The Wedding Cake Murder (The Arizona Summers Mysteries) Paperback – November 15, 2019

Really enjoyed this book.... looking forward to the next one !!! And the next one ! And the next one !

I had quite a difficult time writing this review for Susan Keene’s THE WEDDING CAKE MYSTERY, the first installment in her Arizona Summers Mystery series. On the one hand, Keene has created an interesting, quirky heroine in her lead character. Arizona Summers is high-spirited, considerate and mostly credible leading lady and the author’s choice of first person POV fits the tale and the character well. Keene surrounds Arizona with a sufficient number of supporting characters, though I must admit I had trouble keeping a few apart. I also like her portrayal of the emerging relationship between Arizona and Chief Keith Wesley, but I never understood Keith rationale for his initial hostile approach to Arizona. And I have to agree with other reviewers, Nutmeg stole the scenes, even if the dog’s abilities stretch the credibility of what any pet is capable of doing. (I suspect that was the author’s point and a good one). Her writing also exhibited considerable knowledge of the details of running a small mom-and-pop (or in this case mom and daughter) restaurant in a tourist town and the restaurant and town work well as a setting for a charming cozy. But like several other reviewers, my reading was constantly bothered, interrupted and frustrated by a surprising number of basic editing mistakes. Although even professionally edited and published manuscripts have been found to have a few errors, the mistakes in Keene’s work go beyond any I have read. Decades ago, I began my professional life as a high school English teacher and habits learned then have been hard to break. In perusing Keene’s work, I had to withhold my impulse to red-pencil items as I read. On nearly every page, my reading was stopped by the simplest of errors—missing commas, missing or misplaced quotation marks, and spelling or typographical errors. Several pages had basic formatting errors such as inconsistent bolding in chapter titles and forgetting to indent a new paragraph, particularly challenging when it was needed to signal a new speaker. A professional edit would also have strengthened and added clarity to the author’s descriptive passages. As I mentioned, the restaurant details Keene includes in the narrative are plentiful, though at times they read more like stage directions than elements and pieces necessary for the story. THE WEDDING CAKE MURDERS shows good possibility as a cozy mystery, though one marred by far too many errors.

This was recently a freebie, and it sounded like a fun read. I really enjoyed the main characters a lot, although I didn't really like Ary's mother. I thought it was pretty weird that her mom (Emma) had only adopted her to take over the diner. But Aunt Sandy more than made up for the lack of mothering that Emma did. I loved that Sandy was more like a sister and best friend to Ary than just an aunt. Ary had a really rocky start with the new police chief, but I knew that would be temporary. ;) I think my favorite character was Nutmeg, the dog who sort of adopted Ary and acted like a watchdog who could sense things that were wrong. I hope no one ever comes to claim Nutmeg, because it's like she found Ary and is sticking to her like glue!I was stumped on who the killer was until the clues started coming in. The showdown was really good, and Nutmeg once again got to shine. I'm interested enough in the characters to read the next book whenever it happens to come along.

An interesting setting and unusual sleuthing buddy get good reviews from me. I also liked the fact that the new police chief wasn't an immediate romantic attraction for our beanpole, carrot-topped leading lady. Really, all the main characters were interesting individually and collectively.My biggest complaint is the book doesn't seem to have the benefit of a good editor or proof reader. Punctuation errors, spoken thoughts with out clearly identifying exactly who is speaking, and abrupt, disjunct thoughts are just a few of the repeated offenses that ruined it for me.The murder mystery was handled well, with plenty of ambiguous clues and red herrings. I would have easily given it another one (maybe even one and a half stars) if it had been proof read and cleaned up. I would love to read more in the series, however that will be unlikely due to the errors.

The plot was good however the writing/ editing was poor. It was hard to follow. The book jumped from one scene to another with little to no transition at times. I really wanted to love the series but I will not read anymore of them.

Author kept me guessing till the end. However I still didn't figure out why nutmeg is so intuitive, guess it's another mystery to unravel

Susan Keene’s book was fun to read. The Wedding Cake Murder was a hoot. The ending surprised me-SPOILER ALERT- because I figured there were red herrings. Although I agree with the reviewers who complained about the lack of proofreading and editing, I don’t think they should have given this book less stars because of that. I don’t think an author is responsible to hire a proofreader to correct mistakes. Ari was a likable and interesting character.

Normally I go in for science fiction or police procedurals, but after a hard day at work where I'm berated by customers and my supervisor, I'm in the mood for something lighter. Exactly like this book. It's a good read. The characters are likeable and the plot is just complicated enough. Not too obvious or not too complicated. The only reason I'm not giving this book a 5 is that I found the discovery of the final clue rather hard to swallow. That said I do recommend this book. Come home from work, kick off your shoes, brew up a cup of tea, and enjoy the read

A terrific first book. A wonderful plot of murder and karma coming together, although I must admit that the culprit was a bit of a weak choice. The characters revolve around a strong heroine who might look as if you should be a pushover but certainly isn't. A sharp also laser like attention to detail and a curiosity that would make a cat proud. The rest are proud, but slightly too focused on their own desires but this is what makes them feel more human as we read the book. I must admit that Nutmeg is proving to be a bit of an enigma - she is almost too human for a dog.The murder of the hoitytoity, obnoxious and aggressive mother of the groom has rocked their small community. She was supposed to have been back in Boston, so why did she find her body in the lake. Her actions had already alienated all the vendors for the wedding as well as some of the locals. A new Chief (with a bombastic attitude), a stray dog, missing funds from a Foundation and her insatiable curiosity that have left her attacked and hurt. Will they work out who and why? Where did Nutmeg come from? Will she and the Chief ever make peace?

This book gripped me from the start till the end. I thought I knew who did it then changed my mind. It was so good I couldn’t put the book down then upset when I saw “the end” I didn’t want it to stop there. Thanks for writing such a gripping book. Now I want the next part if there is one.Edith