Customer Reviews

Murder By the Slice: A Fresh-Baked Mystery

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

 

 

Reviewed by Janelle Martin

October in Texas means Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) fundraising carnivals at many of the elementary schools. Retired teacher Phyllis Newsom always takes an interest in school happenings, but helping to organize the carnival for Oliver Loving Elementary School wasn't part of her plan. However, when a friend of Carolyn Wilbarger comes to her with a desperate plea for help with the bake sale, Carolyn and Phyllis reluctantly agree to assist.

Carolyn suggests a "healthy snack" contest in addition to the traditional cake auction - an idea quickly approved by the PTO board. In a moment of harmony, Phyllis decides to participate in the auction, leaving Carolyn the baking contest. Peace seems ensured, that is, until the obnoxious head of the PTO sticks her oar in their plans, insisting Phyllis enter the baking contest. Competition is again flowing between Phyllis and Carolyn and disaster seems inevitable, until the PTO chairperson is killed at the carnival and the retirees band together to solve the crime.

Murder by the Slice is the second entry in Livia J. Washburn's "Fresh-Baked Mystery" series. This cozy mystery series is the perfect antidote to the preponderance of blood and gore thrillers currently in vogue. Some may choose to stereotype Washburn's books as "sweet" or "wholesome," however; that does her books a great disservice (although there are lots of descriptions of pastries).

Washburn has created a charismatic group of characters who happen to be seniors, an active diverse bunch, far removed from the stereotype of doddering, helpless "grey-hairs." Phyllis and her friends are useful members of the community, valued for what they contribute, and actively embrace life.

Washburn's avoidance of most obvious stereotypes portends great things for this series. It is this potential therefore, that makes the one pitfall she didn't avoid all the more glaring. The character of Eve is sure to evoke memories of the Golden Girls TV sitcom, a parallel which doesn't do the "Fresh-Baked Mystery" series any service. Phyllis' constant references to Eve as a femme fatale feels out of place and undermines an otherwise fun read.

Several recipes are included at the end of the book. A sample recipe can be found at http://liviawashburn.com/New%20Release.htm

Armchair Interviews says: A nice cozy for a fun read.

In Weatherford, Texas, four members of the Retired Teachers Association sell baked cakes as a scholarship fund raiser. When Loving Elementary School Parent-Teacher organization member Marie Tyler comes by their table, she asks the quartet to help her with the carnival that she is chairing. As Phyllis Newsom is about to say sorry, but too busy, Dolly Williamson says yes that they will help with the food.

The ladies agree to have a food contest but all entries must be healthy. However, as the RTO members meet the PTO leader dictatorial Shannon Dunstan, each wants to say no as the woman is outrageous, nasty, and demanding; Phyllis believes that's her better qualities. Still they honor their commitment, but at the gala, someone kills Shannon using a knife that Phyllis believes is one she used on her cake. Besides her fingerprints, telltale frosting is on Shannon's body. Knowing that she is now the prime suspect, Phyllis begins her own inquiry; only it seems to her that the entire state of Texas loathed the late nasty martinet and alarge segment had the opportunity to kill her but who was willing to actually stab her while facing her remains a mystery.

MURDER BY THE SLICE is A PEACH OF A MURDER due to the retired chick lit asides by the heroine whether she sells cake at Wal-Mart or Loving Elementary or during her investigation. The whodunit is fun and the recipes mouthwatering. Putting aside the assumption that the intelligent retired JHS history teacher would hire an expert investigator, it is her bumbling amateur sleuth antics that cook up a tasty culinary mystery.

Harriet Klausner

I usually like this type of mystery. In fact, the mystery part of this book was pretty good. However, I found myself hating the "heroine", Phyllis, so much, that it was hard to decide who should get murdered, her or the up-coming victim. I could not identify with this charactor at all. And at the end of the book, that's what remained with me more than an adequate solution to the mystery.

If you enjoyed the first book in the series - A Peach of a Murder - then you will definitely enjoy this mystery as well. The same cast of characters are back - Phyllis, Sam, Carolyn, Eve, Mike, and others. Once again, Phyllis and Carolyn enter into a baking competition; they are coming up with baked goods in order to help with a school fundraiser. Phyllis and Carolyn meet with several other parents at the fundraiser who are helping out, including the parent organization's president, Shannon. Shannon is immediately portrayed as an unlikeable character, so it's no surprise when she ends up dead. The mystery of who killed Shannon is actually quite good. I really enjoyed that I wasn't able to guess the murderer. The best part is that the characters are becoming friends of mine - I am enjoying the interactions between them and especially the character of Phyllis. She has a very old-fashioned charm about her and I enjoy her unwillingness to be modern when it comes to certain things (ie children swearing). There are some recipes in the back which look pretty good, and a preview of the author's next book, which I can't wait for! Definitely recommended.

Couldn't get past the first chapter so, therefore, do not recommend this book. Have to return to my favorites, Marsh, Davidson, Kingsbury, Baxter, Connolly, Sweeney, Pickard and Alexander.

So recently I got some good deals on Amazon & Barnes & Noble gift certificates.

So, what did I buy?

Well, books of course!

I decided to try out this new baking/cooking mystery series.

Recently, I reviewed the first book in the series, A Peach of a Murder.

Today I will be reviewing the second:

Murder By The Slice by Livia J. Washburn


As I said, this is the second book in Livia J. Washburn's A Fresh-Baked Mystery series.

You can read my review of the first book A Peach of a Murder, here: [...]

In the second book in the series, Murder By The Slice, we have many of the same characters: Phyllis, Sam, & Carolyn.

Phyllis and Carolyn get roped into helping a local school put on their fall carnival fundraiser. They are in charge of running the bake sale, and decide to do something a little more exciting: a healthy-snack competition that carnival-goers can vote on, and a cake decorating auction.

Of course, once again, Carolyn and Phyllis become competitive with each other as they both want to win the snack competition and raise the most money with their cake being auctioned off.

As the carnival plans progress, Phyllis and Carolyn are forced to work with the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) that usually puts on the event. It wouldn't be so bad except that the president of the PTO, Sharon, is quite a witch, with a capital B. She never has anything nice to say, criticizes everyone, and is generally unpleasant. The other members of the PTO dislike her and Carolyn and Phyllis too are not fans.

The day of the carnival arrives, despite the difficulties of working with Shannon, and just as the cake auction is about to begin a piercing scream disrupts the event, sending the attendees into a panic. The cause of the scream? Sharon Durston was found, dead, with a stab wound, and everyone is a suspect...

Will Phyllis and Sam again be able to solve this mystery? Or will this killer be even more desperate than the last putting their own lives in severe danger?

Read Murder By The Slice to find out!

This was a cute second book in the series. I enjoyed the characters in the first book, and am glad that this book too had the same characters. While some series switch characters each book, this one does not, and Phyllis is very likeable.

I can't say this is my favorite baking mystery series though, but it definitely wonderful for a cute, fast read. If you like baking recipes especially ones with unique recipes this would be a great series for you to try. Also, it hasn't been easy for me to guess the outcome, so I think that aspect of the book is good too. It's almost a bummer when you can guess the culprit from early on!

Also, while not an overwhelming theme in the book, the characters are Christian making this a Christian baking series.

Chances are I will read the next book in the series because it is enjoyable, but I won't be going out of my way to buy the next book immediately since there are some other things I would prefer to read first.

3.5 out of 5 stars. Liked it, but not the most amazing series I've read.

I discovered cozy murder mysteries relatively recently, and they're perfect for reading on a cold dark winters' night, wrapped in a blanket, warmed by a cup of hot cocoa perhaps. Murder by the Slice by Livia J. Washburn is set around Halloween, so perhaps some seasonal cookies or cake would help too--a slice of jack-o-lantern cake perhaps, with orange and green frosting. The author provides some interesting recipes in the back of the book, and her decorated cake reminded me of days when I used to produce strange edible objects for sons' birthday parties. Of course, the characters in this novel are more likely to produce cakes for grandsons. Their children are grown, including one who's a cop. And their cakes are well-planned, well-rehearsed, while the characters even solve murder mysteries on the side.

Actually, I'd never thought of practicing, before producing birthday cake, which may explain a lot. I hope never to practice solving solving a real murder, but Phyllis does an excellent job in her second case. Following her path through celebration and school, parent-teacher-organization and clues, makes for a really enjoyable evening's read.

There are people in this novel you'll imagine you've already met, situations you're bound to have seen, and children struggling to cope with their parents' vagaries. There's a dead body, multiple suspicious characters, a hint of romance and competition, and, of course, there's cake and a knife to cut it with.
I picked this book up for the title and really enjoyed it, so now I'll have to look out for more.

Disclosure: I bought this book second-hand from a local store to add to my cozies collection.

I purchased Murder by the slice after reading about it on the back of the book. I am partial to female detectives or who-done-its. This book really kept mt attention. It is one of those books that grab you and you have to know who did it AND how. Really good book. I have already located at least 2 other books written by the same author. Really good vacation reading material,

Weatherford, TX, widow/baker/retired schoolteacher Phyllis Newsom wasn't planning on making a career out of helping the police solve murders, and would have been just as well content never to get involved in another one after the events of A Peach of a Murder: A Fresh-Baked Mystery. She also wasn't planning to get involved in the fund-raising efforts of the Oliver J. Loving Elementary School's Parent-Teacher Organization--after all, her son Mike is grown up with a child of his own. But Dolly Williamson, the retired superintendent of Parker County's schools, somehow hooks her into it, and that precipitates Phyllis into another murder case when PTO President Shannon Dunston--who is perhaps best described as a witch-with-a-b--is found stabbed to death in a back corridor of the school during the fall carnival. Not only does the murder weapon seem to be a knife brought onto the premises by Phyllis to cut the pumpkin bundt cake she has entered in the baking contest, but Phyllis finds "theories and questions" whirling dizzily through her mind. Shannon may have been having an affair--did the man kill her? Did his wife find out and do the dirty deed? Did her ex-husband, who still speaks of her as "my wife," go berserk when he learned he'd been supplanted? Did one of the tyrannized PTO members finally snap? Did her 20-something son, with whom she was seen to quarrel not long before she was found, have something to do with the crime? Or was she simply murdered because she saw someone making off with the box of carnival earnings, a crime of which the sheriff's office suspects an ex-con custodian? Phyllis finds herself angry that Shannon will never "have the opportunity for things to get better" in her stressful life, and decides that "sometimes...it [takes] a little meddling to set things right." So she keeps mum about some of the things she knows, and once again launches her own under-the-radar investigation, assisted by her boarder, retired basketball coach Sam Fletcher. This small-town cozy, full of atmosphere, distinctive characters, and tasty food, is well up to the standard set by its predecessor and definitely worth your time.

While the plot of this novel is adequate, I found the style very boring. As with some other series, the author has featured recipes at the end of the book, and during the course of the novel the protagonist is involved in cooking. However, segments where two or three pages are devoted to the steps in baking a cake only detracted from the story. It sounded more like a high school essay on how to do this process. There are many others who write in this genre more successfully (i.e. Diane Mott Davidson, Joanne Fluke). I also found the characters somewhat annoying and one-dimensional. The author felt a need to explain why the characters were acting as they were, instead of letting their actions speak for themselves.