This was a quick, fun mystery. Emory Martinez, aided by her octogenarian sidekick Tillie Sklyer, finds herself wrapped up in another mystery when a young woman dies at an event she and her twin sister are catering. Tillie's character is great, she provides both some comedy and the important social connections to beguilingly ask questions. Emory is still a bit gun shy after being accused of murder just a few short months ago, but doesn't want her sister's husband to be accused. In addition, Em's boss (and Tillie's son) shows up with wife #4, upsetting the apple cart at home too. I really liked how we learned more about both Tillie and Em's families. The characters are starting to come into their own and the family secrets that we learn are intriguing. Hopefully we will hear more about the big one in the next story. ( )

Emory Martinez is trying to recover from a nasty and harrowing divorce, where she was once accused of murder. Now she lives in the poolhouse of octogenarian Tillie Skyler, as her cook and companion, also doing Tillie's son, David's, bookkeeping and correspondence.

Tillie is throwing a Halloween party for friends, and Emory's sister is catering it with Emory providing the desserts. Everything seems to be going smoothly until the buxom barmaid starts harassing people - especially Emory's brother-in-law, Thomas. But after an altercation, Emory finds the barmaid, Mandy, dead in her bathtub in the poolhouse. Now Thomas is a suspect and her sister begs her to help find the killer. As if that isn't bad enough, David comes homes with a new twenty-something wife, angering David's grown sons Theodore and Brian, and the new wife, Barbara, makes some changes that could endanger Emory's job and the sons.

But Emory soon finds that there's more to the story: Barbara could have some ties to the dead woman, and there are secrets and lies that abound everywhere. When things escalate, Emory doesn't know whether to stop Tillie from investigating or help her. Either way, it could get her killed anyway...

This is the second book in the series and I enjoyed it just as much as the first. While I didn't really care for the fact that Emory constantly denigrated herself - she seems insecure about her looks but doesn't do anything about it - I ignored this to really dig into the story.

The murder is almost immediate and while we don't get to know Mandy at all beforehand, we learn an awful lot about her afterward when Tillie and Emory start questioning the people who knew her. Tillie is a much better interrogator, since she doesn't come right out and ask people if they killed her; but the two make a decent pair together, with Emory watching out for the elderly woman.

There's also a new detective in town who wants to like Emory for personal reasons (not what you think) but doesn't know her and can't rule her out any more than anyone else. They clash a little bit, but I do like the fact that Detective O'Neill isn't harsh with her and doesn't treat her badly. I really detest the 'bad cop' in books where the detective is trying to put the protagonist in jail.

Having just getting to know David's sons, I do like Brian quite a bit and hope to see more of him while Theodore comes off as pretentious; still, it will be interesting to see how they progress in further books in this series.

When things escalate, and I won't say how, it changes the game for everyone, and Emory finds herself in the middle of a real pickle without knowing what direction to go in. It gives the story a bit of intrigue to it, and makes you want to keep reading to find the outcome. When we do discover the killer it comes as a complete surprise, and that was indeed worth reading. Recommended. ( )

In Cake Popped Off!, the second book in the Cupcake Catering Mystery Series, author Kim Davis weaves an intriguing cozy mystery tale that follows the amateur sleuth adventures of aspiring cupcake caterer Emory Martinez.

Set in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, California, Emory Martinez is getting her cupcake catering business off the ground with the help of her octogenarian employer/landlady, Tillie Skyler. Emory and twin sister Carrie are catering Tillie's Halloween costume bash, and everything is going fine until Emory catches her brother-in-law Thomas Berger in a heated argument with Mandy Grater, the event waitress. Next thing you know, Emory finds Mandy dead on the bathroom floor with several of Emory's poison apple cake pops stuffed in her mouth in her pool house residence. Emory's brother-in-law Thomas is considered a suspect in Mandy's murder, and with Tillie's help, Emory is determined to clear Thomas' name, and find the real killer!

Cake Popped Off! is an entertaining and fast-paced cozy whodunit tale that has enough quirky characters, witty banter and humor, romance, family secrets and drama, danger, and intriguing twists and turns. Told in the first person narrative, the reader can't help but get caught up in Emory's latest crazy amateur sleuth adventure as she and Tillie try to clear her brother-in-law's name and solve Mandy's murder.

The story unfolds with a wonderful balance of comedy, romance, family secrets and drama that easily kept me guessing and in stitches. The reader follows Emory three months after her own scrape with the law, and it was nice to see how her cupcake catering business was getting help from Tillie and her bridge club cronies. But who knew Emory would once again find herself caught up in a murder investigation! Emory and Tillie's investigative adventure was fun to follow, these two crazy ladies find themselves caught up in a mess when the murder involves Tillie's family, and Emory's digging into the murder has the killer planning the next victim!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that at the end of the book is a scrumptious collection of Halloween inspired recipes that will make your mouth water!

Cake Popped Off! is an entertaining story that cozy murder mystery fans will enjoy reading!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

https://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/10/cake-popped-off-by-kim-davis-... ( )

Cake Popped Off! by Kim Davis is the sec0nd book in the Cupcake Catering Cozy Mystery series and it may even be better than the first! What keeps drawing me back to this series is the relationship between Emory and Tillie, and in book two Davis shows how well they compliment each other while they are following leads and questioning people in Tillie’s ring of high society friends. Even though in the books, Emory and Tillie have only known each other for a short time you can feel that they truly care for each other.

And since this is a cooking cozy series I am really impressed with the amount of recipes included and how well Davis incorporates the baking into the story. Between Emory’s baking treats to help sweeten people up before interrogating them or making black cat cookies for her nieces to decorate, I think it adds another wonderful layer. And then you have Tillie drinking cocktails before cocktails and she encourages Emory to join her… I want an older friend like that!

As for the mystery, I did not figure out whodunit early, which always pleases me. Davis gave us lots of suspects and I was happy it didn’t turn out to be who I thought it was going to be, because that would have made the book a bit depressing. And we are left with an interesting reveal that I am excited to see how it will play out in future books.

Another great book in the series and I highly recommend Cake Popped Off! ( )