Thanks to Netgalley I received a free, advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is Book 12 in the Domestic Diva Mystery Series.

A hometown celebrity, Patsy Lee Presley, has come back into town to be a judge in the annual Pie Festival. Sophie is being kept busy helping oversee the pile eating contest. The story begins to unfold when Patsy collapses and dies right at the festival, and Sophie's friends become people of interest in the investigation. Sophie starts looking at all the clues and realizes Patsy was not as sweet as she seemed, and many in her past felt jaded by her. Simultaneously, a young girl asks Sophie to help prove her mother didn't commit the murder she was found guilty of and is currently serving a jail sentence for.

This mystery unfolds in such a way that I was kept guessing the whole time. Sprinkled in to the story are pie baking tips, many of which I personally found useful.

While this is a series and may be better enjoyed reading from Book 1, the author writes the story in such a way that even if this is your first Diva Mystery, you will enjoy it from beginning to end.

I have no idea how this phenomenal series continues to get better but Krista Davis makes it happen. I had caught up with the series back in December and it reading this installment made me feel like I was reuniting with old friends. I cannot say enough about the core characters of this series. Not only are they extremely well developed but you actually feel like you are a part of their world.

In this installment of the series, Old Town Alexandria is getting ready to host the annual Pie Festival. Things take a terrible turn when one of the judges collapses face first into one of the pies, but was this due to natural causes or foul play? With Sophie, Nina, and the gang on the case, you know anything can happen. Sophie is also approached and asked to look into a closed case that the family thinks was handled unjustly. If that isn't enough, there is an accident that hits really close to home for the gang. Thank goodness there are a ton of pies around for all that stress eating and late night gathering around the kitchen table.

This is by far my favorite Cozy series and in my top 5 overall. I cannot sing the praises for these books any louder. I recommend them to anyone and everyone, cozy readers or not. If you have never tried audiobooks and don't know if you would like them, this is the series to do it. I have the digital copy from NetGalley of this book and the audible version. Hillary Huber, is as phenomenal of a narrator as Krista Davis is a writer.

I am have no idea how I am supposed to go on now for another year without more Diva!!

I absolutely loved this book! I've come to really care about Sophie and all her friends and love that the books aren't just about solving mysteries, but they also show how much she and her friends care for one another and stick together. This adventure had Sophie pulled into a murder investigation and then into a murder that happened five years ago. Who could resist an adorable little girl who asks her to help get her wrongly-accused mom out of prison? When Sophie started getting too close to the truth, someone she cared for a lot was brutally attacked and left for dead. Later, she found out some information that gave her a new perspective on some things in her life.

I hadn't suspected the killer until all the clues started coming together. As usual in this author's books, the list of suspects was impressive and so were the red herrings. The showdown was epic! Sophie and her friends were all there for it, and I think I like that a lot as opposed to perp and sleuth one-on-one, which is what happens most of the time. It was great how things were wrapped up nice and neat at an end-of-summer party at Sophie's house. All the little details that may or may not have added to the murder were explained, and Sophie's belief that she did the right thing by investigating the old case was definitely confirmed.

I just love the author's descriptive style of writing. I could smell the food! This series has always been one of my favorites. They always catch me and pull me in and keep me turning the page. The characters are like old friends now, but the stories are always fresh and I never get bored with this series.

Pies, pies, and more pies. I think I may have gained weight just reading about all this deliciousness. The recipes are included too. Loved the story and it felt so true. It has a great mix of characters that I think you will enjoy getting to know. You’ll meet some you want to be friends with forever and some not so much. Do you want to be a “star”? I think I’ll keep my quiet little life. Patsy Lee was certainly an interesting character. Sophie is someone I would want as a friend. She and Nina are awesome BFF’s. If you like a good cozy, I think you will enjoy this one. I received this book from NetGalley, but my opinion is my own.

The Diva Sweetens the Pie by Krista Davis book 12 in the Domestic Diva Mystery Series is as always a great read! You have pie, friends, pets, murder and it's up to Sophie to figure out the truth no matter the personal cost to herself. Some surprising twists and turns keep you reading until the very end. I highly recommend to anyone that hasn't read this series before.

I adore the Domestic Diva Mysteries, and THE DIVA SWEETENS THE PIE is a wonderful addition to the long running series. Set against the tasty excitement of a pie festival, protagonist Sophie attempts to get to the bottom of guest judge Patsy Lee’s death, find out if a fellow baker has been wrongly imprisoned, all while she deals with a brutal attack that hits close to home. As an added bonus, there are delicious looking recipes included at the back of the book.

My favorite aspect of this series is the relationships between the recurring characters. Their camaraderie and support for each other is endearing. Sophie is a practical sleuth with her best friend Nina by her side. Bernie and her ex-husband Mars balance out the group helping with investigating when they can. Sophie’s nemesis/friend Natasha plays her out-of-touch diva roll to the hilt; I do not know if I should love her or hate her. The mystery is multifaceted and compelling. I was not sure of whodunit until close to the end of the story, and this uncertainty added to my reading enjoyment.

THE DIVA SWEETENS THE PIE is delightful, and recommend it to any cozy mystery reader. I cannot wait to read Sophie’s next adventure.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley and voluntarily shared my thoughts here.

Must admit up front that this is the first book I've read in this series, and since it is book 12 there are past relationships and key points that are lost to me. Old Town is having a pie contest, and on the day of judging, the key judge collapses and later dies. Sophie is also asked by a young girl to help free her mother from prison. Naturally the two incidents are related. I did like the story overall, but struggled at times to stay invested, but again, that may be because I have not read others in this series. Would recommend this cozy mystery, but suggest you read some of the others first.

The Diva Sweetens the Pie by Krista Davis is book 12 in the Domestic Diva Mystery series. I have read some of the earlier ones in the series but not the last few. I was able to get caught up quickly.
Old Town is having a Pie Festival with a celebrity judge when a murder happens. Sophie is thrown into the investigation.
You have plenty of suspects and plot twists that will have you guessing until the end. The characters are relatable and likeable. You have a great setting. There is humor sprinkled through out the story. You also get some tips and recipes. The only problem is you might be craving a piece of pie or two.
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC for an honest review.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

What a sweet mystery!!

Hometown foodie celebrity Patsy Lee Presley has come back to Old Town to be a judge for the annual Pie Festival. A festival diva Natasha Smith has been banned from participating in and that Sophie has been a key assistant to the organizer. As the pies are about to be judged Patsy tumbles right into a pie and dies. The police secure the scene quickly and many of Sophie’s friends are pieces of interest in the investigation’s pie. Patsy’s ex-husband also makes the list. As Sophie starts to sift through the clues she learns that Patsy isn’t the sweetheart she thought and that most of the people suspected of her death have the big three ingredients – Motive – Means – Opportunity. Sophie just needs to break through their crusts and find which one has baked their last pie.

Sophie is also approached by a 12-year-old girl asking for help for her mom. Her mother had been convicted of a murder that according to her daughter she didn’t commit. Nellie Stokes has been in prison for 5 years, 3 months and 4 days. Daughter Aly marks each day on the calendar to keep track. Sophie looked at a picture of the woman and decided she had to help.

What I really love about this series is the friendships. The way the people of Old Town come together to help and support each other but also to have a lot of fun. There seems to always be something happening, sadly some of the times a murder breaks up the fun. When that happens Sophie is usually drawn right in the middle of the case. This time a subsequent event makes things personal for Sophie even drawing attention to her in an unexpected way. Thankfully, her stellar friends, Nina Reid Norwood, Bernie Frei, and her ex-husband, Mars Winston always have her back.

All the series regulars have continued to evolve realistically. Natasha is still the prickly and sometimes clueless diva and Sophie is usually the voice of calm and reason. Mars now divorced from Natasha is around even more and still a great friend for Sophie. Boyfriend Alex is nervous about Sophie’s involvement in all the murder queries but tries to understand her need to be involved. We do meet Patsy Lee Presley who had she lived could have really given Natasha a run for her money. Patsy had the life of Natasha dreams.

I really enjoy the way Ms. Davis twists things up. Characters new and old are all involved. Clues are deliberately sprinkled throughout and red herring are mixed right in. Stirred within the mysteries to solve, the daily life of Old Town residents soldiers on. All blended together with a dollop of humor and a dash of romance. Krista Davis is an excellent storyteller. So well-written and well-plotted. I was kept guessing right up to the end.

I highly recommend this whole series! It is best to read them in order but there is plenty of background in this story so don’t hesitate to jump in with this book.

Bonus – Scrumptious recipes and baking and entertaining tips!

The Diva Sweetens the Pie was wonderful - the book was fast-paced and I didn't want to put it down!
When a national pie competition comes to Old Town, so does murder. Old friends and old resentments make for a murderous contest. If Sophie and her friends can't solve the murders, then she may pay the ultimate price - her life.

While I love all of the Domestic Diva mysteries, this may be my favorite. Sophie is at her amateur sleuth, cooking diva, pet mom and loving friend best. The characters of Natasha, Mars, Bernie, Nina, Alex, Wolf and Wong add to the mystery and fun. I enjoy the friendship between Nina and Sophie and am happy with the way Sophie's relationship with Mars has evolved. Reading about these characters is like coming home to visit old friends.

The mystery is complex (with red herrings) however, at the end, all of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. I am now impatiently waiting for the next visit with Sophie and her friends!

I received an ARC of this book, from NetGalley, for a fair and honest review.

Author: Krista Davis
Publisher: Kensington, 2019
Format: ebook, Kindle
Series: A Domestic Diva Mystery #12

Personal Rating: 4.43
Star Rating: 4/5
My Review

The charming Old Town of Alexandria, Virginia, gets sweeter as locals prepare for the annual Pie Festival. Excitement escalates even more as they await the arrival of baking expert and celebrity judge, Patsy Lee Presley. Sophie's first encounter with Patsy Lee was unexpected, but as surprising as it was, she concentrated on the immediate task of event preparations. Soon pies are entered for judging and the contest begins, but nothing prepares Sophie for the sour turn of events that involved Patsy.

A murder mystery and pie making advice make this book especially delicious. Sophie, the quintessential hostess, answers a pie making question at the beginning of each chapter and as the secrets of pie making are revealed, so are the secrets to a murder. Along with baking tips throughout the story, Piled High Strawberry Pie and Salted Caramel Apple Pie are just a couple of the recipes you'll be rewarded with when the mystery is solved.

The Diva Sweetens the Pie is the twelfth book in the Domestic Diva Mystery Series by Krista Davis and it is as cozy as the first. Although the main characters remain the same, each book can be picked up and read out of order. Character confusion isn't an issue in this series because the author does a fantastic job on distinguishing each one with their own personalities and quirks. Once you know Sophie and her circle of friends, you'll look forward to reading all the books in this series. Look here for all the books in this series.

Note: I was given an advance ebook from Kensington, via NetGalley for a review. All opinions expressed are my own,

Wonderful Culinary Cozy Mystery
This book is twelfth in the series and the first that I have read. It is a great cozy mystery with lots of humor. The backdrop is a pie festival and pie bakers. There are great recipes included. Several crimes are investigated and the story is quite busy. There are many viable suspects and many interesting characters. It is a nice, long story that the reader can really get their teeth into. I loved it. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Sophie and her friends are busy with the annual Pie Festival in Old Town Alexandria when the celebrity judge for the pie contest dies. Sophie is also asked to look into a murder that happened a few years ago where a woman may have been wrongly convicted. Although she is reluctant to look into this, she agrees to help the young girl who misses her mother. Sophie has her hands full this time! I love the characters in this series and how they have grown over the course of the series so far. I also enjoy the new characters that are introduced that keep things interesting. This continues to be one of my favorite series and I look forward to many more books by Ms. Davis.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Kensington through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Happy Book Birthday to The Diva Sweetens The Pie! And thank you Netgalley and Kensington for helping me meet up with Sophie and the gang again.

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I have really come to look forward to Sophie and her adventures. Yes, she will inevitably come across a dead body and be compelled to investigate it even though she is an event planner and has no formal detective training. But her path to discovering who did it is chocked full of eccentric characters and crazy escapades. And how can you not love that in a cozy mystery series?!

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This is the 12th book of The Domestic Diva series and while the mysteries entertain me it is the characters and their relationships to each other that keep me reading. I have grown to really like Sophie, Nina, Mars, and even Natasha. And in this outing their friendship felt very much front and center - and that made the book for me.

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And lastly, I can't help but share that there are many delicious recipes sprinkled into each book. A s'more cocktail and pie, well count me in!

The latest in Krista Davis’ Domestic Diva series, <i> The Diva Sweetens the Pie </i>, is the quintessential cozy mystery. Set in the Old Town neighborhood of Alexandria, the story takes place during their well-attended Pie festival. There’s a long list of suspects when the death of celebrity judge, Patsy Lee Presley, who ended up face first in a chocolate-butterscotch concoction, is determined to be murder.

Domestic diva and amateur sleuth, Sophie Winston finds herself trying to solve not just one but two murders. As she tries to eliminate suspects in the case of Patsy Lee, including a number of her friends, she’s also trying to solve an old murder and free a little girl’s wrongly convicted mother from prison.

A light, entertaining read, I was drawn in by the twists and turns of the carefully laid out clues, an interesting (and large) cast of characters, tasty food descriptions, and examples of pie advice from the columns of both Sophie and her nemesis, Natasha at the beginning of each chapter. And, even though I am new to this series, I was able to piece together the back story despite this being Book 12.


FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Event planner Sophie Winston is happy to be helping out at the Pie Festival being held in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Most of the town is thrilled that their hometown girl Patsy Lee Presley, now a famous TV chef, is returning to Old Town as one of the judges. However, Patsy Lee dies under suspicious circumstances during the festival, and Sophie learns that not everyone is happy to be reunited with Patsy Lee. Sophie starts her own investigation to learn the truth when she suspects Patsy Lee’s death is related to a cold case as well as another violent act which hits close to home.

I began reading this series in the middle, but had no problems catching up and connecting with the main characters. I love Sophie who is clever, kind, and loyal to her best friends which include Nina, who has a great sense of humor, her ex-husband ,Mars, and his best friend, Bernie. The four of them are always there for each other and their dialogue is entertaining and realistic. They are a great friend group who hang out often to eat and talk and discuss Sophie’s latest case.

On the other hand, Sophie’s frenemy, Natasha, is hard to take. I think Sophie has the patience of a saint to put up with Natasha’s snooty put-downs. What is amusing is how the author contrasts the two characters by having domestic advice columns beginning each chapter, some responses from Sophie and some from Natasha. In this book, all of the questions are tips are related to pies. The difference between Sophie’s practical, down-to-earth advice and Natasha’s snobby responses are funny, although some of Natasha’s columns in the later chapters are missing some of her usual snark.

In this book, Sophie’s friend Nina plays a larger role in helping find out who had a motive for various acts of violence that could be related. I love seeing them work together to try to solve the mysteries that the local police can’t. Sophie seems to have more chemistry with her former boyfriend and her ex-husband than her current boyfriend, Alex. I don’t know what the author has in mind, but I have always hoped Sophie and her ex-husband Mars would take another chance at romance. They have such a deep connection and Mars seems to understand and appreciate Sophie. For now, I am enjoying their friendship as one of the highlights of the series.

The investigation in this book takes several unexpected turns and when everything finally comes to light, I was happy with the way things turned out. This book, like the others in this series I have read, is well-written with characters I care about and interesting situations. I like the plot turns and how well everything comes together at the end. Sophie and her friends have done it again for a fun, entertaining mystery. I would rate the book 4.5 stars. Those who like to cook will be pleased with all of the recipes at the end for dishes mentioned throughout the book.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Kensington Books. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

As Old Town descends into chaos over the annual Pie Festival, a competition that Natasha has been banned from, Sophie Winston steps in when a celebrity judge is murdered.

Not being able to say no when asked, Sophie jumps in when the heads of the festival requested her help. There is no trouble gathering pies from the participants, but when Celebrity Chef Patsy Lee Presley dies during the completion, Sophie and her friends take it upon themselves to solve this peculiar crime. There are many within the baking community that have issues with Patsy and her meteoric rise, but which of them is willing to poison her.

Now add in a young girl that has shown up on Sophie’s doorstep asking for help to exonerate her mother who has been in prison for the last 5 years. A woman, not surprisingly, also associated with the baking world, that has been convicted of murder. As Sophie delves deeper a realization, with lasting effects, has come to the surface.

This is a hard series to jump into the middle of since each book circles around a large cast of recurring characters, and the reader needs to understand the interpersonal relationships and how each brings their own to the book. Yes, the author does a light dusting of who everyone is, but you need to have a greater understanding to keep them all straight.

Sophie is looking forward to the upcoming Pie Festival, who wouldn't want to sample such a wonderful treat. She is also happy to be the overseer of the pie eating contest. The festival seems to start off well that is until Peggy Lee Presley, the celebrity judge for the contest, dies during the competition. Things start looking worse when some of Sophie's friends become suspects in Peggy's death. As she starts to look into things Sophie realizes that there are a core group of people who keep overlapping when it comes to past history. Peggy seemed to have stepped on a bunch of toes but out of everyone one who was angry enough to kill. With so many questions that need to be answered and so many of her friends in the line of fire will Sophie be able to put the puzzle together before someone she cares about ends up in jail? Meanwhile a young girl has come to Sophie for her help, her mother is in jail for murder but the young girl doesn't believe that she is guilty. Her father and herself have heard about all the crimes that Sophie has been involved in solving are looking to her for help in their own case. She doesn't have the heart to turn them down but she doesn't want to get anyone's hopes up. Does she even have the time to look into this old murder with a fresh one on her plate? Follow along as she tries to figure out both, will she come to a conclusion to both or will she run out of time. I can tell you I didn't figure it out until the end and that just made it all the more exciting to read! I also love the wonderful letters the author puts at the beginning of each new chapter addressed to either Sophie or Natasha and the oh so different replies that they each hand out.

I am a huge fan of Krista Davis and all of her series, but this one will always be my favorite. I love the characters and the story-line never fails to entertain and keep me guessing.

This go round involves pie, old friends and enemies and of course, murder. It also involves a little girl who just wants her mom home and people who are willing to do anything to be at the top. And Sophie [AND Nina - who s in this book way more than she has been before and I love how she and Sophie work together. They are a good example of what real friendship looks like] finds herself in quite a bit of hot water in this one before she works it all out. And while the end is good [I do love how she wraps up a story - you never feel like you are left hanging], there is some definite sadness in this book. But I agree with what Sophie both did and said. Once you read it, you will know EXACTLY what I mean and I sure hope that you too agree.

As always, this was an excellent and engaging read - once I got started, I could not put it down. I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.