Murder With Ganache by Lucy Burdette is the fourth book in the “Key West Food Critic” mystery series. Publisher: Obisdian, February 2014

Hayley Snow, the food critic for Key Zest magazine, has her plate heaped high with restaurant reviews, doughnut and sticky bun tastings, and an article on the Hemingway cats. But this week she’s also in charge of her best friend’s wedding. And then someone adds a side of murder.

For better or worse, Hayley has agreed to bake over 200 cupcakes for her friend Connie’s wedding while still meeting her writing deadlines. The last thing she needs is family drama. But her parents come barreling down on the island like a category 3 hurricane and on their first night in town her stepbrother, Roby, disappears into the spring break party scene in Key West.

When Hayley hears that two teenagers have stolen a jet ski, she sets aside her oven mitts and goes in search of Rory. She finds him, barely conscious, but his female companion isn’t so lucky. Now Hayley has to let the cupcakes cool and assemble the sprinkles of clues to clear her stepbrother’s name—before someone else gets iced.

I love the writing style of the author as her words put me in the middle of all the activities. In the latest adventure, Hayley is preparing for her BFF’s wedding and the arrival of her family including her moody stepbrother. What kept my interest in this light-hearted fare was the comfortable tone in which this story takes place. Hayley is on a mission to solve the incident that put her step-brother in a coma; and what caused her BFF to break off her engagement. A fun read that was hard to put down. The gang is back and I especially love when Janet Snow visits and it’s great to see how much Hayley has become a much stronger person handling her jobs and her personal life.