Customer Reviews

Dead Pan

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Looking at the photographs fromt he Oklahoma Sugar Art Show started me thinking. I needed to work on my fondant figures in addition to my painting. I decided to start with the figure molding. My nerves needed the distraction." -- From Dead Pan

The breezy second installment of the Daphne Martin cake decorating mystery series, Dead Pan cooks up a delightful culinary cozy mystery that is arguably even better than the first scrumptious book, Murder Takes the Cake.

Dead Pan features some of the quirky, memorable charcters from the first book (e.g. Myra, China York, Belinda Fremont and her award-winning guinea pigs, etc.) and introduces some new ones.

In this installment, brain-damaged Fred Duncan gets violently ill at the Brea Ridge Pharmaceuticals Christmas party along with dozens of others; a doctor in attendance just happened to have a vaccine on hand that counteracts the Campylobacter bacteria--curing everyone except for poor Fred, who ends up dead.

Was the breakout mere coincidence? Or did someone have murder on their mind?

Nosy but likable cake-decorator Daphne Martin finds herself once again in the middle of a police investigation, much to the dismay of her sister, Violet.

I ate up Dead Pan and loved every bite. I can't remember being this entertained and delighted with a cozy series--the first installments of the Coffeehouse Mysteries, maybe?

It was interesting how the author incorporated dialogue between Daphne and real-life Food Network judge and sugar artist, Kerry Vincent. I knew who Vincent was, so her "cameo" was a pleasant surprise (although I'm not sure how Ms. Vincent would feel about being fictionally inserted into a mystery!).

I can tell you this: I'm very much looking forward to reading book 3 in the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating series, Killer Sweet Tooth, which is supposed to come out sometime in 2010. Author Gayle Trent has a knack for creating fun characters, believable dialogue and gentle mysteries, and I'm thrilled I discovered her and the Daphne Martin culinary cozy mystery series!

-- Janet Boyer, author of Back in Time Tarot

The second book in the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating Mysteries puts Daphne into the uncomfortable situation of investigating the death of an acquaintance. She'd been at the hospital visiting when Fred passed away and his mother begs Daphne for help since she has experience at this type of thing. Of course her own family would prefer that she stayed out of it. More than this initial mystery is solved in this story.

A large part of the story is built around Daphne's business of making and decorating both cake and candy. At first the step by step process for making a gum-paste character seemed a little much, but I began to appreciate some of the ideas and instructions provided in the story as other things were made.

The mystery itself was well done. Information is gathered in a fairly relaxed manner as Daphne goes about doing other things while taking time to ask questions. We're given a number of possibilities but the protagonist isn't easy to guess before the author decides it's time.

I found it a light, enjoyable read.

I never thought I'd write a bad review, but this book didn't have much of anything going for it except the recipes included. There was a storyline, but it never really developed. All of a sudden, case solved! Huh? There was no sleuthing, no wondering "who done it?" There was really a whole lot of nothing.

Ms. Trent's first book, or at least the first I read, Dead Pan, was a delight and I was looking forward to this one. So much so that I had it on pre-order, at full price (big mistake), and was so incredibly disappointed, that I can honestly say, if you get it free, by all means read it, but don't spend more than $0.99 cents for it. I spent the requisite $9.99 and could kick myself for that now, but as I said, the first one was really good, so one would assume subsequent reads would be as well written, with a storyline and actual sleuthing and case solving, that you're willing to pay the price. Not so with this one; it seems that nothing really happaned, and as I said, all of a sudden, poof, it's over and the culprit is caught and the main character didn't have anything really to do with it.

There was no "case building" or character building, so it left you with not really "knowing" the characters, their personalities, their problems, etc. Don't waste your time; big disappointment; not worth the money; drags; not well written. Sorry, Ms. Trent - thank you for reading my review. I would have rated this 1-1/2 stars, but I don't know how to do half stars :-)

Like many of the other reviewers, I downloaded Ms. Trent's first book "Murder Takes the Cake" for free. That book, while somewhat predictable, was a good read. I especially found it interesting since I am a amateur cake decorator. She's pretty dead on in her descriptions in that department.

However, when I purchased the second book, I have to say I was sorely disappointed. For one thing, the book was entirely too short. When I downloaded it and looked at the book from my home screen I noticed that it was going to be much shorter than her first book. I was surprised and a little miffed that I paid almost $10 for a book nearly half the size of the free one. As I began to read the book, I noticed frequent errors in the text (much more than the first book - though that one did have a fair amount) and the formatting on this book was really bad. There were multiple times that the text was to the far right of the screen (almost as if there should be a picture on the left) and an instance where there were only a few words a line (so it pretty much when in a straight line down the right of the screen).

I could have easily overlooked the formatting issues if the story line would have been better. When it ended, I was shocked. It really felt like this book was thrown together without much development. I didn't expect a complex storyline, but I did think that there were multiple questions that were left unanswered. I also thought that there many things that were almost painstakenly pointed out (such as the doctor's hippie, yet skittish wife) were going to go somewhere. Instead, they were just dropped. I do understand that there is a series here but there were just too many things that were left undone. The end ended abruptly and in an odd place. It was so strange that I when I read "The End" I thought that there was a mistake and I had to look at the last few paragraphs again. I was very disoriented by it.

I'm on the fence about whether or not I'll get the next book.

Ultimately, I was displeased with this book. If you take out the detail given to baking the cakes, the book would be incredibly short. Great detail was given to develop the story while the solving of the crime was summed up in 3 or 4 pages. Many loose ends were left untied upon the conclusion of the book. What ultimately killed Fred? Why did Daphne's uncle warn her to stay away from Ben? Also, several characters had no real purpose for being in the story. What was the point of reintroducing Belinda Freemont and her guinea pigs? Why was the Sav-A-Buc store manager's brother even mentioned? I think that this book should have been free instead of Murder Takes The Cake. It wasn't worth the $9.99, especially since the last 25% of the book was recipes and excerpts from other books. If I wanted dessert recipes, I would have purchased a cookbook.

I read the first book, Murder takes the Cake, I received it free on my kindle. Loved the book, as soon as I was done reading it, ordered this book to my kindle and happily paid $9.99. The book was good, but abruptly ended, leaving, I think, some loose ends. It ended at 70% on my kindle, the remainder of the book was recipes. I flipped through the remaining pages, thinking there must be more. I then checked on here to see if anyone else felt that way. I think offering free downloads for new authors is a great idea, I read two books that i probably would never have...but I feel a little ripped off.

Loved the storyline and the characters very much, even the persnickety customer with the strange request. I am looking forward to the future books in this series. Job well done!

I am a fan of entertaining and intriguing mysteries and author Gayle Trent does not disappoint with Dead Pan, the second installment in her "cake decorating" series.

Heroine Daphne Martin returns and is the cake decorator of the series title. She is spunky, fearless and seemingly in the wrong place at the wrong time, leading her into part-time sleuthing duties after the unfortunate Fred Duncan dies after attending a party that featured one of Daphne's prized cakes. A party in which a handful of people fall ill after feasting on Daphne's luscious dessert.

I did not have the luxury of reading the first book in the series, Murder Takes the Cake, but I was easily acquainted with Daphne and her menagerie of family and friends in her town of Brea Ridge, including her disapproving sister Violet, neighbor Belinda and her award winning guinea pigs and Daphne's boyfriend Ben.

Ms. Trent's writing style is light and breezy, the perfect description of Dead Pan. It is far and away more entertaining than suspenseful and thrilling; do not expect Agatha Christie or the like. I figured out "whodunnit" before the big reveal but it did not spoil my overall enjoyment of the book.

The only downside to Dead Pan might be the excessive cake decorating details. I found them interesting, if a bit repetitive by the end. Other readers who care not about cake decorating might find the descriptions tedious. The baker at heart will appreciate the recipes included in the book.

For diehard mystery fans, Dead Pan might fall short of expectations. For cozy mystery lovers, Dead Pan should happily fit the bill.

I REALLY LOVE GAYLE TRENTS BOOKS. IF YOUR LOOKING FOR A COMFY CULINARY MYSTERY, I RECCOMMEND HER BOOKS. CAN'T FOR MORE!!!!!!!!

I enjoyed this 2nd book just as much as the first. It was nice to see more of Daphne and Ben and a few new characters at that. Daphne tires not to get involved in the recent case of a death of a friend, but she can't help herself. The recipes are worth the read as well for some yummy sweets.