To Have and to Kill - (Piper Donovan/Wedding Cake Mysteries) by Mary Jane Clark (Paperback)

About the Book

Frustrated actress Piper Donovan returns to her hometown to work at the family bakery, where her first job preparing a wedding cake for a soap star is shattered by a murder that's investigated by a handsome FBI agent.

Book Synopsis

"Clark has perfected the suspense novel."
--Booklist

New York Times bestselling author and mystery writer par excellence, Mary Jane Clark kicks off her delicious new Wedding Cake mystery series with To Have and To Kill. A tasty departure from her thrillers featuring KEY News television anchor Eliza Blake (Dying for Mercy, It Only Takes a Moment), To Have and To Kill introduces readers to actress-turned-wedding cake decorator Piper Donovan, who discovers that the heat in the pastry kitchen can be hotter--and deadlier--that she ever imagined...and that her creative new enterprise is anything but a piece of cake. Foodies and fans of cable TV's Amazing Wedding Cakes, as well as Faye Kellerman, Jayne Anne Krentz, and Diana Mott Davidson readers are going to eat this one up!

From the Back Cover

A struggling actress with no immediate prospects and a recently broken engagement, Piper Donovan needs to take stock of her life--so she moves back home with her parents in New Jersey and steps tentatively into the family bakery business. Soon she's creating a wedding cake for a friend, the star of a daytime television drama. But someone is ruthlessly determined that this wedding will never happen.

It begins with the horrific murder of the bride-to-be's costar--but a psychopathic wedding-crasher isn't about to stop there. Before Piper knows it, she's joining forces with FBI agent Jack Lombardi--a handsome neighbor with a soft spot for the inquisitive cake maker--to sift through the suspects and find a killer. But Piper's about to discover that it may be a lot hotter in the kitchen than she's able to handle. . . .

Review Quotes

"Clark has perfected the suspense novel . . . in classic Christie fashion." - Booklist
"Impossible to put down." - Library Journal
"Impossible to resist." - Taylor Smith, bestselling author of Deadly Grace and The Innocents Club
Clark's latest rivals Christie's best. Her short, to-the-point chapters, lucid prose, numerous suspects and faceless murderer's creepy monologues keep the suspense at its chilliest level-- and move the story forward at a brisk clip. One of Clark's--and the genre's--best. - Associated Press on Dying for Mercy
"She understands how to hang on to her audience. Her characters are the sorts with whom many readers identify." - USA Today
The number of characters with motive for murder keeps you guessing, and the action-packed short chapters keep the story moving. You'll also learn a little about cake decorating, and there's a sweet surprise at the end. - Library Journal