This is part of a series and the author does not disappoint in Death by Chocolate Chip Cupcake.

A great cozy mystery that will leave you wanting to read the next instalment.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s got lots of suspense and action in it. The characters are great. I was surprised by who the bad guys are. #DeathbyChocolateCupcake #NetGalley

ARC Kindle Copy from Review from Net Galley and Kensington Books.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Making the perfect chocolate pizza is not easy as you think. Jake and Ellie are catering a house party for a glamorous Hollywood lady,

Things soon go wrong as a storm hits trapping the guests in the house as down trees surround them. Is there a ghostly presence surrounding the house?

A deadly chocolatey read.

I am a fan of cozy mysteries. They are one of my literary comfort foods. When I read a cozy mystery I am looking for fun characters, an interesting setting, a pun or two, and a mystery that moves things along until an ending is achieved.

Death by Chocolate Chip Cupcake is the first Death by Chocolate mystery that I have read. It's the fifth in the series and the characters and their tropes have already been established. I enjoyed the setting- a town called Eastport in Maine, and the various characters. The author has a full cast of locals- and some of them are quite wonderfully odd- and the town and its inhabitants are nicely presented.

The main character, Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree, is a woman who co-owns a bakery (The Chocolate Moose- pun achieved!) and whose extended family lives with her in her increasingly crowded house. She and her business partner Ellie are hired to cater the desserts for a party throw by an actress who has recently purchased a run-down manor- Cliff House.

Story ensues. And there is much in the way of plot. And several trips up and down a cliff face. And earthquakes, fallen trees, possible hauntings, and, of course, a mystery. I enjoyed the trappings of the book and the characters, but the mystery itself could have used some more fleshing out. I didn't get a sense of the partygoers (who are the driving force behind the mystery) and the solution, while good, was a case of "told, but not shown".

Death by Chocolate Chip Cupcake was a good read on a chilly winter afternoon and evening. It certainly made me want to try a chocolate pizza. I could have used more mystery and fewer characters, but it was still a fun read.