There are maybe a dozen cozy mystery series (and I have read A Lot of cozy mysteries!) that I actively trackdown when the next book is coming out, and the Cupcake Catering Mysteries by Kim Davis is one of those because I know I will always enjoy them.

The two main reasons are the characters and the food descriptions/recipes.

What keeps drawing me back to this series is the relationship between Emory and Tillie, and how well they compliment each other. Add in a long lost sister and a friend to round off the ensemble and it’s a group of friends that anyone would be fortunate to have. Besides the strong and witty women, all of Davis’s characters are so well developed. Even the nasty people are enjoyable (in a way) because they are so well written.

As a cooking cozy series I am always impressed with the amount of recipes included and how well Davis incorporates the baking into the story. Some food cozies barely mention recipes, but Davis weaves the baking, eating, and the delivering of her catering into the story seamlessly. Muddled Matrimonial Murder takes place near Thanksgiving so there are a bunch of cranberry recipes which I’m excited to try since we live near three cranberry bogs and have fresh cranberries available year round.

The mystery was done well and all the red herrings point to one or both of the grooms doing the deed. At first I wasn’t too keen on the final reveal, but the more I thought about it the more I began to like it, since it’s normally the opposite sex who has this type of thought pattern as to why they did the killing, so it was fun to see it changed up.

Another great book in the Cupcake Catering Mysteries and I’m looking forward to my next visit. ( )