If you subscribe to my newsletter, then you’ve already seen the cover reveal for the second book in my new Baker Street Mystery series, but don’t click away. There’s cover copy that wasn’t in the newsletter, so read on. Newsletter subscribers get inside information about me, my life, my dogs, my family, upcoming book releases, etc. Plus, I have monthly giveaways of ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies). If you’re not a newsletter subscriber, why not? Scroll down and look at the bottom right corner of the screen (at least its on the bottom right corner of my screen). Find the section that says, NEWSLETTER SIGN UP. Enter your First Name and Email Address and press the SIGN UP button. That’s it. Every month, you’ll get a newsletter with information about me, my books, and my poodles, and opportunities to win free stuff. My life may not be that interesting, but these poodles get up to plenty of mischief and mayhem. Anyway, back to the cover reveal.
In Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder, the first book in my new Baker Street Mystery series, readers will meet Maddy Montgomery, a fashionista and social media influencer who gets dumped by her fiancé in the middle of her live-streamed wedding. Maddy’s humiliated and looking for a rock to hide under until the publicity dies down. Maddy finds the perfect place to hide out when she learns that her great-aunt Octavia, whom she’s never met, has died and left her an inheritance consisting of a house, a bakery, and a 250 lb English Mastiff named Baby in New Bison, Michigan, a sleepy little resort town on the shores of Lake Michigan. Maddy packs up her Louboutins and heads to Southwestern Michigan, with dreams of selling the house, bakery, and a dog that’s the size of a small pony. However, strong-willed Aunt Octavia had other plans. According to the terms of her will, in order to inherit, Maddy has to run the bakery, stay in the house, and keep the dog for one year. Maddy can’t bake, has never owned a home, and hasn’t been able to keep a goldfish alive, but she accepts the challenge. She’s barely in town for a day when the offers start pouring in. Everyone seems intent on convincing her to sell. Fed up with the offers, Maddy gets into an argument with a man who wants to expand his business into her bakery. When he’s found murdered inside the bakery and Maddy’s fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, it’s up to her and her new friends, the Baker Street Irregulars, to figure out whodunit.
Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder, will release on August 30, 2022. Available for preorder now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Bookshop.org, Hudson Booksellers, IndieBound, Target, Walmart
Now we get to the good part, the cover reveal. The second book in the series, Murder is a Piece of Cake continues Maddy’s story.
Can young entrepreneur and social media influencer Maddy Montgomery run a bakery, care for a gigantic English mastiff, and cultivate a picture-perfect relationship—all while exposing a murderer?
With small town New Bison’s Spring Baking Festival just around the corner, the pressure is on Maddy to continue her late Great Aunt Octavia’s legacy. That means scoring the top prize and transforming Baby Cakes into Southwestern Michigan’s must-visit bakery, even though her inexperience in the kitchen brings nightmares of humiliating tagged photos and scathing one-star reviews.
There’s another reason for lost beauty sleep. A second bakery is opening in town under the ownership of CJ Davenport, a shrewd investor with a reputation for sabotaging anyone who gets in his way. And savvy, flashy Maddy tops his list. It’s a sticky spot to be in—more so when Davenport turns up dead with a Baby Cakes’s knife stuck in his back.
Maddy’s whole life just went from #thriving to barely surviving. Now, supported by the crafty Baker Street Irregulars and her new boyfriend, she must find the courage to face off against a killer who could very well get her name trending for the first and last time . . .
Okay, what do you think? Personally, I love the vibrant colors. Is this a cover that if you saw it on a shelf at a bookstore, would draw you in? Or, if you’re scrolling through cozies at your favorite online retailer, would you take one look at that cover and add it to your cart? Let me know in the comments. I would probably BUY NOW WITH 1-CLICK (well, if I hadn’t written the book), but I’m curious about your thoughts. I love the covers for my Mystery Bookshop Mystery series, especially because my dogs Coco and Cash are on them, but these covers are awfully cute IMHO. And, I have one other secret. Please, don’t tell the poodles, but I absolutely love Baby, the English mastiff.