The current guests of the bed and breakfast have all stayed there before and the Anselmo family has been working for Dorothy for years, so Phyllis is confident that nothing will go wrong. 

 When Phyllis and Sam decide to do a little early morning fishing of Oak Knoll’s pier, they are shocked when B&B guest Ed McKenna tumbles into the water when Sam clasps him on the shoulder.  Sam pulls the man out in short order, but Ed is already dead.  Local police chief Dale Clifton doesn’t blame Sam as Ed couldn’t have drowned that quickly, but when the autopsy shows poison and crab cakes in his stomach, all eyes are on the Oak Knoll B&B, its guests, staff and new caretakers. 

The death of a second guest follows, and Consuela Anselmo is arrested for the murder. Phyllis doesn’t know Consuela all that well, but if Dorothy trusts Consuela than so does Phyllis. Chief Clifton and his daughter Deputy Abby know of Phyllis’s track record solving murders in her hometown and aren’t surprised when Phyllis begins asking questions and poking in places she’d be better off staying out of.

Killer Crab Cakes takes Phyllis and her friends to another part of Texas where they find themselves involved in the same things they do at home, baking contests and murder. Phyllis and Sam have fallen into a comfortable friendship that looks as if it may be headed in a more serious direction. Phyllis quickly takes to her new friends, the Anselmos and the Cliftons, winning their confidence as well as their friendship. 

She does jump to a couple of conclusions this time that send her off in the wrong direction, but quickly realizes her mistake and readjusts her thinking. There are a couple possible suspects and a couple viable motives, but little by little, clues are revealed that lead Phyllis in the right direction and enable her to once again save the day. Recipes for the winning entries in the baking contest and other fare offered at the bed and breakfast round out this solid mystery.                                                              

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry