When Lexy Baker meets her handsome Policeman neighbour late one night it’s not the stuff all dreams are made of. Her dog, Sprinkles, has escaped into the neighbours yard for a night time toilet stop and there’s Lexy, in her pyjama’s trying to squeeze through a hole in a fence.

The second time she meets her sexy neighbour Jack, he’s accusing her of murdering her cheating ex-boyfriend with poisoned cup cake tops.

Killer Cupcakes is the first in the Lexy Baker Mystery Series, a cozy mystery set in  small town USA and starring a small town baker.

This was an entertaining read. While the first book of any series can be difficult, the characters have just enough quirks to keep the reader engaged. The star of this book is definitely the variety of characters.

Lexy, her baking assistant Cassie, sexy cop neighbour Jack and my favourite, Nans.

Nans has moved into  retirement complex to be closer to her friends, and they’ve set themselves up as the Ladies Detective Club, paying close attention the various murders and death’s in the news in the attempt to solve the murder before the Police do.

Nans and her Ladies Detective Club have so much scope for use in the various Lexy Baker novels. The image of a bunch of blue haired old ladies on iPads pouring over the backgrounds of various murder victims is ripe for humour. When Lexy arrives to inform Nans that her ex Kevin is dead, the Ladies get together to see what they can find out.

Overall, the characters are enjoyable but not overly utilised or rounded out. Introducing us to a new world of murder and mayhem probably was the main reason for the flat characterisations. I hope in future books we get to see more of Cassie. Her character has potential but was pretty under-utilised all truth to be told.

The killer in the book was slightly predictable but I think only because we only met the killer twice, yet there was so much “telling” by Lexy to other people about him.

While it definitely didn’t deter from the enjoyment of the book I would have liked it to contain a few more red herrings, and maybe some misdirection along the way. Predictability isn’t a bad thing in a cozy mystery but this story had so much more scope for excitement.

If you’re looking for a light murder mystery that keeps you entertained, Killer Cupcakes could be just what you’re looking for, for a cold night in front of the fire, or a packed commuter train on the way to work.

Killer Cupcakes by Leighann Dobbs is available from Amazon.