Review & Giveaway: Cake on a Hot Tin Roof by Jacklyn Brady

Paperback, 297 pages

Expected publication: February 7th 2012 by Berkley .

ISBN: 0425246221 (ISBN13: 9780425246221)

series: A Piece of Cake Mystery #2

From the publisher:

Pastry chef Rita Lucero's Mardi Gras party turns funereal when one of her guests is found dead after a public fight with her uncle-leaving Rita no choice but to find the real killer and clear her uncle's name...

I loved the first book, Sheetcake of Desire  (see review here) and jumped on the chance to review this one and am so glad I did. In the first book we meet Rita Lucero as she is trying to get her husband, Phillipe, to sign divorce papers. Unfortunately, he is found dead before that happens. Rita, now his main heir, inherited his New Orleans bakery, Zydeco, and his mother wants Rita to carry on managing the bakery. That's after she clears her name of murder, of course!

Fast forward 6 months and Rita is buried in orders for Mardi Gras cakes.  Before moving to New Orleans Rita had no idea the importance of Mardi Gras but she's learning. The last thing she needs is to co-host a Mardi Gras party for hundreds of guests with her mother-in-law, Miss Frankie. Rita concedes and agrees to be at the the country club and play nice with the Krewe of Musterion. Along with all the work backed up and promises to her mother-in-law, Rita gets a surprise visit from her Aunt Yolanda and her Uncle Nestor. Sheeesh, what more could happen?

Plenty!

Rita's Uncle Nestor finds himself in a tight spot. He's been accused of murdering local celeb, Big Daddy Boudreaux just because Big Daddy and Uncle Nestor got into a very public punching match at the party Rita and Miss Frankie hosted.  Uncle Nestor never even met Big Daddy until that evening. A public argument doesn't mean he could possibly have killed Big Daddy, does it? Who else would have wanted to put Big Daddy of of commission?

As much as Uncle Nestor annoys Rita with his over protective manner, she can't just stand by and see Uncle Nestor railroaded into a murder rap. There must be someone else out there who had the opportunity and a real motive. Turns out the list of people who had it in for Big Daddy is longer than the list of people who didn't. Not going to be easy for Rita to prove her uncle innocent. She's only going to nose around a little bit even though her co-worker warns her to be very careful.

" Of course.  I had no intention of putting myself in danger; I'd just ask a few questions. That's all.
     Goes to show how wrong  a person can be."

Uh, huh . . . famous last words!

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Berkley  in exchange for my honest opinion.

Jacklyn Brady, author of Cake on a Hot Tin Roof can be found at her website.

Thanks for Berkley's generosity, one copy of the book is available for giveaway. Open to US only with the deadline to enter being February 23th at 5 PM (est).

To enter please leave your e mail address in a comment. If no e mail address, I will assume you do not want to be part of the giveaway.

Bonus entries are as follows:

+4 for following on Networked blogs. Just remind me how you follow and under what name.

+3 for blogging (sidebar is fine) or tweeting about the giveaway. Leave me a link, please.

If you cannot comment you can still enter by sending me an e mail with Win Cake on a Hot Tin Roof in the subject line. Include your name and e mail and send to florida982002[at]yahoo.com

Good luck!