Sophia has been living the dream as a pastry chef in NYC at a top restaurant, but that dream ends when she finds her boyfriend with another woman, Returning home to Kentucky for some southern comfort from her family, Sophia finds that in the ten years she'd been gone, so many things have changed--and so many have stayed the same. Falling back in with her besties from High School, she agrees to make the wedding cake for her friend Charlotte's wedding. While scouting out the kitchen at the local Country Club, Sophia finds the head chef dead. Not wanting anything to spoil Charlotte's big day, Sophie hunts for a killer.
I absolutely loved this book. The characters were just eccentric enough, but not overboard, the mystery is twisty and well thought out, and there is the potential for some romance in the future. I cannot wait to read more in this series!

In this new series it oozes with southern charm and characters that jump off the pages. The author is amazing in her writing technique. She gives readers the perfect story that captures your attention right away. Sophia is a delightful woman who finds herself moving back home to Kentucky. It sounds so beautiful there that it has been added to my bucket list. Sophia had her life planned out. She was a pastry chef at a very prestigious place. She was in love and the world was perfect. You know how you think you have the perfect life and then reality hits you in the face? That happened to Sophia and now she finds herself back home.

Her visit home takes a detour when she finds herself making a wedding cake for her old friend. It seems that someone has decided to murder the chef that was helping with the wedding. I loved the reference to the iron skillet. Everyone knows it has to be seasoned before you can use it. Not everyone knew because a brand new skillet laying beside a dead body spells murder weapon to me. It's a shame when someone dies, people start saying how much they were disliked. What would chef Emile think if he heard the nasty things said about him?

With sayings like, "That woman doesn't have all her chairs in the parlor, " the book is fun and full of southern talk that makes you feel right at home. There are several suspects that look promising for the murder. Will the wedding take place? I know the bride is worried about her perfect day being ruined but really a murder kinda takes a bit more importance . Poor Charlotte sees her dream wedding falling apart and I felt sorry for her. I have to say Bitsy who is Sophia's mother is wacky. She made me laugh more than any other character. She is the perfect southern woman with etiquette dripping off her. I think I would enjoy watching her work a room. You can't help but like her even though she is a bit dramatic at times.

I enjoyed the story very much and wait till you find out who the killer is. Big surprises await readers in this first in a new series. The author is amazing and writes stories that always entertains and leaves readers anxious for more.

I received a copy of this book from The Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. The review is my own opinion.

Cake and Punishment is one if the best start to a new series, I have read in a while. It has great southern charm and characters. This is definitely a must read and I can't wait for the next book

Broken-hearted pastry chef Sophia Cumming has left her New York City job to come home to Rumford, Kentucky after catching her boyfriend chef Noah with their restaurant’s maître d’. Sophia's high school friend Charlotte Harrington needs a cake for her wedding which is taking place four days later at the Rumford Country Club (RCC). When Sophia goes to check out the RCC kitchen, she finds chef Emile dead on the floor. A gleaming new skillet is found nearby. Sophia tells Sheriff Carter Kincaid that Southern cooks do not use unseasoned skillets and that the killer did not know much about cooking. Carter ignores Sophia’s sleuthing until someone tries to run her over and leaves a threatening note to back off. Sophia is determined to find the killer and ensure that Charlotte’s dream wedding will happen as planned.

This was a fun read and good debut in the Southern Cake Baker mystery series.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

Cake & Punishment is the first book in the new Southern Cake Baker mystery series by Maymee Bell.

The premise: Sophia Cummings returns home to Kentucky after a disastrous break up to mend her broken heart. I was excited to read this because I love almost all cozy’s set in the south, and it culinary cozy to boot! I figured it was a shoe in, but it fell just a bit short for me. I loved the setting, and the mystery itself was good, but the characters seemed a bit under developed. I never found myself liking any particular character , as I usually do in a cozy.
Will check out the next book to see how things progress, as I reall liked the idea of the book.

I received an ARC from Netgalley the opinions are my own

Cake & Punishment by Maymee Bell is coming out in May, published by Crooked Lane Books and it made me Ugly Cry! I loved this book. Maymee Bell has set up a truly wonderful southern cozy town in Kentucky and in a great cozy way. I love the way she wrote this book and the setting for main character Sophia to come home too. While some of the book is set up so you know and hope what is going to happen, the mystery and murderer actually caught me off guard. I found that I was so involved in how the wedding was going to get off the ground, kept me perfectly distracted from the clues Maymee gave of the Killer!
It was so easy to picture the town and the homes that are described in the story as well as the country club. I truly enjoyed this mystery and cannot wait to see what happens in the next one. This book actually made me feel like yes sometimes you can truly go home again. Great first in series Maymee Bell you have a reader in me!

Maymee Bell's Cake and Punishment is the first in a new cozy mystery series and is a light and easy read. Sophia Cummings, pastry chef extraordinaire, returns home to small town Kentucky for a break after she discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her. One of her friends is about to get married, and Sophia agrees to bake her wedding cake. While looking at the country club kitchen, she discovers the body of the head chef. Sophia quickly gets involved in solving the murder while baking delicious treats for Rumford residents.

This is a quick and light hearted read - the setting and many of the characters are delightful. The mystery moves along at a good pace, although I did find it a bit predictable. While this is a promising start to a great southern cozy mystery series, it did lack a little bit of substance and detail, which I was looking for to set it apart from other cozies.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Publishers and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for review.

There are so many things to love about this new cozy mystery series, and since this is the first book, I’m happy I actually started at the beginning this time.

The story unfolds at a nice pace—the author, Maymee Bell, did a great job of making this light-hearted, and yet serious at the same time. I don’t know whether Maymee used well-known-to-Southerners colloquial expressions or made them up herself, but I loved this fun addition to the book! Some of my favorite lines were: “That woman doesn’t have all her chairs in the parlor”; “Sometimes Emilie acted crazier than a sprayed roach”; and “I’d seen Charlotte Harrington get a burr in her saddle, and it wasn’t one bit pretty”.

I get a very good sense that the women are true southern belles and most of the men are gentlemen. (I’d love to see more of this behavior where I live.) The characterization is excellent. I really liked the main character, Sophia and her loose-lipped mom. They were quite a pair. Sophia’s friends also were a nice addition to the book. In the end, the mystery wraps up nicely.

If you like cozy mysteries, this is definitely one of the best!

A delicious start to a new series full of southern spunk and sass.
After a broken heart sends Sophia Cummings running home to her Bitsy, her mama, she reconnects with friends from high school and agrees to bake the most spectacular wedding cake the small town of Rumford, Kentucky has ever tasted. An unfortunate occurence of wrong time and place have Sophia at the discovery of a body and her old employer set up to take the fall for murder. To add insult to the batter and sour her home visit, the man who caused Sophia's heartbreak arrives to replace the dead chef!

Delightful characters, delectible southern banter, I guarantee you'll pick up a few new phrases for your own use, and an unpredictable future for Sophia are all on the menu. Will the wedding go on as planned or is it truly cursed? Can you go home again and survive?

Included in the reading and at the end are amazing recipes you must try yourself and share with family and friends. This is a full five star read and taste!

Incredible start to a brand new series. We get to follow Sofia as returns home to Kentucky after being cheated on in order to heal. She just happens to get wrap up in a murder while shes there. I was loving the Southern charm and all the coming she does to distress herself. It kept making me hungry even while we learned more about the murder. Add some colorful characters and you end up with a cozy mystery that you won't be able to put down. A must read for fans of culinary cozy mysteries. I absolutely loved it so I give it 5/5 stars.

Cake and Punishment is the debut book in Maymee Bell’s (Maymee Bell is author Tonya Kappes) Southern Cake Baker Mystery series. I read an ARC of this book for review and my opinion is my own.
Tonya Kappes ( Maymee Bell) has a writing style to her books that flows in a pleasing pace for the reader. The characters are well developed and full of Southern charm throughout. The author is very talented in creating a perfect Southern small town and community of of neighbors. The mystery is well plotted and has a variety of twist and turns before the surprising conclusion.
I loved the story of a Sophia Cummings, a pastry chef who returned to her Southern home to start over. She has agreed to craft the perfect cake for an old friend’s wedding while finding the suspects in a murder that occurred. She could not resist being involved much to the chagrin of the local police. Sophia Cummings is a talented protagonist and soon in the midst of finding multiple suspects. She proves to be as talented a detective as she is a pastry chef.
This story is Southern perfection with a dish of the perfect mystery served Southern style.. I loved it and look forward to further books in the series.

Cake and Punishment by Maymee Bell, aka Tonya Kappes, is the 1st book in A Southern Cake Baker Mystery series, and it is wonderful. Sophia Cummings works as a pastry chef in New York City, but when she catches her boyfriend, a chef, with their co-worker she goes back home to Rumford, Kentucky to regroup. When her friend Charlotte from high school needs someone to make her wedding cake she agrees. When the head chef for the wedding is found dead, Sophia rushes to find the killer. I strongly recommend this book. This book is a quick read, that I could not put down. I am anxiously waiting the next adventure for Sophia.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Bucolic Rumford, Kentucky has glowing fields of bluegrass, a fine selection of bourbons, and now a professional pastry chef. Broken-hearted Sophia Cummings has come home from New York City. She’s not there a minute before she’s charmed into making her high school friend Charlotte’s wedding cake. The kitchen at the Rumford Country Club seems perfect until Chef Emile’s body is discovered, sprawled near the stove, a cast iron skillet on the floor.

With one look at the shiny, new frying pan, Sophia knows it’s not Emile’s. She offers her knowledge to Sheriff Carter and her talents to Evelyn, the manager who needs an interim chef. The mood in the country club is grim: Emile’s peppery personality had burned members and staff alike. Sophia wonders which one of them burned him?

Series: A Southern Cake Baker Mystery
Author: Maymee Bell (Tonya Kappes)
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Culinary
Publisher: Crooked Lane Book

Publishing Date: May 8, 2018

Cake and Punishment from Maymee Bell (aka Tonya Kappes) is a wonderful new series. The characters are outrageous enough to make readers laugh and serious enough to give them a moment's pause. Sophia may have a broken heart and no intention of stay in Rumford, but everyone is making it almost impossible for her to go back to the city and her job of a lifetime or would be if it weren’t for her ex-boyfriend who cheated on her and ruined her happiness.

The characters in this book are wonderfully simple and complex all at the same time. They have flaws and quirks that endear them and at the same time can make them a bit irritating. Or in other words, normal. They are hard to forget, and readers will enjoy getting to know them as new books in the series roll out.

Sophia is heartbroken and yet determined to reclaim her dream job and forget her ex-cheating boyfriend. Her old friends gather around and do everything they can to keep her in Rumford; even her mother is determined to keep her around. She even finds that she is attracted to the local police detective, carter.

As the story unfolds, it doesn’t take long for the reader to know what Sophia’s fate will be when it comes to Rumford or her dream job. As for the murder, that is a bit more complex, and many readers will not figure out who-done-it until the end.

This new series with the debut of Cake and Punishment is certain to appeal to anyone who enjoys Tonya Kappes other series as well as anyone who loves good cooking and especially baked goods. The recipes in the back are divine and mouthwateringly delicious. This book is highly recommended to all cozy readers.


ARC provided by NetGalley

Cake and Punishment: A Southern Cake Baker Mystery
By Maymee Bell
Crooked Lane Books
May 2018

Review by Cynthia Chow

Sophia Cummings may consider herself to be southern girl at heart, but it still took her ten years to return back home to Rumford, Kentucky. Of course, the shine of Manhattan wore off after she discovered her chef boyfriend cheating on her with the maître d’, which is why Sophia left her prestigious job as the head pastry chef to shuffle home and lick her wounds. Sophia’s mother Bitsy is delighted to have her daughter home, and despite the number of times Sophia insists that it’s just for a few weeks, even she can’t stop herself from committing to baking the wedding cake for her high school BFF Charlotte Harrington. Sophia’s promise to create the perfect fairytale pastry is off to a shaky start when she arrives at the Rumford Country Club only to find their head chef Emile bludgeoned to death with a frying pan. Knowing that no chef would keep an unseasoned cast iron pan in his kitchen, Sophia suspects that the secret of delicious Southern cuisine is also a clue in the murder of the French-food chef.

As she whips up her special Red Velvet Crunchies (recipe included), Sophia rediscovers her passion and love for baking. Her heart may be bruised, but creating and enjoying baked goods always paves the way towards a mended soul. The one stumbling block is how everyone in Rumford believes that the general manager Evelyn Moss, the woman who helped to inspire Sophia’s love of baking, finally cracked after one too many arguments with the murdered chef. Keeping her vow to craft the perfect wedding cake for her bestie only gets more difficult when the one person Sophia never expected – or wanted – to see again arrives in town to become the country club’s replacement head chef.

This prolific author may be better known under the name Tonya Kappes, but she is still easily recognizable through her creation of likable characters and sparkling humor. The mystery is crafted so well that few will see the final reveal, but the real attraction for this debut series is the introduction of such a relatable new heroine. Sophia slowly gets her footing back through her love of baking, which in itself is grounded in the joy she sees when sharing her treats with others. Sophia may discover that leaving home is far more difficult that she ever could have imagined, especially with her subconscious sabotaging her through the additional birthday cakes and confections she agrees to make. A little nudge in the romance department may make her decision whether to go somewhat easier, but it is the love she finds when baking that may be the critical piece in finding her true home. This is the start of a heart-warming, mouth-watering, and Southern-loving new series.

This is a good mystery. There were several suspects and I didn't guess the answer, so I really liked this mystery. Sophia has come home to visit after 10 years. She is nursing a broken heart and gets thrown into several activities that will take her mind off of her troubles. When a chef is discovered dead in the kitchen and Sophia's old friend is the lead suspect, she decides to help find the real killer. As Carter is trying to solve the murder, Sophia and her friends are also investigating and Carter is trying to keep Sophia safe. Will Sophia get the cake made for her friend's wedding before the killer gets to her?

Cake and Punishment is the debut book in Maymee Bell’s (Maymee Bell is the pen name of Tonya Kappes) Southern Cake Baker Mystery series. I read an ARC of this book and noted several inconsistencies in the storyline, but am sure they will be corrected prior to publication. The writing style flows smoothly, the book is an easy read, and the characters are well developed and well rounded. The author is a gifted storyteller who is very talented in descriptive writing and she’s created a perfect Southern small town, with the expected traditions, nosiness and helpfulness of neighbors. The mystery is well plotted and steadily paced. There are enough suspects and clues to sift through to keep the reader engaged. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

After Sophia Cummings finds her boyfriend, Noah, cheating with a co-worker, she takes a leave of absence from her prestigious job as a New York City head pastry chef and returns to her hometown of Rumford, Kentucky. Even though Sophia lived in New York for ten years, she’s really a southern girl at heart and quickly realizes how much she missed her hometown, family, and friends. While attending a Junior League meeting with her mother, Elizabeth “Bitsy” Cummings, she reconnects with high school girlfriends and when she learns Charlotte Harrington’s baker up and cancelled on her, she agrees to prepare an elaborate wedding cake for her. A scream interrupts their planning; they rush to the Rumford Country Club’s kitchen and find the body of Emile, the head chef and Charlotte’s wedding chef. Sheriff Carter Kincaid believes Evelyn Moss, the country club’s manager, is responsible, but Sophia disagrees and pleads with him find another suspect or, at the very least, not to arrest her until after the wedding. Sophia worked in the country club’s kitchen as a teenager and offers to help for a few days. Sophia and her friend, Madison Quinn-Ridge decide to put on sleuthing hats because she wants to lend her assistance to the local sheriff and while he’s not pleased, he does acknowledge some of her thoughts have validity.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

A terrific start to a new series featuring Sophia Cummings as a pastry chef returning home to Kentucky from New York. When the chef at the country club is murdered, Sophia tries to solve the case and bake delicious treats for her friends and family and create a gorgeous cake for her friend’s wedding.

Cake and Punishment by Maymee Bell is the first book in the new cozy A Southern Cake Baker Mystery series. In this series Sophia Cummings has returned to her hometown of Bucolic Rumford, Kentucky from New York to nurse her broken heart with family and old friends.

No sooner that Sophia arrives home though she finds that her old high school friend, Charlotte, is getting married and is without a cake baker. Since Sophia is a pastry chef back in New York Charlotte does her best to convince her to take over the job for the wedding.

Just as soon as Sophia agrees to do the wedding and goes to check out the Rumford Country Club kitchen she however end up finding a bit more than pots and pans when she stumbles on the body of the chef. Since a kitchen is Sophia’s comfort zone she immediately jumps in to help point out clues at the scene when the law arrives.

Cake and Punishment by Maymee Bell was a solid opener for this new cozy series infused with southern charm. The author seemed to do a good job giving it that southern vibe along with plenty of talk of mouth watering treats to set the scene. What I found a bit lacking on my side though was any real unique quirkiness to the characters to truly make the book stand out a bit more to me. I’m always looking for that bit of spark to really wow me and with this one I didn’t quite find it yet although I did enjoy the mystery.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I like the different approach in how this story was being told. Most cozies start out with the amateur sleuth trying to clear a friend’s name, while this premise was trying to save a friend’s wedding and it worked, as this multi-plot tale oozed with southern charm, from the dialogue to the varied settings that highlighted every aspect in a book that I could not put down until everything was said and done. I love the pacing of the story and the comfortable tone that made it easy to follow all that was happening on the page. The mystery was nicely done and I had a good time trying to figure it out along with Sophia. The narrative was visually descriptive giving me enough to place myself in the middle of all the action and I was rooting that Sophia stays back home with her friends and family. The author did a great job in staging this drama giving up enough clues that pinpointed to the killer once the reveal took place. Bonus is the delectably appetizing baked goods that were interspersed throughout this story. Yum, yum. Boasting a quirky cast of characters, engaging conversation and a feel-good atmosphere, this was an enjoyable read and I look forward to the next adventures with Sophia and her friends.

I always enjoy reading other reviews, so imagine my surprise to find out Maymee Bell is a pen name for Tonya Kappes! Holy Moly, I was so excited. Tonya is a fun writer who surely knows how to write a good story.
When pastry chef Sophia Cummings returns to Rumford, Kentucky, it's to help heal her broken heart.
Finding her fiance in the arms of another woman has destroyed her, so returning to her hometown is a good solution.

Unfortunately for Sophia, things go awry and she finds herself baking her best friends fairy tail wedding cake, filling in as chef at the country club and solving a murder.

Don't miss this exciting book! Grab your copy on May i8th from Crooked Lane Books
#CakeAndPunishment #NetGalley
I volunteered to read and review and ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley.