Krista Davis Comes Through Again with Diva No.Old Town’s annual Pie Festival crumbles into chaos after a celebrity judge is murdered, leaving it up to entertaining maven and sometime-sleuth Sophie Winston to dole out justice.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then remove it to a wire rack to cool for another 10 minutes or so.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the center is set and a cake tester comes out clean.

(The topping will melt and sink while baking.) Sprinkle in lumps over the top of the cake batter.

To make the topping, chop the pecans and combine them with the butter and brown sugar until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared baking dish. Then alternate adding the flour mixture with the applesauce, beating between each addition, until smooth.

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugars with a mixer.

Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into a bowl.

Lightly grease a 9-inch-square pan and line with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit but with the sides long enough to lift the finished cake out of the pan.

Place the pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 5 to 6 minutes or until fragrant. I can’t wait to try the Mango Peach Salsa, Chocolate Mayonnaise Cupcakes, and Pear Upside-Down Skillet Cake. Of course, the book also ends with some tasty recipes. Still, it was nice to only have her pop in from time to time as part of an entertaining subplot to the main story. She is pretty annoying, though Davis is good at giving her some redeeming qualities to keep us from wondering why Sophie remains her friend.

Natasha doesn’t have as prominent a role in this book as the previous ones, which I found to be a relief. Plus, it was lovely to catch up on all the goings-on with Sophie, Nina, Mars, Bernie, Humphrey, and of course, Natasha, the other domestic diva in the book who antagonizes everyone. There was a surprise at the end, which made me both laugh out loud and cheer. The book was enthralling from the first paragraph to the last. When another traveler turns up dead, Sophie worries her friend is next on the list. suburb, it has some international intrigue and a possible smuggling operation woven into the plot. While the story takes place in the well-known Washington D.C. Perhaps the clue scratched into the soil by the victim before dying will hold the answer.

However, when Sophie finds one of Nina’s traveling companions dead the following morning, she wonders just what went on during that trip. Still, she has time to pick up her best friend, Nina, at the airport after she returns from a trip to Portugal. I just finished reading The Diva Serves Forbidden Fruit, number 14 in the series, and I loved it! In this edition, event organizer and domestic advice expert Sophie Winston is in the middle of Old Town Alexandria’s Home Decorating Festival.

Murder, She Barked by Krista Davis