Winner Cake All by Denise Swanson is the 3rd book in Chef-To-Go Mystery series, and another fun addition. Dani left her high paying corporate job at the same time she inherits a mansion with a commercial kitchen. Dani starts Chef-to-go, where she makes meals to go for students, and catering events. Dani rents rooms to three college students who also help her out as part of the rent. In this adventure, she has been hired to cater an engagement party for a wealthy man, and hoping to attract more clients. Unfortunately the bride to be is murdered, and the sleuthing begins. This book has more twists and turns, that keeps you turning page after page. I can't wait for the next book in the series. I recommend this book and series for any cozy mystery lovers like me. 
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Love this series. I love the smart, capable main character who doesn't do stupid stuff. I love all the girls she lives with. Great story. Great ending. I can't wait for the next book!

So this latest installment in the chef to go series is another winner. This is the second series I’ve read, and keep current, by the author and it doesn’t disappoint. They are quick, light reads. Fun read!

This is the 3rd in the Chef to Go Mystery series and an enjoyable, light-hearted fun mystery. Dani is working her way up in the world with her catering business. She is catering the engagement party of a very wealthy, influential customer when his fiance ends up dead. Realistic, likeable characters and plenty of suspects make this a great cozy mystery. It's not necessary to have read the first two in the series before reading this one.

It's a big deal when Dani gets the job of catering the engagement party for Yvette and Franklin. She's a college town caterer and this gig is pretty cool, even if Yvette is a pain. So much of a pain that she's murdered! Dani finds herself in the spotlight for an unhappy reason- she's been seeing Yvette;s ex-husband Spencer. He's currently the chief of security at the college but he has an interesting back story and is perfect to help investigate. This is classic cozy territory but it's especially nice because Swanson has captured life in a college town and the relationships between Dani and her tenants is well done. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fun read.

Winner Cake All is the third book in Denise Swanson's Chef-To-Go Mystery series. Set in the college town of Normalton, Illinois, the protagonist, Dani Sloan, runs a catering, personal chef, and lunch-to-go business with the help of her three boarders, Ivy, Tippi, and Starr. Dani is hired to cater the engagement party of the wealthiest man in town, Franklin Whittaker, and his obnoxious fiancée, Yvette, who also happens to the ex-wife of her boyfriend, Spencer. During the party, Yvette is murdered and there's no shortage of suspects, including Dani and Spencer. Hoping to solve the murder, they both decide to do some sleuthing.

This is a great addition to the Chef-To-Go Mysteries. I've been a fan of this series since the beginning and have enjoyed spending time with Dani and seeing her business flourish and the relationships in her life develop. I like the cast of characters, the college town setting, and the mouthwatering food descriptions. The mysteries are always engaging and the culprits are not obvious. Dani's kindness and compassion make it easy for readers to like her and root for her. This series is also told from Spencer's perspective, which I enjoy. I think it's a great way to get to know him better and see what his life is like outside of his relationship with Dani, plus his side stories are always interesting.
All in all, this is a fun culinary cozy mystery series, and I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Winner Cake All is the third novel in Denise Swanson's Chef-t0-Go mystery series. I have been an avid reader and fan of Ms. Swanson's cozy mysteries for years with her Scumble River and Dime Store series. This is no exception. I love the characters she brings to life and she really illustrates the Midwestern setting perfectly! Her college girl boarders take more of a backseat to this story. Instead, we see more of Spencer and Dani's relationship with him. as it continues to grow in each book. Ms. Swanson did a great job with making this a cozy mystery and I loved all the food descriptions! The conclusion to the mystery was satisfactory and there was great build-up throughout. I look forward to her next Scumble River and the next Chef-to-Go. Her books are always a delight and I highly recommend them for cozy mystery lovers!

4.5 stars

This is the third book in the Chef to Go Mystery series by Denise Swanson.

Loving that this story is set in small town Illinois. I so resonate with that. This is the first book I have read in this series and I know it won’t be my last. I sure loved the cast in this and the mystery really kept my attention all the way through. I felt like I was solving this with my friends by my side while getting cake and cookies as refreshments.

Basic premise: Dani Sloan quit her corporate job and started her own business making meals-to-go and doing a bit of catering. She is pulled into catering a sudden event for a couple whose fiancee ends up being the ex-wife of Dani’s boyfriend, Spencer. (Confused yet? Everything is surely connected in this story so do pay attention to all the small details.) When the event tent collapses during a sudden storm, the bride to be is found dead in the stadium with a fancy pen shoved into her eye.

Dani is pilled into this mystery pretty easily since she and her team have to be questioned as the investigation moves forward for the police. How can she not pay attention to all the clues she uncovers, right?

Definitely my cup of tea. I totally enjoyed this one and plan on reading the last two books in this series ASAP! Readathon, anyone?

If you like cozy mysteries, definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

Dani Sloan is thrilled that Yvette Joubert has asked her to cater her engagement party. Yvette is engaged to the wealthiest man in Normalton, Illinois, Frank Whittaker. Her fledging business, Chef-to-Go, is making a profit, barely. If all goes well, Dani will pocket a generous fee, and hopefully attract more business from the couple’s well-heeled friends.
With assistance from her college student boarders, Tipi, Ivy, and Starr, she whips up a spectacular gourmet feast for the big event. Her friend Gray Christensen, the chief detective of the Normalton Police Department, acts as her sous chef, and her sort-of boyfriend Spencer Drake, lends a hand. The giant tent housing the event is lush and sophisticated; the four hundred guests dripping in diamonds and designer duds. Everything goes as planned, until the storm hits.
When it’s all over, the tent is collapsed on the ground, trapping many of the attendees. Dani, her staff, Gray and Spencer are safe in the industrial kitchen, and rush out to help the first responders rescue those still under the tent. It appears that there are only minor injuries, until the bride to be is found lifeless next to a collapsed beam. Gray can see that Yvette’s death is no accident, and calls in the homicide team.
Because of Dani’s contact with the woman, Detective Christensen allows her to help him with his inquiries. Not surprisingly, she takes a few liberties, and as she gets closer to the killer, her participation puts her in grave danger.
Fans of the cozy genre will enjoy the latest entry in her delightful food-themed mysteries.

This is the 3rd installment in the Chef to Go Mystery series. Dani Sloan is running multiple catering businesses with the help of her three college boarders. Dani is given the opportunity of a lifetime to cater the engagement party of Franklin Whitaker and his fiancé Yvette Joubert. The party is on short notice and she must scramble to get this done on short notice. Almost as soon as the signature on the contract is signed, she learns that Yvette is the ex-wife of Spencer her new boyfriend and Uncle of one of her boarders Ivy. Yvette is very demanding and she cheated on Spencer with his best friend and then dumped him after he was injured in a fire to hook up with the billionaire. Dani is a very understanding and warm person who is not thrown by this and puts together an amazing event, unfortunately the event is held in a tent when a horrible storm rolls in and after the tent collapses and everyone is rescued Yvette is found dead and it is clearly murder. Given that Spencer is Yvette’s ex he is a prime suspect but Dani knows he is not responsible and Detective Gray Christensen who was helping Dani at the event (he is a foodie and friend of Dani) believes he is not high on the list but has no real other alternatives. Dani and Spencer both decide to do a little sleuthing especially when both Spencer and Dani see Brock (Yvette’s ex-fiance and former best friend of Spencer) in town. I enjoyed this mystery and this series. I like Dani and Spencer along with her relationship with all the girls (Ivy, Tippi and Starr) and how she is working on her relationship with her Father. This story kept me engaged the entire time and really looking to the next installment.

This was my first book by this author, and although it’s part of a series I didn’t have difficulty following along and enjoyed getting to know these characters.

Dani accepts a job catering an engagement part for an obnoxious bride to be, Yvette, and Franklin, the richest guy in town. Yvette comes off as a pretty terrible person right from our first introduction to her. After a storm destroys the tent that the party was being held in, Yvette is found dead and it’s quickly discovered that she was murdered.

There’s a lot of connections between characters on this. Dani is seeing a guy, Spencer, who is Yvette’s ex-husband. Spencer’s ex-best friend shows up in this too, he’s the guy Yvette left Spencer for.

All in all, this was an engaging mystery which kept me interested the entire time I was reading it. I enjoyed the characters including all the background characters. I also liked that Spencer had his own side story and mystery, it gave him something to do other than being involved in just Dani’s story.

I’m going back to read the previous books in the series and I look forward to the next one!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Winner Cake all" features Dani Sloan who has given up her successful career in Human Resources and is running a catering business out of a house she recently inherited from a friend of her grandmother’s. It’s in a small college town in Illinois. She also has three college women boarding at the house.
Dani is approached to cater the engagement party of a woman named Yvette Joubert and her millionaire fiancée Franklin Whittaker. Dani is excited as this could be the event that could provide the exposure to make her new business successful even if she has to deal with Yvette’s whims and a two week (then one week) turnaround.
Dani has started dating the uncle of one of her boarders who is the Director of Security at the local college. While out for dinner with Spencer, they run into Yvette and she discovers that she and Spencer were divorced after a short marriage. Yvette had an affair with Spencer’s best friend. It appears she dumped him when he suffered an injury and had moved on.
The engagement party is held outdoors and a terrible storm hits. There is much damage and while there are many injuries, only Yvette is found dead. Dani assumes it was an accidental death and is surprised by the amount of questioning by the police and her suspicions are confirmed when she and Spencer meet back at her house after the police finally let her go. Spencer had looked at photos of Yvette on social media and believed he could see that she was murdered which is soon confirmed.
While Spencer and Dani are not suspects, Spencer did some undercover work infiltrating a nasty gang when he was in law enforcement and it is in his best interests to not have people poking in his past. Dani is in a position to observe, interact and ask questions so they compare notes and work toward finding the murderer. Lots of twists and turns until the ultimate unmasking of the murderer.
I enjoyed this book and even though it was the third in the series felt it worked well as a standalone, as it did for me. There were a few subplots that were distracting but nothing that detracted-not sure why they were included unless it’s a set up for a future book.
I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Poisoned Press. Any opinions expressed are my own.

I have read many books in this author's Scumble River series but this is the first that I have read in her newer series.  Winner Cake All is the third entry in Ms. Swanson's Chef-to-Go series.  The chef is Dani and, as in many cozies, she finds herself investigating a murder as an amateur sleuth. In this entry Dani is organizing an engagement meal when a murder takes place. 


If you are a reader who enjoys stories about food and amateur detectives, this book is worth a look.  Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title.  All opinions are my own.

Death Of A Bride To Be.....
Book three in the Chef-to-Go Mysteries finds business owner Dani Sloan with the death of a bride to be on her hands, a name to clear and a criminal to catch. Will it be all in a days work for Dani? Enjoyable cosy with a likeable protagonist and a colourful cast of supporting characters. A fun read.

Love this series Dani lives in a mansion with her 3 tenants. Dani owns a catering company and also makes food to sell to students at the college. When a murder happens she sets out to investigate before a murder happens again . To hear more read the book.

Dani Sloan is a small town caterer with a knack for solving crimes. In “Winner Cake All”, Dani helps solve the murder of a client (who also happens to be the ex-wife of Dani’s boyfriend).

I enjoyed this lighthearted cozy mystery! I will be looking for more books in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

“Winner Cake All” is a mystery/thriller book centered around a woman named Dani Sloan, who gets the opportunity to cater the engagement party of a client named Yvette Joubert and her fiance, Franklin Whittaker, the richest guy in town. In addition, Dani Sloan is currently seeing a man named Spencer Drake, who is also an ex-husband of Yvette. At the engagement party, Dani finds Yvette dead, and the rest of the book shows the characters trying to figure out what exactly happened and who could have potentially been involved in Yvette’s death.

I really liked this book. It seriously captivated me the entire time and had me wondering what these characters were going to find out and, more importantly, who had potentially killed Yvette. Overall, I thought that this was a great mystery/thriller book and I would highly recommend it to fans of those genres.

Rating: 4.5/5

I enjoyed this book. It's got great characters and an interesting mystery. I was surprised by who the killer was. #WinnerCakeAll" #NetGalley

Once I started this book, I could not put it down.
As a fan of this author and her Scumble River series, catching up with Dani was great fun.
This book was filled with a lot of twists and turns, and it wasn’t until the end that I figured out who the murderer was.
I really enjoyed that the story also featured a lot of mouthwatering dishes, and I’m hoping to see more of them in future books.

I really went in to this book with low expectations because I felt like the title was cheesy which might translate to the book being cheesy. I have to say I was surprised. I was engaged the entire book and really like the characters, especially Dani. The only reason this book got 3 stars was because of the ending. I really thought some of the side stories were going to tie in to the murder and there would be a shocking reveal that everything was connected. Unfortunately that didn’t happen so I felt like some of the side stories were unnecessary. It just ended a little flat. Other than that, I really did have a great time reading this. 😊