Cupcakes, Lies and Dead Guys by Pamela DuMond

Cupcake, Lies and Dead Guys

By Pamela DuMond

Book Blurb:
Moving from Wisconsin to sunny Los Angeles was the frosting on the cake of Annie Graceland’s perfect life. Her boutique bakery business was blossoming, she was happily married to a handsome, ambitious actor, and they were planning to have a baby. Besides her derelict friends, the only thing that got Annie in serious trouble was her smidge of psychic ability: feeling other people’s sensations in her own body. She hated experiencing someone else’s peanut butter addiction, foot fetish, or murderous rage. Thank God, her psychic curse only kicked in when she was stressed. When Annie discovers her husband is possibly cheating with oh-so-famous, self-help author, Dr. Fuller. Fuller ends up dead, poisoned with one of Annie’s signature cupcakes, and she becomes a prime murder suspect.

When the not-so-good Doctor’s ghost doesn’t pass to the After-Life and is stuck on earth, Fuller decides to recruit, (aka, haunt), a live personal assistant to investigate and bring his killer to justice. Who better to help than Annie? Now Annie is not only stuck with the most irritating ghost in the world, but is forced to spy on, and infiltrate the lives of Hollywood’s elite; the motley crew of suspects who wanted Fuller dead. Was it the porn star, the trophy wife, the talent manager, the personal trainer? Will Annie survive the L.A. whackos who wanted Fuller dead before she is whacked by the real killer.

Cupcakes, Lies and Dead Guys. What a super catchy book title. Kudos to debut author Pamela DuMond for pulling the title out of the plot bunnies in her book. It’s a very catchy title and probably what prompted me to “Click to Buy” from Amazon. For only $2.99, I think that Cupcakes, Lies and Dead Guys was a great read.

I was up and down liking Cupcakes, Lies and Dead Guys. One moment I loved it and I was saving quotes and the next I was quickly skipping by. The “recipes” at the end of each chapter became a sure thing to skip past.  Here’s one of the quotes I saved when the heroine was at a doctors appt. “He picked up a ginormous speculum that looked alarmingly like a .44, and headed towards her hoo-hah.”

There were other quirky lines like, “Oddly enough, it had style, it had flare. If this was the eighties, it would’ve had big hair.”

Sometimes I found myself confused with the sentence structure and ended up backing up and starting over. I normally just look past those things when it happens every now and then but I found myself doing that a lot so I am making a mention of it. I was trying to get my bearings in the book. One moment Annie was in the kitchen and then next sentence the author was then describing what disguise her friend was wearing. That’s after I figured out that it was her friend that I was now reading about. A little more experience in writing and a good editor should take care of those situations in future books. I do predict that there will be future books.

I think that Pamela DuMond created a cute little series that scores of fans will stay dedicated too. Annie is a likeable character and the obnoxious dead guy Derrick Fuller had enough personality that when he was supposedly moving off to the afterlife, I was sad to see him go.

As for the mystery aspect of the book. I had no idea “whodunnit” and was pleased that I never guessed. After now knowing “whodunit” I really appreciate the clever hints that were placed throughout the book. Great plotting by the author.