Killer Crab Cakes: A Fresh-Baked Mystery by Livia J. Washburn

Livia J. Washburn is the pseudonym of an author who lives with her husband and two daughters in Azle, Texas. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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When Phyllis Newsom agrees to oversee her cousin's bed and breakfast for a couple of weeks due to a family emergency, she decides to use the opportunity as a getaway and to enter the local Just Desserts competition in nearby Rockport, Texas. Accompanied by several friends, including her boyfriend, Sam, and Carolyn, her chief rival in local cooking competitions, Phyllis enjoys her time near the Gulf Coast. That is, until the death of one of the guests turns into murder. She trys to stay out of the way figuring she has had enough of murder investigations in her hometown. However, when a second guest is killed, Phyllis decides to jump into the investigation in spite of the opposition from the local Chief of Police. After all, her cousin's livelihood is at stake. Killer Crab Cakes by Livia J. Washburn is an interesting cozy mystery set in SE Texas. Washburn follows the genre formula with ease, including mixing murder and mayhem with subtle humor. She manages to keep the killer a secret until near the end, although looking back one can see an occasional clue or two. As with most cozy's that have a food-related theme, there are a good number of recipes gathered together at the end of the book. This is the fourth Fresh-Baked Murder mystery, and it is a good one. Previous investigations are alluded to, and readers who read this book first may want to go back to the beginning to understand the relationships. Otherwise, Killer Crab Cakes is entertaining and worth the read.