The Piece of Cake series (as Jacklyn Brady)

The Piece of Cake Mystery Series by Jacklyn Brady is set in New Orleans and features pastry chef Rita Lucero. Meet Rita, the eclectic mix of characters who work with her at Zydeco Cakes, and the members of her quirky and unusual amily.

A Sheetcake Named Desire

Sweet Success can be a motive for murder. There aren’t many things pastry chef Rita Lucero hates more than losing. But two years after her marriage to fellow baker Philippe Renier fell apart, she’s still trying to get him to sign the divorce papers. Exasperated, Rita visits Philippe’s high-end New Orleans shop, Zydeco Cakes, to … Continue reading A Sheetcake Named Desire

Cake on a Hot Tin Roof

Pastry chef Rita Lucero’s Mardi Gras party turns funereal when one of her guests is found dead after a public fight with her uncle — leaving Rita no choice but to find the real killer and clear her uncle’s name… Scroll down to read an excerpt                           … Continue reading Cake on a Hot Tin Roof

Arsenic and Old Cake

Blind man’s bluff With business going stale at Zydeco Cakes, Rita Lucero has plenty to worry about. But when the blind trumpet player Old Dog Leg Magee asks for a favor, she can’t say no. His brother Monroe disappeared forty years ago, and now someone has shown up claiming to be him. Old Dog Leg … Continue reading Arsenic and Old Cake

The Cakes of Wrath

Can a pastry chef be too sweet? Rita Lucero, owner of New Orleans cake shop Zydeco Cakes, can’t seem to stop saying “yes.” Even though things at the bakery are busy, Rita finds herself accepting a seat on the local small business alliance—a group full of colorful characters like Chopper Shop owner Moose Hazen and … Continue reading The Cakes of Wrath

Rebel Without a Cake

Bernice swears she just saw the ghost of her moonshiner uncle who disappeared in the swamp fifteen years ago. And when her cousin soon goes missing in the same swamp, Bernice is certain someone’s playing a nasty trick, and convinces Rita and Miss Frankie to help her investigate. They’ll just need to watch their steps, … Continue reading Rebel Without a Cake

The Cakes of Monte Cristo

In the fresh new Piece of Cake Mystery from the national bestselling author of Rebel Without a Cake, a pastry chef becomes embroiled in a suspicious death as a mysterious curse casts a pall over an annual New Orleans ball. Rita Lucero, co-owner of New Orleans’s Zydeco Cakes, is thrilled to be catering an annual ball held … Continue reading The Cakes of Monte Cristo