Micky’s latest stunt is for Della to enter Reggi-Mixx’s cake baking contest. The four other chefs are all renowned bakers so Micky doesn’t expect Della to win, just get a lot of good exposure.  If Della does win, however, the $25,000 prize will be, well, icing on the cake.  Della is apprehensive about the contest, not only because she is not a trained pastry chef and Reggi-Mixx cake mixes are the worst on the market, but because the last time Della saw Reggi-Mixx owner Regina Davis in college, Regina threatened to kill Della. 

Regina is cordial toward Della when the two meet, but Della is leery of Regina and keeps a close eye on her.  Returning to the Reggi-Mixx factory one evening after hours to begin creating a cake, Della finds Regina drowned in a bowl of cake batter.  Della, being the widow of a policeman, knows quite a lot about police procedure and is shocked when her best friend’s husband is arrested for Regina’s murder; almost as shocked as she was when Liddy confided in Della that she thought Bill was having an affair.  Now Della finds herself mixed up in Regina Davis’s dirty business once again and learns that Regina had a private eye following and investigating several people, including Della.   

Death Takes the Cake is a fun, fast-paced mystery, as fast as the town it is set in.  Della is an engaging heroine, who sometimes has a short temper, especially where hottie boyfriend, reporter Nicholas, is concerned; even though Della has no plans to ever marry again, she also decides that she is too old (in her mid-forties) to be one of many women in a line waiting for Nicholas.  Della, though she misses her husband, has learned to enjoy her independence and has become very self-reliant. 

Using mementos she packed away from her husband, she is able to track down an important piece to the puzzle.  The investigation is well plotted and though the clues lead to the motive and murderer, there is no great aha moment for readers.  There are recipes at the of the book for some of the cakes and meals mentioned in the story, a and there are recipes for other cakes that haven’t been mentioned.  Death Takes the Cake is another fun, quick read to add to the growing ranks of culinary mysteries.                                        

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry