The Look of Love - (Piper Donovan/Wedding Cake Mysteries) by Mary Jane Clark (Paperback)

About the Book

Professional wedding cake decorator and amateur sleuth Piper Donovan is back in the second book in "New York Times"-bestselling author Clark's new mystery series. This edition includes a bonus short story.

Book Synopsis

"One of the most talented story tellers around."
--Associated Press

"Clark has perfected the suspense novel...in classic Christie fashion."
--Booklist

New York Times bestseller Mary Jane Clark introduced readers to professional wedding cake decorator and amateur sleuth Piper Donavan in her acclaimed mystery novel To Have and To Kill. Piper's back in The Look of Love, on cake creating assignment at a West Coast luxury spa for the wealthy and famous--where nip and tuck and murder are offered in equal measures. Clark really hits her stride with The Look of Love, providing a winning recipe for delectable mystery that combines chills, twists, humor and often very romantic suspense in the bestselling vein of Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, Faye Kellerman, Elizabeth Lowell, and Jayne Ann Krentz. She even includes scrumptious pastry recipes and fabulous cake design tips.

From the Back Cover

Nestled in the Hollywood Hills, the ultra-luxurious Elysium spa and plastic surgery center caters to the rich and famous who are in need of "refreshing"--a nip here, a tuck there, a little Botox, a little detox. When Jillian Abernathy, Elysium's owner, offers actress and professional cake artist Piper Donovan an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles to create a dazzling and unique wedding cake, Piper eagerly accepts. The job, after all, will give her the time and distance she needs to sort out her feelings for handsome FBI agent Jack Lombardi.

At Elysium, everything seems picture-perfect--until a guest is brutally murdered in one of the private bungalows. Someone, it seems, wants to make sure the spa's beautiful director never gets to walk down the aisle. And now Piper must dig beneath the glamorous surface of this idyllic oasis to uncover a very ugly truth--and a cold-blooded plan for murder.

Review Quotes

"She understands how to hang on to her audience. Her characters are the sorts with whom many readers identify." -- USA Today

Clark fans will enjoy the short chapters, interconnected plotlines, and multiple points of view, all of which keep the pages turning. -- Booklist

Piper Donovan, professional cake decorator, actress and amateur sleuth, is back. A multilayered plot filled with murder, a taste of jealousy and a healthy dose of madness and mistaken identity is frosted liberally with a rich confection of humor and romantic suspense. -- Romantic Times BOOKclub

In a manner strikingly reminiscent of the author's famous ex-mother-in-law, everything turns out in time for the diminished wedding party to enjoy a cake made from "the best pumpkin bread they have ever tasted." -- Kirkus Reviews

Touchesof humor keep the mystery light, the baking subplot keeps it cozy, and there is enough going on with family and Piper's newly developing relationship to keep it real.... Clark's fans and readers who enjoy mysteries in the vein of Mary Higgins Clark may want to check this out. -- Library Journal

...Clark's diverting second Piper Donovan cozy... -- Publishers Weekly