“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This well-known line from Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities perfectly describes the French revolution.
It can also be a great description for preparing for matrimony. Finding “The One,” your soulmate, is a special time. Planning a ceremony to celebrate in front of friends and family should be the most exciting time in a couple’s life. The best of times.
Yet, it can also be the most stressful time. There are tons of decisions. The wedding attire, the venue, the cake, chairs, napkins, seating charts, and a host of other decisions need to be made. Coordinating thousands of moving parts requires military precision, organization, and confidence. One wrong move and a wedding can go from the best of times to the worst of times in zero point three seconds.
Maddy Montgomery in my Baker Street Mystery series, Icing on the Murder, has found her soulmate, Michael Portman. Yet, she lacks the confidence to make decisions. Fortunately for Maddy, a bridal expo is coming to New Bison, Michigan. Word on the street is that the super famous wedding planner to the stars, Seraphina, is giving her services to one lucky couple. Maddy is determined to win.
At least, that’s the plan until Seraphina is murdered, and Maddy becomes a suspect. Social media influencer and fashionista, Madison Montgomery, doesn’t care what anyone says, she refuses to wear orange to her wedding and would never be caught dead in black and white stripes. Maddy Montgomery is the owner of Baby Cakes Bakery, so there are recipes in this culinary cozy.
Below are seven wedding-themed cozies with delicious recipes and plots that would rival the French revolution for intrigue and murder.
*
Catherine Bruns, Frosted with Revenge (Cookies & Chance Mysteries)
Sally Muccio owns a bakery and is about to marry the man of her dreams. But during the taste testing, Sally is almost taken out by a random shooting. However, the shooting turns out not to be random, and Sal is the suspect. Can Sally figure out who wants her dead so she can have her happily ever after?
Frosted with Revenge is the fourth book in the Cookies & Chance Mystery series.
Isis Crawford, A Catered Wedding (Mysteries with Recipes)
This is an older series, but a good one. Libby and Bernadette Simmons are catering Leeza Sharp’s dream wedding. But the wedding becomes a nightmare when the bride is murdered mere hours before her trip down the aisle.
In the second book in the Mysteries with Recipes series Libby and Bernadette Simmons must solve the case of the nightmarish nuptials.
Krista Davis, The Diva Takes the Cake (A Domestic Diva Mystery)
In the second book in the Domestic Diva Mystery series, Sophie Winston’s sister, Hannah, is getting married—again! Sophie doesn’t love her soon-to-be-brother-in-law, but does that mean he’s a killer. Does it? When his ex-wife is murdered, that’s the question that Sophie needs to find out.
With a list of suspects that is as long as the guest list, Sophie must solve the murder in time to stop her sister from making the biggest—and possibly the last—mistake of her life.
Sarah Graves, Death by Chocolate Malted Milkshake (A Death by Chocolate Mystery)
Death by Chocolate Malted Milkshake is the second book in the Death by Chocolate series. Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree and her best friend, Ellie, have been asked to bake a wedding whoopie pie for a Maine Island wedding.
When the bride’s ex is poisoned with a chocolate milkshake from Jake and Ellie’s shop, The Chocolate Moose, the groom is arrested. The wedding is cancelled after both bride and groom end up behind bars, and the fate of The Chocolate Moose is at stake. Can Jake and Ellie clear their reputations and see that justice is served.
Lee Hollis, Death of a Wedding Cake Baker (A Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery Series)
In the eleventh book in this long running series, 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 groom.
Liddy’s cousin and wedding cake baker is found facedown in a three-tier cake. Hayley vows to solve the crime before her best friend walks down the aisle.
Diane Mott Davidson, The Last Suppers (Goldy Culinary Mysteries)
Colorado caterer, Goldy Schulz is ready to tie the knot with homicide detective Tom Schultz in the fourth book in the Goldy Schulz Mystery series. When Father Olson, the officiant for the wedding is murdered and the groom disappears, Goldy must figure out if Tom’s disappearance is related to the murder or if her fiancé just got cold feet.
For better or worse, Goldy begins to search for clues.
Jenn McKinlay, Wedding Cake Crumble (Cupcake Bakery Mystery)
The tenth book in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series, Wedding Cake Crumble, Melanie Cooper, owner of Fairy Tale Cupcakes, is preparing for a wedding and a book signing. However, when the people hired to work at the wedding begin turning up dead, and the bestselling author is the next to bite the dust.
Mel needs to figure out how the murders are connected and why—before the killer brings the entire cupcake crew crumbling down.
***
