~ "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" (1998) Mary Jane Clark

From Goodreads ~ Secrets can really kill your career. 

Beautiful New York TV anchorwoman Eliza Blake has a past to hide. Her popular co-anchor has a scandal he'd die to keep secret. The next President's pretty wife wants desperately to avoid indecent exposure. A parish priest knows a terrible truth. And a killer has a secret agenda that reaches from New York City's streets to the White House - it includes the time and place where Eliza Blake will have to die.

When popular news anchor, Bill, commits suicide, everyone is shocked.  As the book progress, we learn more about Bill and what drove him to kill himself.

There were a lot of characters in this book and you're not sure who to trust or who has something to hide or who is a murderer.  Eliza is the young widowed mother of a four-year-old daughter.  She works as an anchor at the KEY New and is thankful to have an elderly nanny.  She has a secret from her past that has been recently revealed in a scandal magazine (I didn't think it was that big of deal).  There is a charismatic front-running presidential candidate, his wife and his campaign manager who are all hiding secrets.  Bill and Eliza see the same psychiatrist.  There is a judge who has been making $5,000/month payments to Bill.  There is a homeless man who goes around stealing doorknockers.  Range is Bill's best friend and works at KEY News.  Yelena is the president of the network who is sleeping with Pete, Bill's replacement, and helping him get ahead but he's only using her.  There is the priest who Bill got close to a couple months before his death.  Louise is Bill's ex-wife, who is mourning like a widow even though they had split up years ago.

It is written in third person perspective with the focus on various characters.  I thought the writing style and pacing were okay.  I like the structure ... some of the chapters were longer and some were short.  We find out in the end who the murderer is and I thought who it was was absurd.  It was kind of a letdown to get to the end and find out "who dunnit".

This is the first in the KEY News series (there are currently 12 in the series) and the first one I've read.  I like getting into series and have read and liked other books by this author (the Piper Donovan series) so thought I'd check it out.  I thought this book was just okay and perhaps will read more in the series sometime.

Book ~ "Footprints in the Sand" (2013) Mary Jane Clark

From Goodreads ~ It's the dead of winter and struggling actress and wedding cake decorator Piper Donovan is thrilled to be in warm and romantic Sarasota, Florida, enjoying the powdery white beaches, soothing seas and golden sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico. She and her family are there to celebrate her beloved cousin's wedding. Not only is Piper creating the sugar sand dollar-festooned wedding cake, she's also the maid of honor. 

But a cloud seems to hover over the whole affair. Shortly after a bridesmaid mysteriously disappears, a kindly neighbor's car is run off the road and a prospective witness, an innocent Amish teenager, is threatened to keep silent. Then a body is found on the wedding beach. 

With the nuptials threatened, it falls to Piper to unmask a killer. Could it be the wedding planner with something to hide? A doctor and his wife who collect unusual Japanese figurines? The best man, an ex-drug dealer with lecherous eyes and roving hands? What about her cousin's future stepfather or even the bridegroom himself? 

As Piper gets close to figuring out who's been covering his guilty footprints in the sand, the cunning killer has already set his sights on Piper as his next victim!

Piper's cousin, Kathy, in Sarasota is getting married and Piper is her maid of honour.  Plus Piper and her mom are making the wedding cake (Piper's mom runs a bakery in New Jersey where Piper helps out).  Shelley, Kathy's bridesmaid, has disappeared and Kathy is understandably concerned. 

Piper's widowed aunt (Kathy's mother), Nora, is dating Walter, who owns the hotel where Piper's family is staying.  He is in the process of trying to convince the surrounding neighbours (including Nora) to sell their places so he can knock them down and expand his hotel.

This is the fourth book I've read by this author and also the fourth I've read in her Wedding Cake Mystery series (I've read the first, second and fourth) ... they all work as stand alones.  I liked the writing style and the short and snappy chapters but wasn't crazy when it got bogged down with the lectures during the tours.

I thought the storyline was just so-so, though.  A body is found buried in the sand, an elderly neighbour is run off the road and almost killed, there is a suicide and then another murder ... and the wedding plans still continue along with boat tours, etc.  Everyone is able to move past all this and carry on ... really?  There are lots of characters who could have been the murderer and you don't find out until the end ... I thought the reveal of the killer was weak.  There was a huge emphasis on Piper posting EVERYTHING on Facebook in this story, including a shot of the body found on the beach ... in the last book, she just posted updates to her status.

At the end of the book, there is a recipe for Aunt Nora's Easy but Sinfully Delicious Siesta Key Lime Pie.

While not crazy about this book, I look forward to reading others by this author.

Book ~ "The Look of Love" (2012) Mary Jane Clark

From Goodreads ~ Piper Donovan accepts when the owner of Elysium, an exclusive spa and plastic surgery center, offers her an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles to create a dazzling and unique wedding cake. The job also gives Piper the time and distance she needs to sort out her feelings for handsome FBI agent, Jack Lombardi. 

The ultra-luxurious spa caters to the rich and famous in need of a little “refreshing” - a nip here, a tuck there, a little Botox, a little detox. Nestled in the Hollywood Hills, Elysium seems picture-perfect: the grounds, the staff, even the guests. 

But no sooner does Piper arrive than a guest is brutally murdered in one of the private bungalows. Someone it seems wants to make sure Elysium’s beautiful director, Jillian Abernathy, never gets to walk down the aisle. Piper soon discovers that beneath the glamorous surface of this idyllic oasis lies an ugly truth - and a cold-blooded plan for murder. 

Jack and Piper have been friends for a while and he would like to take things further.  Piper has been hurt before and doesn't want to risk their friendship.  To give them some space, Piper accepts a job in L.A. to decorate Jillian and Ben's wedding cake.  Because she's also an actress, Piper asks her agent to line up some auditions.

Jillian is the director of the exclusive spa, Elysium, which her father, a famous plastic surgeon, owns.  When Piper arrives, she discovers she's not going to just have the pleasant relaxing time away at the spa decorating a cake ... guests are murdered, she becomes involved with a reporter who is investigating something that is happening funny at the spa, she befriends a woman who is traumatized by failed plastic surgery and more.  And all during this, she has to keep her overprotective father back home reassured that she's okay and she really really wants to contact Jack (and he really really wants to contact her).

This is the third book I've read by this author and also the third I've read in her Wedding Cake Mystery series (I've read the first and fourth in the series).  They all work as stand alones.  I liked the writing style and the short and snappy chapters.  There are lots of characters who could have been the murderer and you don't find out until the end.

At the end of the book, there is a recipe for Piper's mom's Icing on the Cupcake Cream-Cheese Frosting (her mom, Terri, owns a bakeshop in New Jersey and Piper helps out).

I liked this book and look forward to reading others by this author. 

Book ~ "To Have and to Kill" (2010) Mary Jane Clark

From Goodreads ~ Piper Donovan, an actress who has been having a hard time of it living in Manhattan, has returned home to her parents’ small town in New Jersey. She’s been helping out at her mother’s bakery, which makes it perfect that Piper’s close friend, Glenna Brooks, has asked her to prepare the cake for her upcoming wedding. 

However, things aren’t as perfect as they seem and when there is a murder, Piper is determined to figure out what happened and protect her friend.

Piper is an actress whose character on a daytime drama was killed off.  With no other parts coming, she has moved back home with her parents.  Piper's mother owns a bakery and Piper helps out there.

Her friend, Glenna, is also on the daytime drama and recently got engaged.  During a fundraiser, Glenna's co-star and co-host, Travis, is murdered.  Who was the intended victim ... him or Glenna?  Glenna has received a threatening letter warning her not to get married ... is there a connection?  It seems like everyone had cause and reason and Piper gets caught in the middle.  She's lucky that she has her friend, Jack, an FBI agent to rely on for information.

This is the second book I've read by this author and also the second I've read in her Wedding Cake Mystery series (I read the fourth one in January ... I liked it enough to want to go back and read the series).  I liked the writing style and the short and snappy chapters.  The language and actions are suitable for readers of any age (no swearing or extreme violence).  There were lots of characters who could have been the murderer and you don't find out until the end and I bought it.

I liked Piper.  She has a lot going on with scrambling to make a living, dealing with her mother's illness and honoring her commitment to Glenna to make her wedding cake ... all the while suspecting everyone for Travis' murder.  Jack sounds like a nice guy.  He really likes Piper but respects the boundaries that she puts up.  I could understand why her mother was so secretive about her illness but I would have rather that she'd been honest about it right away.  Her dad is a former cop and I found he was a bit over the top in his protectiveness and paranoia.

At the end of the book, there is a recipe for Piper's Simple Buttercream Icing.

I liked this book and look forward to reading the others in this series and others by this author.

Book ~ "That Old Black Magic" (2014) Mary Jane Clark

From Goodreads ~ Aspiring actress and wedding-cake decorator Piper Donovan has barely arrived in New Orleans to perfect her pastry skills at the renowned French Quarter bakery, Boulangerie Bertrand, when a ghastly murder rocks the magical city. Intrigued by the case, Piper can't help but look for the "Hoodoo Killer" among the faces around her. Could it be the handsome guide eager to give her special private tours? Or the inscrutable jazz musician who plays on historic Royal Street? What about the ratings-starved radio talk-show host? Or even the amiable owner of the local Gris-Gris Bar? 

Though Piper has a full plate decorating cakes for upcoming wedding celebrations, she's also landed an exciting but unnerving role in a movie being shot in the Big Easy. When the murderer strikes again, leaving macabre clues, she thinks she can unmask the killer. But Piper will have to conjure up some old black magic of her own if she hopes to live long enough to reveal the truth.

Piper is a baker and an actress.  She has won a contest to spend some time with Bertrand, a famous baker, in New Orleans.  As soon as she arrives, there is a murder and people suspect it has something to do with voodoo.  A couple days later, there is another murder of a merchant on the same street.  While dealing with this happening around her, she lands a small part in a movie opposite Channing Tatum plus has to bake a couple cakes for an upcoming wedding.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked the writing style and the short choppy chapters.  The language and actions are suitable for readers of any age (no swearing or extreme violence).  There were lots of characters who could have been the murderer and you don't find out until the end.  I suspected one of the characters after the second murder victim was discovered and it turned out I was right ... and it made sense and I bought it.

This is the fourth in the Wedding Cake Murders series. Though I hadn't read the first three, it worked okay as a stand alone.  There was just enough info to bring me up to speed with what happened in the first three but didn't give too much away in case I want to read them (which I do).

I'd like to visit New Orleans some day and learned a lot about the culture from this book (like the history of voodoo, why the dead aren't buried in the ground but above ground, how they make room for generations of bodies in one crypt, why funerals are so festive, etc.).  Informative but not text-book boring.

I received a copy of this book at no charge in exchange for my honest review.