Daphne Martin is a cake designer and owner of Daphne's Delectable Cakes. One night, she has her friend Myra over for a hot night of Scrabble fun, but when Daphne's cashew brittle causes Myra's filling to come out, an emergency call to the dentist is in order. Dr. Bainsworth accommodates Myra and arranges to meet the ladies at his office shortly, but when they get there, they find only his dead body. Since the Brea Ridge police arrive to find the the women standing over the dentist wielding an oversized toothbrush and a giant model of a molar (they thought they heard someone else in the office after they discovered the body), they quickly become suspects in Dr. Bainsworth's death.

Daphne finally gets home in the wee hours of the morning (and after being questioned by the police for hours), only to find what appears to be Elvis Presley meeting her at her house. Apparently, the E.I.E.I.O. (Elvis Impersonators' Evangelical Interdenominational Outreach) is meeting in Brea Ridge for the next few days, and they would like Daphne to make a few cakes for them. However, Daphne's boyfriend Ben is suspicious of E.I.E.I.O. and their motives. Do they really just want cakes made, and are they really just a missionary group? Or are they a front for something more sinister?

His questions take on more meaning when Daphne and Myra begin snooping around and discover that the cashier at a gas station near Dr. Bainsworth's office saw an Elvis impersonator around the time of the murder, and he had blood on the sleeve of his jacket. Not only that, but Scottie (the impersonator who actually hired Daphne) has become uncomfortably close to Daphne -- he drops by unannounced, he begins placing lunch orders, and he performs a routine with Daphne that leaves Ben storming out of the room. Could Scottie be doing all of this just to throw Daphne off the trail of either just him or all of the impersonators?

This was a cute, fun mystery, although Myra's character got a bit tedious at times. She was a little overbearing to the point of nearly being a caricature. And Ben was nearly so insecure for my liking that I wanted Daphne to play the field a bit. But I really liked Daphne's character -- she's clearly smart, thoughtful, and creative. It wasn't a stretch to see her trying to solve her own mystery or run her own business. I will definitely read at least one more book in this series.

Book Summary

They say sugar is bad for your teeth, but can it actually kill you? The Brea Ridge police seem to think so when they find cake decorator Daphne Martin wielding an oversized plastic toothbrush over a dentist’s dead body. Daphne moved back to her small Virginia hometown just months ago to open her Daphne’s Delectable Cakes business and already she’s been mixed up in murder. Now she’s got to prove her sweet innocence again.

After hours of police questioning, Daphne returns home to find Elvis Presley in her driveway. She’s certain she’s hallucinating until the leather-clad hunk orders up a pink Cadillac cake for a convention of the Elvis impersonators. Daphne accepts, but her reporter-boyfriend Ben is suspicious of Elvis’s intentions. Does the King want to make Daphne his confectionery queen? Or is the convention a ruse for a more sinister operation? Daphne’s own investigation into Dr. Bainsworth’s murder, meanwhile, reveals the dentist made as many enemies as he did fillings. Just about anyone could have done him in, but it’s up to Daphne to find the killer—and finish Elvis’s cake—before she’s the one singing “Jailhouse Rock.”