A little haunting sounds like innocent fun until a ghost plunders your stockroom. Kristie is convinced ghosts don’t exist until food starts disappearing without a trace from the Youth Center storage. There are zero clues as to who’s been inside the building. The security guard hasn’t seen a thing, and the security tapes are mysteriously blank. When the ghost widens his hocus-pocus to include … include Kristie’s office, the gals of Callie’s Cakes jump in to find the culprit before Kristie can get in a whole mess of spooky trouble.
Will the gals of Callie’s Cakes expose the ghost before Kristie’s facility is destroyed?
Cupcakes not included, although recipes for all the delicious cupcakes Anna bakes are.
more
Spooky business is a foot or should I be
saying afloat!! Bread and peanut butter
have been missing from the Youth Center
storage that is run by Kristie. The security
tapes are blank for an early morning time
period and the security guards are off duty
during that time.
Kristie starts to really worry when her office
is broken into and ransacked. Her friend’s:
Callie, owner of Callie’s Cakes and Anna,
co-owner and baker extraordinaire decide
to help Kristie investigate. The three together
present a humorous Halloween time story
with Anna making plenty various types of
Halloween themed cupcake to present to
suspects to get information from them.
Well plotted, intriguing, mouthwatering
book with colorful, quirky, artfully created
characters full of shenanigans involved
in solving a complex puzzling situation.
I was able to relate to the characters. I
enjoyed the humorous nature of the three
friends while they solved a potentially
dangerous situation.
This is book # 6 in the Death by Cupcake
series. It can be read as a stand alone as
the author presents the past and present
together effortlessly.
I volunteered to read Thick or Thief. Thanks
to the Cozy Mystery Review Crew for the
opportunity. My opinion is voluntary and
my own.
Halloween Cupcake recipes included at
the end of the book. Yum…Yum!!!
Trick or Thief is the sixth book in the Death by Cupcake series. It is always a good time visiting with the ladies from Callie’s Cakes. Kristie is still trying to be the sane one, while Anna dives headfirst into adventure dragging Callie along for the ride.
It is Halloween and Kristie has opened her youth center and on the surface things are great. She is helping kids who would have nowhere else to go. Still, she has a mystery on her hands when the security cameras stop recording and food begins to go missing from the center’s pantry in the early hours of the morning when there is no guard onsite.
Trying to keep Anna and Callie from investigating the mystery is a lot like trying to eat only one of Anna’s spooktacular cupcakes. Kristie isn’t very good at doing either. Truth be told, she doesn’t try very hard. The clues keep coming and become even more baffling (and destructive). The ladies need to solve it before one of them gets hurt or their men ( two police detectives and a fireman) cross the line into overprotective mode.
This is a quick easy read. Humor and romance are promised and, of course, as always, they along with a fun mystery are delivered. Also included are recipes for all of Anna’s mouthwatering cupcake creations along with the opening chapter of book seven in the series due out around Valentine’s Day, (which I have already preordered).
Favorite Quotes:
So, here I am, placing a cupcake laced with laxatives on the kitchen counter in the Youth Center in the hopes the thief – who is most definitely not a ghost despite what Anna believes – takes the bait.
Anna is basically the only baker at Callie’s Cakes… Although Callie will claim she helps with the baking, don’t believe her. She mostly licks the frosting off of spoons and annoys the daylights out of Anna.
Logan grunts in response. I guess that’s manspeak for okay, I understand.
“Pumpkins!” Anna shouts before running off into the pumpkin patch…
Several children are clapping and giggling while chasing after her. Their parents look on concerned. I can’t blame them. It’s not every day you see an adult with orange and black tipped hair skipping through a pumpkin patch.
My Review:
This is such a fun and vibrant series of novellas, each delightfully amusing and interconnected yet capable of standing alone, but why deny yourself the pleasure of reading them all. All the major holiday periods appear to be represented in the various installments as well as witty banter, amusing humor, growly alpha men, delicious cupcake recipes, and more than a few mysterious conundrums for the three oddly matched friends to solve.
Kristie doesn’t know what to make of her current dilemma. It’s a couple of weeks before Halloween and she has someone breaking into the Youth Center’s pantry in the middle of the night stealing bread and peanut butter. It can’t be a ghost because, well, ghosts aren’t real. When she confesses to her friends from Callie’s Cakes (Callie and Anna) what’s troubling her, they’re convinced it’s a ghost. Armed with spooky cupcakes, the three friends try to nab the culprit, much to the chagrin of their no-nonsense significant others (two cops and a fireman). Is it a ghost haunting the Youth Center, as Anna assumes, or is this a revenge plot aimed at Kristie?
Trick or Thief is the #1 Halloween must-read this year. Without being scary, this short cozy will have you laughing your guts out. Kristie is the most normal of the three ladies from Callie’s Cakes. She tends to keep “Lucy and Ethel” in line, well mostly. The plot is faster than a vampire biting its next victim but way more enjoyable. I adore this series and this installment is my new favorite. If you’re glum about this year’s ban on Halloween and trick or treating, Trick or Thief is just what you need to get in the Halloween spirit. Plus, there are cupcake recipes. Yum! Highly recommend!
Disclaimer: I read this on Kindle Unlimited.
My Rating: 5+ stars
I love the women at Callie’s Cakes. When Kristie notices food missing from the youth center, Anna and Callie immediately start investigating. They were sure a ghost was taking the food. Kristie is wasting her time trying to get them to back off, so she joins in the hunt. They have their work cut out for them though. The thefts happened in the middle of the night when there wasn’t a guard on duty. Then they found out the security cameras were off at the time. I liked watching these ladies investigate without letting their boyfriends know what they were doing. So funny.
The hardest part of reading this book was hearing about all the cupcakes. They sounded so good, I wanted one – or three. Thank goodness there were recipes at the end of the book.
This is a quick mystery that you won’t want to miss. It is humourous with light romance and wonderful characters.
I received a complimentary copy of Trick or Thief that I am voluntarily reviewing.
This is the 6th book in the series, but it stands alone well. I haven’t read any of the rest of the series, but it wasn’t hard to follow what was happening. I love reading “in season,” so this very much got me in the mood for fall and Halloween. I must admit that I thought at first by the dialogue that this book would be too juvenile for me—the main characters are in their early 20s (and they speak that way) and I’m 59. In some books and writing styles, that’s inconsequential, but I was a little slow to warm up to these characters. However, I was soon engrossed in the story and caring about the characters; I ended up really liking the book. The mystery itself was a little odd and thus the resolution of it was a bit of a stretch, but I enjoyed the journey with the characters and would read more in this series. I was provided a copy of this book, but these opinions are my own.
I enjoyed this fast and fun cozy mystery that immediately captivated me and kept me totally involved in all that was happening until I read the last word. I love Kristie, Anna and Callie and “Trick or Thief” is the perfect read for this time of year. Even though this is the sixth book in the Death by Cupcake series, it is the first I have read and I had no problem reading it as a standalone. I am so intrigued by these gals that I need to read all of the books so I don’t miss out on any of their fun. A great bonus is the delicious cupcake recipes. I received an advance reader copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving my review.
Trick or Thief is book #6 in the Death by Cupcake series by D.E. Haggerty.
This is a nice, quick read. There are 3 friends and this story is told from Kristie’s point of view. This series doesn’t have a protagonist and 2 sidekicks. Depending on the book, the lead rotates among the friends.
I like that a lot of the book focused on the Youth Center and the Halloween activities that were held for the kids. There are a lot of recipes in the back that I plan to try.
I found the way Kristie spoke about her friends to be off-putting. If this was the first book in the series that I had read, I would wonder about the friendship.
I received this book as a gift and I am voluntarily reviewing it.
Trick or Thief by DE Haggerty is fun, witty, and laughing out loud at some of the things that Kristie, Anna, and Callie get themselves into in this installment.
Can Kristie figure out what is happening without involving Anna and Callie too much?
Kristie, Anna, and Callie
Kristie is our main point of view character with her best friends Anna and Callie. She is a coffee fanatic and can’t start her day without a cup of coffee. Kristie owns and runs the new youth center and is proud of what she has accomplished. What I like about Kristie is that despite not wanting her friends to stick their noses into mystery cases, she can’t help but tell them her problems. Another thing that I like about Kristie is that even she realizes when she’s annoying or what she has said won’t deter her meddling friends, especially when they are on a mission.
Anna is the co-owner and baker of Callie’s Cakes. Where we have Kristie obsessed over coffee, then we have Anna, who’s obsessed with cupcakes. It’s pretty hilarious when these two have their things going with the coffee/cupcake stuff that they end up thinking or saying. What I like about Anna is that even though she’s short, she is full of energy and likes to tackle a challenge. She is pretty hilarious when she’s left to her own devices and plans.
The last one is Callie, who is the owner of Callie’s Cakes and the brand of it. She also works as a professor and is stressing a bit about her upcoming wedding on Valentine’s Day. I loved it when Callie and Anna got a plan going, and they don’t tell Kristie, which is pretty much all the time, and she is playing catchup in the middle of their plan. Another thing that I like about Callie is that she spouts off whatever piece of the fact that she has stored in her brain about something that is being said. When she does that it in the middle of a tense situation, it’s pretty funny since she says it and I can picture Callie smiling.
The Mystery
Kristie’s pantry in her youth center is being robbed of its bread and peanut butter every morning at 4. She has no clue why, and then someone breaks into her office. Kristie, Anna, and Callie are on the case, which is pretty funny. These three are great when it comes to solving a mystery, and I can’t wait to see what they do in the next one. And how their significant others will take it when they once again butt their noses in something that they shouldn’t.
5 Stars
Trick or Thief by DE Haggerty is my first book from her, and I wish I had found her sooner. Ms. Haggerty’s writing is hilarious, and I love this series. I love Kristie, Anna, and Callie. The best part is that you don’t have to have read any of the first five to jump right on in with this wacky trio. Another thing that I love about this book is the chapter titles are hilarious. I am giving it five stars and recommending it as a quick Halloween read for this fall season or for whenever you want to.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Great Escape Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Trick or Thief by DE Haggerty.
Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness
If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.
Though I’ve not read the previous books in the Death by Cupcake series, I really enjoyed this Halloween short story and felt like I already knew the characters despite it being my first time meeting them!
Halloween is my favourite holiday so I really enjoyed this holiday short story, it was quirky, funny and though there is no murder but instead a thief at the youth centre you soon realise there is more afoot than just stealing food from the pantry and something more sinister!
This was a quick holiday read that has some really tasty recipes at the end!
4 stars
I enjoy reading holiday themed cozy mystery books, and Trick or Thief helped me get in the mood for Halloween. Though I’ve not read the other books in the Death by Cupcake series, I enjoyed this short Halloween story. Since it’s a quick read, there’s not a lot of insight into the characters, but you can quickly figure out the dynamics of the relationships. If you’ve read the series, I’m sure you already know a lot about the characters!
The mystery isn’t a murder…in this case, it’s burglary! But the only things that go missing are bread and peanut butter. Well, once that little mystery is wrapped up, we find out that it’s tied to something a bit more sinister.
I thought that the Halloween party was cute, and I admire Kristie’s determination in working with at risk youth. This is a charming, quick read, so if you’re in the mood for Halloween, give Trick or Thief a read!
Spending time with the gang from the Death by Cupcake series is always entertaining, and Trick or Thief was no different. I always get such a kick out of the shenanigans that Anna, Callie, and Kristie find themselves in- it makes wish I was their friend and could join in on the fun!
This time they’re intent on tracking down the person/s, (or spirit!), causing havoc at the youth center.
Like Anna, I was kind of hoping there was something supernatural involved in what was happening at the youth center, sadly that wasn’t the case. And I was kind of bummed when things came to light and we found out who really was responsible!
Somehow or another these 3 always end up, intentionally or not, deliberately or not, solving the mystery/crime, much to the dismay of their significant others. It’s such a comedy of errors that things always works out for them.
It should be interesting when Callie’s wedding day rolls around- the men are going to have to put the ladies in lockdown!