Death Takes The Cake by Melinda Wells is the second book in the “Della Cooks” cozy mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin), February 2009
To help boost ratings for her show, Della Carmichael agrees to enter a televised cake competition sponsored by Reggi-Mixx, even though the company’s owner, Regina Davis, is an old college nemesis. When she finds someone drowned in a mixing bowl of batter, Della realizes solving this murder will be no cakewalk.
Wanting her new cable cooking show to be a success and gain new viewers, Della Carmichael, owner of a cooking school agrees to be a contestant on a televised cake competition. Once Della discovers that Regina Davis is the sponsor of the show, she is wary because of an incident 25 years ago, Reggie vowed that she would kill Della. Flash forward and Della finds Reggie’s body at her test kitchen site and because of her vow, Della’s best friend’s husband is accused of her murder. It is discovered that Reggie hired a private investigator to dig up information on Della, her boss, Mickey Jordan, and the boss’ wife for the purpose of destroying Della and blackmailing the Jordans. Della is determined to find the culprit before her friend is arrested for this crime. I enjoyed this book and love the interaction between Della, Nicholas, Eileen and her friends. [4 stars – really liked it]
Melinda Wells is the pseudonym of Linda Palmer