Alex Erickson: Death by Red Velvet Latte
Bookstore Café #16
Bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock has her hands full. In addition to running her shop (Death by Coffee in Pine Hills, Ohio), she’s preparing for her wedding, and she and her best friend/co-owner Vicki are getting ready to open a second store in California. She’s also dealing with out-of-town guests and trying to find a baker to make her wedding cake.
Krissy and her fiancé Police Officer Paul Dalton have decided on a red velvet wedding cake (and red velvet lattes, as the title suggests), but they have not decided on a baker. They interview two competing local bakers who provide samples and resumes. The next morning when Krissy goes to the bakery to inform the winner, she finds both men dead, apparently after an epic fight that ended in mutual destruction. To make matters worse, just as Krissy picks up a rolling pin spattered with red velvet cake, an assistant baker walks in and assumes Krissy is the murderer.