The Midsummer Festivities are in full swing and Sophie has been hired by Bobbie Sue to organize a dinner on the waterfront. Things are going smoothly until time for the play and much to her dismay Bobbie Sue can not seem to find her husband, Tate. The next morning Tate is found dead and Bobbie Sue hires Sophie to find the killer.

This series is so well written. This book can be enjoyed as a stand-alone mystery. I have not read all the books but I’ve never had a problem following the storyline. The characters are realistic and relatable. Sophie is a smart, well rounded character. The mystery is well plotted with plenty of suspects and surprises. I recommend this book for cozy mystery as well as foodie cozy fans. Recipes and tips are included.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.

Many twists and turns keep you turning pages. This story was exciting and suspenseful but had a good dose of friendship too.

The Diva Says Cheesecake is the 15th book in the A Domestic Diva Mystery series and boy was it a good one! I haven’t read any of the books in the series before and Krista Davis wrote this book so well that I felt I didn’t miss out on anything regarding character arcs and background stories. And so, being able to fully enjoy a good mystery in and of itself is a huge positive in my books.

What I especially liked in this book was the main character and amateur sleuth,Sophie worked with the local police in their investigation. This helped keep the plot at a good pace and the momentum of the investigation was perfect. The characters were all fun and mannerisms were flushed out enough with the novel that I got a good grasp of the dynamics between all the main players.

I was able to guess the killer for once but that doesn’t mean the red herrings weren’t good as they did make me question my sleuthing hunches along the way.

Overall, a great cozy mystery that allows you to start the series right in the middle and be entertained.

I love books where you start reading and it is like either coming home or coming to a beloved friends house and being welcomed with open arms [and in this case, there just happens to be a murder mystery to solve], and that is the case with this lovely cozy read. As soon as I started the book, I settled in and just let the story happen and it was such a lovely visit. I love how Sophie and Co. work together [especially Sophie and Mars and their ability to be adults and friends after their marriage ended and how well they work together] and even Natasha didn't bother me as much as she normally does [though, she was still a pill and her food is still...ICK. Ew. Gross]. I think having her mother, her father's former paramour AND her half-sister "underfoot" has grounded her some and shown her that even though she wants it to be, life is NOT always about her. Sophie and Co. unintentionally snubbing her on several occasions also helps there.

The mystery was very good with this one. The author was very clever in how she used red herrings and I will admit here that I absolutely fell for one of them [until I sat back and thought about all I had learned to that point and then realized it was just that...a red herring. And went with the character I had the most questions about. THAT was the correct guess. Whew! LOL], which shows just what a deft writer the author is. She leads us on a merry chase and it was glorious.

It is rare, when a series is 15 books in, to have a book that is just so darn good, but here we are. It is one of the many reasons I will always jump at getting a Krista Davis book - I am never disappointed [I just went and checked and out of 15 books, only one was a three star read for me, which does not indicate disappointment, just an average read. All the rest were 4-5 star reads. It is so rare for that to happen with a series, but I have loved these from day 1] and they leave me hoping there will be a next one.
There will be a next one right???? ;-)

Thank you to NetGalley, Krista Davis, and Kensington Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While following along, Krista Davis wants you to believe all the arrows point to one specific person, but there will be a little nudge saying nothing is that easy. They might be guilty of something, but it is not murder. There must be more.

Then she throws lots of diversion at you. You can see where she was going, clues were there all along, but the person played the good guy. The one kept in the periphery. Don't worry--you were on the right trail since they were your first guess all along.

On the negative side, the dependence on a dog sniffing out clues and a business owner who never seems to be working her business is vexing. On the plus side, I do enjoy the characters in the Diva Series, the atmosphere of Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, and in this instance, the talk of cheesecake.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught!

Everything sounded exciting about this book: the culinary dimension in this cozy mystery, the literary reference with the Shakespeare performance, and the overall festive atmosphere, including the delicious predominance of cheesecakes.

I don’t know whether it’s due to the fact that this book is already number 15 in the series (that I’ve never read before), but I did feel as though I was missing some background info to tell the characters apart and understand the overall structure and environment (like the special intro at the beginning of each chapter). For all the assets that enticed me to this work of fiction, I’ve always felt a bit on the sidetrack of the plot. I wish I had been more enthusiastic about it. But, that’s how it goes with books.

Sometimes magic happens and you can’t stop turning the pages, and at other times, you don’t click with the story. But I’m still a big fan of cozy mysteries and there’s plenty of them out there to discover.

Thank you to Kensington Books for this Arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is the 15th book in the Domestic Diva Cozy Mystery Series and my first, and definitely not my last. Seriously I need to go back and read from the beginning. I loved the characters and their friendship. The book hooked me from the get go and I had to know who the killer was. The mystery kept me on my toes.
Such a wonderful cozy Mystery. I'm still thinking about the characters and the hunt for the murderer. Very well done.

I love finding new cozy mystery series & authors to follow.

The Diva Says Cheesecake
A Domestic Diva, Book #15
Krista Davis
5 Stars

Synopsis:

“Reminiscent of Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen cozies, which also include baking and a group of close friends working together to solve crimes.” – Booklist

A delightful new story from a New York Times bestselling author perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen Mystery series! In this page-turning new book, entertaining guru Sophie Winston is faced with a midsummer nightmare when a celebration in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, is the appetizer for murder…

Old Town’s midsummer festivities are getting a tasty addition this year. To coincide with a public performance of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Bobbie Sue Bodoin, the Queen of Cheesecake, has hired Sophie to organize a dinner with a dessert buffet on the waterfront. Bobbie Sue’s homegrown company is thriving, and since her baking dish overfloweth, she wants to reward her employees.

Bobbie Sue has only one menu demand: no cheesecake! But her specialty isn’t the only thing missing from the evening—Tate, Bobbie Sue’s husband, is too, much to her annoyance. Next morning, however, Tate’s dead body is discovered. Bobbie Sue insists she didn’t kick her spouse to the curb, and begs for Sophie’s help finding the real killer. Digging in, Sophie discovers an assortment of Old Town locals who all had reason to want a piece of Tate. Can she gather together the crumbs the killer left behind in time to prevent a second helping of murder?

Includes delectable recipes and fabulous DIY decorating tips! (Amazon)

Review:

The characters are well rounded and well developed. Sophie Winston is a great character and she has a lot of good qualities. He works hard and she would do anything for her friends. When one of her friend’s husband is killed, the friend asks her to look into it.
And when another friend is accused of committing the murder, she knows that she has to find the real killer.

The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and these descriptions pulled me into the story from the very beginning. I felt like I was right there watching all the action taking place and listening in on the character’s conversations. The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read. The mystery was well plotted and not easily solved. There were enough clues to sift through and suspects to consider and I was not sure who the killer was until it was revealed at the end.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. And for added enjoyment, there are a lot of tips from the Diva and lots of recipes.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher, Kensington Books, and NetGalley, which I greatly appreciate.

This was another solid entry in a reliable cozy series. The full cast of characters is present, and there are plenty of interesting events and tidbits about food (particularly, of course, cheesecake) throughout this one. We get a bit more backstory on Bernie (hard to believe that 15 books in there is still more for us to learn about the characters!) and the suspects and story in this are believable and plenty. I continue to enjoy this series, and it's truly an example of a long running series that continues to be fresh.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars, I liked it.

Book 15 in the series.

Krista Davis rarely fails to deliver, and I always enjoy her books. After 15 books, Sophie and her friends feel like my friends too. This one isn't my favorite in the series, but it's a nice, light-hearted cozy mystery when you just want to read something fun.

And who can resist cheesecake?!

As always, I am already looking forward to the next in the series.

As usual, Sophie and the gang provide fun light entertainment. It wasn’t too hard to figure out the culprit but that is ok. I love a visit with. this group of characters and I love Sophie for wearing elastic waist pants. I just wish Natasha would get over her fixation with peppers in everything.

A cozy mystery series can be a great gift, or an exercise in tedium. The Diva Says Cheesecake! is the fifteenth volume in the series by Krista Davis and each book gets a little bit better and a little bit more enjoyable. Davis has managed to add supporting characters to the world of Culinary Diva Sophie Winston that make the community of Old Town in Alexandria, Virginia a joy to revisit with each book. Sophie is an independent woman with dear friends and a thriving event planning business. She has flirtations and romances, but the men in her life do not take over the storyline. I highly recommend reading all of the books in this series.

Bobbie Sue Bodoin’s cheesecake business is growing fast and she has asked Sophie Winston to organize a dinner to thank her employees for their support. All goes well at the dinner except Bobbie Sue’s husband Tate never shows up for the dinner – or at home that night after the dinner. When his body turns up the next day, all the evidence points to Sophie’s friend Bernie as the killer. Sophie knows Bernie is no killer so she and her friend Nina set out to find the real killer. But Sophie needs to be careful as her sleuthing is making someone very uncomfortable.

“The Diva Says Cheesecake” is the nicely done fifteenth book in Krista Davis’s Domestic Diva Cozy Mystery series. There is so much to love about this series – Sophie and her cooking (there is a lot of cheesecake eaten in this book – and recipes in the back of the book), her friends including Nina, her ex-husband Mars, Wolf, Bernie, and more. And Natasha – I just love Natasha who brings a great sense of humor to the series (although she doesn’t know it!). When reading the book make sure you read the advice letters at the beginning of each chapter – you get some useful advice (at least from Sophie) and some nice humor as well (make sure you check the names of the towns people are writing from) and they tie in to whatever is happening in the chapter – very cleverly done by Davis. As for the mystery – I did figure out who the killer was about halfway through the book but there were other surprises in store for me as I read the book - I truly felt sorry for the murder victim and his family.


“The Diva Says Cheesecake” is a nicely done Cozy Mystery.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

When a local restaurateur, the husband of one of Sophie’s customers, is murdered, Sophie agrees to look into who killed the man. When things can’t seem any stranger, the police arrest Bernie for the murder and Sophie has even more reason to find the culprit now. But will she find the murdered before he finds her?

Krista Davis has set two of her series in the greater DC area and another in the Virginia mountains. Seeing as I lived I. These areas, they're like visits home to me. Whether Old Town, Georgetown, or the mountains, any book by Krista Davis is going to be a good one. All three series are established with lots to binge on, but this one is my favorite, as it’s the one that got me started on Cozies. I highly recommend all of her books…and the Japanese Cheesecake in this book!

The Diva Says Cheesecake is the 15th book in the Domestic Diva Mystery Series by Krista Davis. I've jumped around in this series, but it's consistently terrific and entertaining, and this new book is no exception. It is a well-plotted, absorbing, and fast-paced mystery with red herrings and misdirections, leading to a fun puzzle to sort out. The protagonist, Sophie Winston, is likable and intelligent. She has a delightful group of friends who usually have a part to play in helping her solve crimes, but one of them is the murder suspect this time. The friend group characterizations and relationships have been very well developed across the series and add to the cozy feeling. Its nice to spend time with them. Another aspect of the series I find charming is the advice column letters to Sophie and her friend/sometime rival Natasha at the beginning of each chapter, ending with lifestyle or entertaining tips. The setting is lovely Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia and Davis makes you feel like you're there. Amazing food is featured throughout but the cheesecake theme in this one really made me crave cheesecake. Thankfully, there are several delicious recipes at the end, including cheesecakes! Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to review this ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Diva Says Cheesecake! by Krista Davis is book fifteen in the 'Domestic Diva Mystery Series' and was a great read! With plenty of delectable dishes and also a generous portion of friends, a cat named Mochie, and murder, this was a thoroughly enjoyable page-turner. In Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, one of the event planner, Sophie Winston's clients is the renowned cheesecake baker, Bobbie Sue Bodoin. The occasion is for Bobbie Sue's employees to reward them for their hard work, and it will be held alongside the midsummer performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” in the town. But where is Bobbie Sue's husband, local restaurateur, Tate?

The plot was solid and entertaining and the characters were a very likeable bunch of friends. I appreciated how they cared for and supported one other. The writing style of Krista Davis is very appealing and I would have been perfectly comfortable reading this cozy as a standalone novel if it had been my first in the series. The surprising twists and turns kept me invested in the story until its thrilling conclusion. Overall, a delightful read that I highly recommend so dive in as soon as you can!

I received a complimentary copy of this novel, at my own request, from Kensington Books via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Diva Says Cheesecake! is book #15 in the Domestic Diva Mystery series by Krista Davis.

Sophie is in charge of of a Midsummer Night dinner party hosted by Bobbie Sue, the Queen of Cheesecake, for her employees. Bobbie Sue’s husband fails to show up. He’s found dead the next morning and Sophie gets pulled into the investigation.

This is one of my favorite series. I wish I had a neighbor like Sophie who always had yummy food ready to go. Sophie, Mars, Nina, Francie, and Mars are wonderful characters and this was an interesting case. I did guess the culprit before Sophie this time. I really enjoy the reader questions to Sophie and Natasha at the beginning of each chapter. There are several recipes at the end that sound delicious.

Thank you to the author, Kensington, and NetGalley for the review copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.

Sophie has been tasked with setting up a dinner along with a dessert buffet by the queen of cheesecake Bobbie Sue Bodoin. The only rule is no cheesecake, this is a gift to her employees and she know they get enough of that at work. The evening is going well except Bobbies husband never showed up. She is upset but doesn't want to ruin the party so lets it go. When her husband Tate is found dead having been murdered she now understands why he was a no show. Bobbie soon realizes she is suspect so she asks Sophie to look into things for her. Sophie soon learns that there are quite a few people who didn't like Tate and the suspect list grows. Having such a long list makes it difficult but giving up isn't an option. Follow along and see if she can pick up enough clues to lead her to a killer.

It’s always good to drop back in on Sophie and the gang. This time cheesecake is what the neighborhood ordered. The Queen Of Cheesecake’s husband is murdered and she hires Sophie to snoop around.
Sophie and Nina are on the job along with their pups. There were many clues and several suspects. Davis kept me bouncing around from person to person until I zeroed in on one character who was always lurking about.
Lots of good food and mysteries in Old Town.