Death Takes the Cake: a Della Cooks Mystery

by: Melinda Wells

Published by: Berkley Prime Crime / Penguin

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

This is the second in the delightful Della Cooks series by Melinda Wells, aka Linda Palmer, after 2008’s Killer Mousse. Death Takes the Cake finds cable TV cook Della Carmichael entered in a cake competition by the owner of her cable TV channel, Mickey Jordan. Unfortunately the famous cooks entered in the contest all have to bake a cake using Reggi-Mixx, a horrible bland cake mix in a box. Doubly unfortunate– Reggi-Mixx is owned by an old college enemy of Della’s, Regina Davis, a woman who swore she’d kill her the next time she saw her. Mickey is sure that Regina no longer harbors any ill will towards Della, but events prove him wrong.

Della lives with the college student daughter of her best friends, Eileen O’Hara, and she and Eileen are planning to go into business, backed by Mickey, baking mail order fudge and brownies. Mickey’s son from an earlier marriage, Addison, is working at the TV station and helping with the business plan. The cake competition reality show will help publicize Della’s TV show AND her new business.

When late one night Della goes to the Reggi-Mixx test kitchens to try out some cake mix before the competition, she finds Regina dead, with her face in a bowl of cake batter! Detective John O’Hara, a close friend of Della and her late husband, Mack, is in charge of the case, and both he and Della are shocked when the clues lead straight to another good friend, dentist Bill Marshall, husband of Della’s best friend Liddy. How on earth did Reggie and Bill ever meet? It turns out to be a nasty plan of revenge – Reggie hoped to ruin Liddy’s marriage and cause Della distress. Reggie had hired a P.I., who also uncovered unsavory information about Mickey and his wife Iva. It is no surprise this nasty bit of work was killed–but who did it? And will Della and her hot boyfriend Nick, a crime reporter, be able to stay safe while uncovering the killer?

You will love the characters, the recipes, and long for the next Della cooks installment, Proof is in the Pudding! All the yummy recipes from both books are on the author’s web site. Check it out.

Armchair Interviews agrees. A wonderful and tasty cozy mystery.

Author’s Web site: http://www.DellaCooks.com