BooksChatter: ☀ Cakewalk to Murder: The Painted Lady Inn Mysteries [10]

Thank you for joining us on the opening date in the Virtual Book Tour for Cakewalk to Murder, a Cosy Mystery with Recipes by M. K. Scott (12 April 2019, Sleeping Dragon Press, 228 pages).

This is the tenth book in the The Painted Lady Inn Mysteries series and it is on sale for only 0.99!

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and the Kindle Cloud Reader Preview below, as well as full details of the series.

Author M. K. Scott will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), and reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

|| Synopsis || Teaser: KCR Preview || The Series || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

Synopsis

Bake-off fever is in full-swing and Donna can’t help but have visions of becoming the next great baking star, but the competition is stiff, and someone is willing to kill to win.

When one of the contestants is found dead, a twist of fate puts Donna at the center of the competition. That’s the perfect position to unravel the mystery, but only if she doesn’t get caught in the crosshairs.

Teaser: KCR Preview

Some people would kill to be in the local bake-off.
And some did.

Cakewalk to Murder
ONLY 0.99!

The Series: The Painted Lady Inn Mysteries

|| [1] || [2] || [3] || [4] || [5] || [6] || [7] || [8] || [9] ||

Click on the book cover to Look Inside the book on Amazon and read an excerpt.

Murder Mansion [1]

Donna’s dream of running a Victorian Bed and Breakfast is almost a reality. Her lack of inn keeping expertise, a shabby house in need of dire renovation and lack of money has slowed her down a bit.

The murdered man in the upstairs parlor is her biggest obstacle. Less determined people might give up, but not Donna. No killer is going to stop her from serving apple crumb cake to high paying guests.

Her natural skill at the Clue board game, along with the grudging assistance of veteran detective, Mark Taber, an overweight Puggle, and a chatty octogenarian neighbor should help her sniff out the killer unless she’s snuffed out first.

[Published 9 November 2015, 266 pages]

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Drop Dead Handsome [2]

The Painted Lady Inn is open for business and limping along in the B and B world. A high school reunion package assembles Donna’s least desirable classmates, including the backstabbing cheerleader, her narcissistic high school crush, and Arnie, whose cheesy poem had everyone calling her, hot mama. It’s all something she liked to forget. These are the normal guests.

An octogenarian self-proclaimed sleuth, Father Christmas, a dognapping couple, and a pair who is copying everything in the Inn to set up their own competitive establishment rounds out the group. Maria, the sister-in-law, has a matchmaking agenda for Donna. Daniel, her brother, finds himself serving as a referee with one guest’s multiple wives.

High school reunions can be murder. Detective Mark Taber is on the trail of the murderer, when he isn’t interfering in a smitten Arnie’s determined bid to woo the no nonsense innkeeper.

[Published 30 June 2016, 394 pages]

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Killer Review [3]

A ruthless food critic’s appearance in Legacy has all the local chefs on edge, not knowing whom she intends to skewer next. Donna’s chef friend, Janice, begs her to tail the critic, which is a great deal harder than television detectives make it appear.

If that isn’t bad enough, her not so secret crush drops off a troublesome dog just as a dog phobic guest checks in. Donna calls in the cavalry in the form of her mother. Now, that mom’s foot is in the door, she won’t leave and is determined to help Donna with the inn and her love life. The first thing they need to do is find the missing critic, right after their double date.

5-Star Readers' Favorite Pick

[Published 14 October 2016, 198 pages]

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Christmas Calamity [4]

A drive-by murder signals the end of a relaxed Christmas. Donna refuses to accept that organized crime is moving into town, but to do so, she must find the murderer. In the meantime, she needs to host a Victorian tea, pin down a certain detective’s romantic intentions, keep a boozy Santa sober, deal with a cursed clown doll, and hide a hunky underwear model.

It’s just another holiday at The Painted Lady Inn.

[Published 2 November 2016, 227 pages]

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Death Pledges a Sorority [5]

Can a girls’ weekend at The Painted Lady Inn with backstabbing sorority sisters ever end well? Add in a murder mystery game complete with costumes, a demanding diva, and a mysterious midnight visitor.

Strained relationships, lurkers in the dark, open windows in the dead of winter and séance gone wrong is only the beginning. Too bad, the help has gone south leaving Donna dependent on her overzealous mother and a questionable fan.

It’s enough to kill a person.

[Published 24 March 2017, 238 pages]

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Caribbean Catastrophe [6]

Donna needs a getaway, and fast. After some gentle nudging from her best friend Janice, they set sail on the high seas with visions of sipping exotic drinks and relaxing under the sun. But just as Donna begins to unwind, she discovers half the town is coming along for the ride, including her mother, brother, and her very pregnant sister-in-law.

Less than forty-eight hours later, a guest inexplicably plummets to his death, and you-know-who has a whole other case on her hands. So much for fun and sun. Now she must don her sleuth hat and get to work.

Can Donna solve the case in time to enjoy some much-needed R & R?

[Published 5 June 2017, 189 pages]

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Weddings Can Be Murder [7]

Their hearts intent on a private ceremony, Mark and Donna are days away from saying I do. But the discreet location they’ve chosen for the wedding of the decade might not be as private as they initially believed.

The picturesque inn offers more than a quaint backdrop. The accommodations include a covey of eager wedding planners clamoring for the opportunity to assist. Complicating matters even further, meddling family members, nosy guests, and a swarm of Civil War re-enactors are also vying for their attention.

When one of the overzealous wedding planners winds up dead, the soon-to-be-wed duo end up with far more on their plate than a walk down the aisle. They must catch a killer before they can tie the knot.

[Published 30 September 2017, 262 pages]

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The Skeleton Wore Diamonds [8]

The town of Legacy unexpectedly scores a major financial windfall when the regional Gen Conference is relocated to their small burg, but their good fortune is short-lived when one of Donna’s guests dies mere hours after arriving at the inn. And that’s only the beginning of what will turn into a full-fledged disaster as she, Mark, and the uncooperative police commissioner wrangle with a suspicious death, the identity of a human skeleton and a mysterious box that could be the origin to Legacy’s most famous urban legend.

It will take more than a ten-sided die to locate the killer.

[Published 20 March 2018, 207 pages]

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Death of a Honeymoon [9]

Detective Mark Taber and his new bride Donna, an amateur sleuth, are ready to take a much-needed break from crime-solving and finally enjoy their long-awaited honeymoon in the quartz-rich mountains of Arkansas, but unfortunately for them, crime never takes a break.

When their car breaks down at the site of the first murder the county has seen in a century, they find themselves in a bind – no transportation and at the center of an overwhelming firestorm for an overworked sheriff. He needs their help.

Will they temporarily forgo their plans to find a murderer or will the possibility of netting quartz clusters and county fair winning recipes pull them in another direction?

[Published 30 September 2018, 179 pages]

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About the Author

M. K. Scott is the husband and wife writing team behind The Painted Lady Inn Mysteries and The Talking Dog Detective Agency.

Morgan K Wyatt is the general wordsmith, while her husband, Scott, is the grammar hammer and physics specialist. He uses his engineering skills to explain how fast a body falls when pushed over a cliff and various other felonious activities.

The Internet and experts in the field provide forensic information, while the recipes and B and B details require a more hands-on approach. Morgan’s daughter, who manages a hotel, provides guest horror stories to fuel the plot lines.

The couple’s dog, Chance, is the inspiration behind Jasper, Donna’s dog. Overall, both are fun series to create and read.

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