Two and half stars....I've read several of Mary Jane Clark books that I really enjoyed. This one just didn't click for me. ( )

actress / cake decorator — weak NYC mystery

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 Donovan's dream is to be a successful actress, but when she loses her role on a soap opera she moves back home with her parents to save money. She soon finds herself working in her mother's bakery and realizing as she does so that her mother is keeping a big secret from her. As Piper begins to figure out what is wrong with her mother, she also becomes involved in another mystery when someone from her soap opera is murdered. Piper is drawn into the mystery because one of her closest friends could easily have been the victim and her friend's soon-to-be husband is a major suspect. As more victims pile up, Piper realizes she needs to solve the mystery soon or there will be no wedding.

"To Have and to Kill" is an interesting start to Mary Jane Clark's Wedding Cake mystery series. While it is nothing new to have a mystery centered on food, Clark kicks it up a notch by not only having Piper be a struggling actress, but the health problems her mother faces (as well as Piper's father's obsession with always being prepared for an emergency). The behind-the-scenes descriptions of both the soap opera set and the bakery are interesting. Piper is a good, strong character who wants to be an actress but is increasingly drawn to making cakes - her Twitter updates say a lot about her character. While the book is focused on Piper, Clark uses the viewpoints of several characters, including the murderer (deftly done without revealing who the killer is). This provides Clark with plenty of suspects. Unfortunately, while that is a strong point of the mystery part of the book there are a few weak links that almost throw it off course. The major weak part for me was that far too many people trust the killer to turn him/herself in after they confront the killer. This was unbelievable to me - and it happened more than once. Also, I would have liked the murder plot to be wrapped up a bit more - the motives for the murders were believable but there were some things left hanging that I would have liked to know more about (like what happened to a certain young character). All in all, the ending to the murder plot seemed to be a bit rushed.

"To Have and to Kill" isn't perfect, but it features some strong characters and some nice family relationships and I think the series will get better as Clark writes more books in the series. ( )

I'm not generally a huge fan of "craft cozies," which are so popular with publishers these days. I probably wouldn't have picked this book up had I seen it in a library or bookstore. But when it was made available at a very low price for Kindle, and I read a sample page or two, I thought it was worth spending a few hours with. So if any authors out there are wondering whether this marketing device works -- it works on me!

The character of Piper Donovan, a struggling actress who moves back in with her safety-conscious father and bakery-owner mother, is engaging and fun to spend time with. The plot is plenty convoluted and there are a plethora of suspects and red herrings to keep the reader guessing. If you like Diane Mott Davidson or Joanne Fluke, you'll probably like this book too. ( )

Piper Donovan, the daughter of a cake artist and a police officer, sees her life changing since she has hit a dry spell in her acting efforts after ‘dying’ on a soap opera. Piper learns that her good friend Glenna, the star of the soap, is getting married and wants Piper’s mother to make the wedding cake. While attending a fundraiser at the school of Glenna’s future husband, Piper watches as Glenna’s costar, Travis, dies of cyanide poisoning. From there, Piper ponders ‘who done it’ while tying to figure out what is wrong with her mother and trying to make a return in a dream sequence on the soap. The story includes lots of possibilities and more murders that leave the reader guessing up until the end.

Though I would not describe this book as riveting, it was fun to read and definitely had many possibilities for the murderer. The book moves quickly and is an easy and diverting read. ( )