TO HAVE AND TO KILL (Mary Jane Clark)

This is the first in Mary Jane Clark's new wedding cake Mystery series.  Piper Donovan, the heroine, is a struggling New York actress who decides to move back to her parents' home in New Jersey when her soap opera character is killed off and acting gigs seem to be fewer and farther between than ever.   Piper helps out in mother's bakery (her name is derived from "piping" cake decorations) between acting jobs and getting involved in murders, in this case the poisoning by arsenic of one of the soap's major hearthrobs at a charity auction.  Piper's mother suffers from macular degeneraton and her father, Vin, is a former law-enforcement officer who has obsessively schooled his daughter in self defense and self preservation.  Piper also has a close friend, Jack, who is an FBI agent and promises to become a major romantic interest as the series progresses.  The mystery was interesting, with a large number of logical supects and a great resolution.  This promises to be a fun and entertaining cozy series. If you like Cake Boss and love mysteries, read it!