Cozy {Murder} Mysteries are one of the greatest literary inventions since the romance novel. Not only do you get solve a mystery, or even a murder, but you also get to find your crime-solving alter ego! While I would normally tell you to snuggle up with this post, this time I’m telling you to get in your kitchen because you’ll want to not only read all these books, but you’ll want to bake all the cupcakes too!
Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay & Mini Flower Cakes
Book Blurb: “Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are finally living out their dream as the proud owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery. But their first big client is a nightmare. She’s a bridezilla who wants 500 custom cupcakes for her wedding.
When Mel stumbles upon the bride-to-be dead-by-cupcake, she becomes the prime suspect. To save themselves and their business, the ladies need to find the real murderer before the cupcake killer ices someone else.”
I’ve paired this novel with flower-themed mini cakes. Unlike the unlucky bride in your murder mystery, you can eat these (cup)cakes and live HEA!
The Diva Frosts a Cupcake by Krista Davis & Pancake Cupcakes
Book Blurb: “Revenge is sweet… Sophie Winston and her BFF, Nina Reid Norwood, share a sweet spot for animals. So Sophie is delighted to help when Nina cooks up Cupcakes and Pupcakes—a fundraising event for animal shelters. All the local bakeries will be selling treats, with the profits going to pups and kitties in need. But Old Town is in for a whole batch of trouble when a cupcake war erupts between two bakeries… Tongues wag and tempers rise when a partner leaves Sugar Baby Bakery and unveils her competing cupcakery, Sugar Mama, precisely as the fundraiser gets under way. Just as it seems nothing else can go wrong, Sugar Baby’s sole remaining employee is found dead. Suspicion falls on the feuding owners, but the scrumptious new guy in town is also raising some eyebrows. Now Sophie and Nina have to sift through the clues and discover who isn’t as sweet as they seem…”
BONUS! Delicious recipes and entertaining tips included!
So I’m going to go ahead and say it. You can 10000% make these and eat them for breakfast! I love pancakes and am always on the hunt for new buttercream frosting ideas, but the thought of a maple buttercream frosting has me drooling! Hopefully, if you are making these for a fundraiser it goes a little smoother than the one in the book.
Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke & Brownie Cupcake
Book Blurb: “This summer has been warmer than usual in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen is trying to beat the heat both in and out of her bakery kitchen. But she’s about to find out the hard way that nothing cools off a hot summer day like cold-blooded murder. . .
It’s a hot, muggy evening, and the last thing Hannah wants to do is squeeze into a pair of pantyhose for the Grand Opening of the refurbished Albion Hotel. But with Hannah’s famous Red Velvet cupcakes being served in the hotel’s new Red Velvet lounge, she can’t bring herself to back out.
The party starts off with a bang with the unexpected arrival of Doctor Bev, a Lake Eden legend who left town in shame after she two-timed her fiancé one too many times. Bev’s splashy appearance on the arm of a wealthy investor is the talk of the night. But the gossip comes to a screeching halt when a partygoer takes a mysterious dive off the hotel’s rooftop garden.
The victim is the sheriff’s secretary, Barbara Donnelly, and she is barely clinging to life. The question is, did she fall–or was she pushed? As the police investigate, the only one who isn’t preoccupied with the case is Doctor Bev. She’s too busy trying to stir things up with her old flame Norman, who’s reunited with Hannah. Just as Hannah’s patience with Bev runs dangerously thin, her rival is found dead at the bottom of Miller’s Pond. The only clue the police have is the Red Velvet cupcake Bev ate right before she died–and the tranquilizers someone seems to have baked into it. To everyone’s shock, Hannah is now the unlikely target of a murder investigation–and she’s feeling the heat in a way she never has before. . .”
HA! You thought I was going to give you a red velvet recipe! Instead try something a little different. While I don’t like red velvet, I will say that this recipe has me thinking that making the delicate frosting is a perfect twist to this traditional recipe! And besides, you also get brownies in the form of cupcakes, so I see this as a win win!
Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge & Dark Chocolate Raspberry Curd Filled Cupcakes
Book Blurb: “If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept — was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it.
That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unraveled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.”
Excuse me, but where has this recipe been my whole life? Dark chocolate cake, then you take a bite and there is raspberry curd in the middle, topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting that also has some raspberry curb? All I can say is “Treat Yo Self!”
