Death by Scones

A Danger Cove Bakery Mystery, Book 3

By: Jennifer Fischetto, Elizabeth Ashby

Narrated by: Melissa Meshey

Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

From USA Today best-selling authors....

Someone's about to get their just desserts.

Riley Spencer is officially the new owner of the Cinnamon Sugar Bakery in the small town of Danger Cove. She's excited about the grand re-opening, but when she learns a hoax letter went out to the residents of Danger Cove informing them of free baked goods, she panics and does the only thing she can - quickly sets out plates of muffins, cupcakes, and cookie bars. Crisis seems to be averted...until the body of local recluse Nathan Dearborn is found in the bakery bathroom. The cause of death: peanut allergy.

Riley's certain not a single item made with nuts left her kitchen, but no one believes her, least of all the police. To save her bakery and her reputation, Riley is determined to figure out who brought in the fatal pastry. With support from her best friend, Tara, and her long-time crush, Jared, Riley discovers secrets from Nathan's past that make her question if his death was truly an accident or something more sinister. With suspects galore, the police breathing down her neck, a love life in turmoil, and a bonanza of baked goods, Riley has her work cut out for her catching a killer...before he strikes again!

©2015 Jennifer Fischetto (P)2017 Jennifer Fischetto

Scones with or without nuts

Any additional comments?

Death by Scones by Elizabeth Ashby and Jennifer Fischetto Narrated by Melissa Meshey

Riley Spencer’s first day as owner of Cinnamon Sugar Bakery has started off strange. Just after opening Riley finds out there has been a hoax email sent out to several customers promising free food. She quickly devises a plan to embrace this crowd with smaller bite sized samples. Surprisingly the town’s recluse shows up acting a little bit strange. Riley later finds him dead in the bakery’s restroom. The cause of death was ruled: peanut allergy but Cinnamon Sugar Bakery is a nut free bakery. Riley determined to protect Cinnamon Sugar Bakery’s reputation starts her own investigation only to find out secrets that will change her life.

This is the 3rd book in the series but my first book. I had no problem reading this book as a stand alone mystery. The mystery has several red herring to keep you guessing and I found this to be a fun cozy mystery book. I really enjoyed Riley’s quicky nature with her vintage clothes and interest in astrological signs. Riley also a more insecure nature as she worries about disappointing her grandmother, Cinnamon, if she fails at running the bakery by herself.

I listened to the audio version of this book and found Narrator Melissa Meshey to be a sweet and young sounding which fits Riley’s character perfectly. She had wonderful tone and diction and brings the book to life. The only problem I had with the audio version is that when the print book contained a recipe between chapters, the audio version also supplied the recipe between chapters. This was a little distracting, I would rather the recipes were supplied at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to other cozy mysteries especially fans of cozy food mysteries.

**I voluntarily read a copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

Gotta Love Clothes

If you are inordinately detail oriented you will appreciate the minute descriptions of every single change of clothes our heroine employs as well as comprehensive information on everyone else's appearance, outfits, furniture and surroundings. All that attention to her surroundings makes her quite the observant detective. Melissa Meshey's clear, light, chirpy voice [AUDIO] perfectly understated the descriptions as she ran us through the multi-layered plot, doing a good job with vocalizations of various cast members. She similarly imparted a number of really yummy sounding recipes quite smoothly.

Disclaimer: "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Enjoyable dessert!

I really enjoyed this story. A young girl, an orphan, takes over ownership of her grandmothers bakery. Soon after a strange email a dead body turns up in the bakery on the day of its grand reopening no less. The characters were likable and the main character was funny. It was a light cozy mystery and I look forward to the next in the series. The narrator was good, her voice was perfect for the character, on occasion I found it a little difficult to follow who was talking as her voice for the characters were similar. It wasn't overly distracting though and most of the time I followed ok. I would certainly listen to her again. I received a free review copy of this book at my request in exchange for an honest review.

Death by Scones

Death by Scones :: Jennifer Fischetto


An interesting cozy mystry. There are lots of possible suspects, twists and turns, and bits of romance. It ends with a few surprises.



My only two complaints were there was too much fashion description. It distracted from the story. Also too many zodiac mentions.




The narration was well done. The characters were well portrayed. Melissa Meshey's young voice fit the story.



I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good listen!

I enjoyed the story. The narration could use a little work but I still enjoyed it. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

A Bakery Full of Dreams

Riley is hosting a re-reopening of the Cinnamon Sugar Bakery when a local recluse drops dead from a peanut allergy. Riley knows she runs a peanut free place so something is off. She and her friends start searches for the real killer and bad things multiple. Fun and quirky characters and good performance. Recommend series.

Fun Mystery

What made the experience of listening to Death by Scones the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the writing style and characters. Also, mention of various baked goods and recipes always made me hungry! :)

Did Melissa Meshey do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Not particularly. It was difficult to determine who was talking during dialogue scenes. Although I did like the pleasant and youthful sound of her voice, I found her reading style to be sleepy and disengaged at times, making it hard to follow the story.

Any additional comments?

I was provided a free audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

An updated cozy mystery

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really liked Riley the main character- some cozy mysteries feel very dated, but she seemed like a modern woman who thought and spoke like my friends and I do.

What about Melissa Meshey’s performance did you like?

At first I really didn't care for the narrator- she has a very young voice and it wasn't my favorite. But as the story progressed I felt like she spoke the way Riley would- and grew to appreciate her.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I liked how real things happened to the characters- they had complex relationships and had bad things happen to them just like actual people do. I know that sounds vague but I don't want to throw out any spoilers ;)

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this mystery. It had a good mix of sleuthing, a bit of romance, and baking. I'd definitely recommend it, and I'm looking forward to reading the first two!

Fun Cozy

Not only is this book an exciting mystery but also very refreshing and a quick read. The narrator was easy to listen to, and did a good job. If you love fun cozy mysteries, which are my favorite, you will love this book.

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

Murder with peanut oil

In Death by Scones by Jennifer Fischetto and Elizabeth Ashby, Riley Spencer is having a grand reopening of the Cinnamon Sugar Bakery in Danger Cove to celebrate the fact that her grandmother has formally handed ownership of the bakery to her. Then someone plays a mean prank on her by sending out an email with Riley's name on it offering free samples to the recipients of the email. Frantically, Riley scurries to the kitchen to cut up pastries baked for the afternoon rush into smaller pieces to give away, just as the bakery gets inundated by a horde of women. The group gets silenced when Nathan Dearborn, the local recluse, enters, but eventually they resume talking. Then that afternoon Riley goes to use the restroom, only to find Nathan dead of a peanut allergy. Since the bakery makes a point of never using nuts and artificial ingredients, Riley knows this death cannot be an accident. But with her business suffering badly, Riley has to get to the bottom of things in order to save the bakery and maybe her life.

I found this book enjoyable light reading. This is the third in the Danger Cove series, in which each book features the experience of a different character in the town of Danger Cove. I like the clever idea of doing this. Since this is my first book in the series, I don't know how much intersection each book has with the other.

I thought the plot pleasurable, doing a good job of both entertaining me and keeping me guessing about the identity of the murderer. It had a realistic romance to it as well. I did wish the characters had deeper development of their personalities, as too often I had to stop and think about who each name belonged to when a character appeared on the scene.

I enjoyed the fact that one woman who visits the bakery for the sale is named Elizabeth Ashby, one of the authors of the book. I am not sure whether Jennifer Fischetto, the other author, appears in the book too.

One detail that I found annoying was the way the book put a recipe at the end of several chapters, and the narrator took about two minutes to read each out. Recipes in books do not work very well in the audio edition, as the readers are generally not prepared to write down the instructions. But if the author wants to include all the recipes, it's better for them to appear at the end of the book instead of interrupting the plot. This also makes them easier for the reader to locate at a different time.

Melissa Meshy performs the audio edition of this book. It took me time to get comfortable with the recording. The reading has less expression than I would have liked, and the voice sounds a little whiny at times. But once I got comfortable with listening, I had no problem with the performance. However, I think Meshy would be more suited to books with younger narrators or main characters than the 30-year-old Riley. In addition, there are a couple times when the book has a break to shift content, but the recording gives no pause at all to indicate the shift, making me me at first think the recording made an error.

Overall, I enjoyed my time spent listening to Death by Scones. Many cozy mysteries take place in bakeries, and sometimes they can get a little repetitive. But this book contains enough unique touches to make me enjoy it, and I plan to go back to the first book and listen to that. I give this book four stars.

Disclaimer: I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook BOOM, but that in no way influenced my review.