Another fun one...with a slight cliffhanger. :-) ( )

Mel and Angie may not be ready to ride in a rodeo, but they are more than willing to sell cupcakes there. When a chance meeting with a rodeo owner results in a offer to come to his rodeo and sell cupcakes, they are ready to leave the heat of the city and head up the mountain. Luckily, their intern Oz has inherited an ice cream van, which they clean up and outfit for cupcakes. It’s all good, right up to the point where their new friend gets shot. Much happens in this well-written and delightful cozy. Besides attempted murder, outright murder, sabotage, challenges to outsell another vendor, there is romance is in the air. Author Jean McKinlay never fails to give her readers a story that is entertaining as well as enticing. ( )

I had a great time listening to this cozy mystery! I have been slowly working my way through this series after picking up the first book in the series not quite a year ago. This is the fourth book in the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries and while it can be read as a stand alone readers of the series will appreciate checking in with the cast of characters. I found myself quickly caught up in this mystery and I may have developed a mild craving for cupcakes before reaching the end of the story.

This installment takes the cupcake crew to the rodeo. I have to tell you that this development worried me a bit since sometimes when a series hits the road it looses some of its charm. There was no need to worry since the key characters went on this trip together so I didn't find myself missing anyone. The Juniper Pass rodeo had its own quirky group of characters including the man who runs the operation, the unpleasant rodeo star, and the owners of the food truck serving Barbecue right next to the Fairy Tale Bakery's cupcake truck.

Of course, there were a few problems for the crew to work out. There was a shooting at the rodeo's parade injuring Slim, then the rodeo star is murdered, and to top things off someone has sabotaged the cupcake bakery's food truck. Nobody knows if these events are connected but Melanie and her friends are in the middle of it all especially since they were the ones to discover the bull rider's body. There are some developments between Tate and Angie that kept the story interesting on the romantic front.

Susan Boyce continues to do a fabulous job with this series. I love the voices that she uses for this quirky group of characters. She really does a great job in bringing the story to life and is able to add a lot of excitement to the reading. Ms. Boyce has a very pleasant reading voice and I had no problem listening to her narration for hours at a time. I look forward to listening to more of her work in the future.

I would recommend this series to others. This book is filled with great characters and a mystery that kept me guessing. I also love the fact that we get to see enough of the dessert making process to make the cupcake bakery seem real (and to make me crave a few desserts). I can't wait to start the next book in the series very soon! ( )

Angie and Melanie, owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcake bakery, are riding around town with Oz and Marty in an old Good Humor van that Oz recently purchased. They're discussing how it can become the bakery's delivery van, when the van breaks down. Shortly afterward Slim Hazard, who heads the Juniper Pass Rodeo, stops to help the gang out. Once Slim learns about the bakery, he talks them into becoming a vendor at the upcoming rodeo. Angie and Mel start baking cupcakes for the event, while some major favors are called in to make the van road worthy. They arrive in the decked out van, to find themselves assigned the spot right next to Billy Bobs BBQ. Billy Bob's BBQ owners Billy and Bob are upset to find themselves being next to the cupcake vendor. Angie agrees to a bet of putting their total sale against Billy Bob's, with the loser having to work the others person's business.

After checking into their hotel rooms that are over the local saloon. They are watching the rodeo parade, from there balcony, when Slim is shot in the shoulder. It's thought that one of the cowboy's in the audience just got carried away with the excitement and shot his gun in the air. Later Mel bumps into the rodeo's star, Ty Stokes. Stokes who is drunk as a skunk, when he realizes who Mel is he tells her he wants a dozen cupcakes delivered to his room the next morning. While Mel and Angie are looking for Ty to make the cupcake delivery, they find him in a bull's pen, apparently gored to death. When the bull is cleared of Ty's murder the hunt for the human killer begins with Mel and the rest of the bakery gang helping with the investigation, will they be able to find the killer before one of them becomes the next victim.

I was glad to see Angie dump her boyfriend rock star Roach since they didn't seem right for each other. Some of the relationship issues that were presented in the earlier books are resolved while some others are moved in a whole new direction. It was also nice to have a murder victim who was not associated with Mel or one of her friends or family for a change. The characters are were well written and the secondary characters and the new characters are just as memorable as the main characters are. Figuring out who the murderer isn't always easy because the author includes very detailed backstories for the characters, which means there are are a number of red herrings along with some twists and turns. ( )

Angie and Melanie, owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcake bakery, are riding around town with Oz and Marty in an old Good Humor van that Oz recently purchased. They're discussing how it can become the bakery's delivery van, when the van breaks down. Shortly afterward Slim Hazard, who heads the Juniper Pass Rodeo, stops to help the gang out. Once Slim learns about the bakery, he talks them into becoming a vendor at the upcoming rodeo. Angie and Mel start baking cupcakes for the event, while some major favors are called in to make the van road worthy. They arrive in the decked out van, to find themselves assigned the spot right next to Billy Bobs BBQ. Billy Bob's BBQ owners Billy and Bob are upset to find themselves being next to the cupcake vendor. Angie agrees to a bet of putting their total sale against Billy Bob's, with the loser having to work the others person's business.

After checking into their hotel rooms that are over the local saloon. They are watching the rodeo parade, from there balcony, when Slim is shot in the shoulder. It's thought that one of the cowboy's in the audience just got carried away with the excitement and shot his gun in the air. Later Mel bumps into the rodeo's star, Ty Stokes. Stokes who is drunk as a skunk, when he realizes who Mel is he tells her he wants a dozen cupcakes delivered to his room the next morning. While Mel and Angie are looking for Ty to make the cupcake delivery, they find him in a bull's pen, apparently gored to death. When the bull is cleared of Ty's murder the hunt for the human killer begins with Mel and the rest of the bakery gang helping with the investigation, will they be able to find the killer before one of them becomes the next victim.

I was glad to see Angie dump her boyfriend rock star Roach since they didn't seem right for each other. Some of the relationship issues that were presented in the earlier books are resolved while some others are moved in a whole new direction. It was also nice to have a murder victim who was not associated with Mel or one of her friends or family for a change. The characters are were well written and the secondary characters and the new characters are just as memorable as the main characters are. Figuring out who the murderer isn't always easy because the author includes very detailed backstories for the characters, which means there are are a number of red herrings along with some twists and turns. ( )