Dark Chocolate Demise

By: Jenn McKinlay

Narrated by: Susan Boyce

Scottsdale, Arizona, may not be the liveliest place on earth, but it's never been as dead as this. The first annual Old Town Zombie Walk is announced, and Mel, Angie, and the Fairy Tale Cupcake crew are donning their best undead attire to sell some horror-themed desserts to the hungry hordes. But fun turns to fright when Mel finds a real dead body in a prop casket outside of the bakery's truck - and the corpse looks alarmingly like a zombie of their own. Mel worries that someone near and dear was the real target. To keep any of her friends from winding up six feet under, Mel will do whatever it takes to find a killer - no matter how scary things get...

©2015 Jenn McKinlay (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC.

Just, well…. fun!

The narrator brings the characters to life beautifully. This cozy mystery is part of a series that just takes the stress of life away for a little while. Very well developed characters and settings. I purchased this set after listening to them via the local library. It is a series that I can plug into when I have a lot going on and need a break from reality while doing laundry, dishes, etc. They were so worth my credits. I hope you think so too!

another good book

Another good book in the series except that Mel, gets a bit irritating with her marriage issues

jtownzen

I love all of the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries. They are so engaging. I think I'm guilty of listening to a whole book in 2 days.

The Mafia gets involved

Dark Chocolate Demise by Jenn McKinlay picks up where Sugar and Iced left off, with Mel’s being estranged from the love of her life, Joe Delora, older brother of Mel’s partner, Angie. Joe is taking on a huge mob boss, Frank Tucci, until now untouchable in his position as Assistant District Attorney, and he fears for Mel’s safety if he is known to be still associated with her. Then one night Mel, Angie, and Tate, Angie’s fiance and the women’s partner in the Fairy Take Cupcake Shop, go to the Old Town Zombie Walk. Angie and Tate go dressed as a zombie bride and groom. Next to their cupcake van the cupcake team has a coffin they use for attention and advertising. After going off to check out the zombie walk, the trio returns to the van only to discover a body dressed as a zombie bride inside the coffin!

Given the location of the body in the coffin next to the cupcake van and the similarity of the dead woman’s costume to Angie’s, everyone feels concerned that Angie may have been the target. The fear is that someone related to Frank Tucci may have targeted Angie to get to Joe, and this leads Angie’s and Mel’s friends and Angie’s brothers to set guard around the women, something both women resist.

This book was enjoyable, but it would not be a good book for someone to begin the series with. It spends a significant amount of time dealing with the angst that Mel goes through as she worries about her relationship with Joe. That got a little tiresome, along with the frequent fighting by Mel to keep from having someone guard her. If you already enjoy the series, then you are likely to enjoy this book, but for anyone who is not already into the series, I’d recommend trying an earlier book.

I do highly love the narration of Susan Boyce. She continues to bring this series to life and makes it highly enjoyable. I suspect I would not have enjoyed this book as much as I did without Boyce’s performance.

So for this book, I give a split rating. If you have not read the other books, it has a 2 star rating. But if you have been reading the series and enjoying the lives of Mel, Angie, Tate, and Joe, along with with other cupcake team members, then I give the book 4 stars.

Fantastic

I’ve enjoyed all of the books however, this one was my favorite. It kept me on the edge of my seat through the entire thing!