Böcker av Mary Jane Clark

New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark whips up a savory and suspenseful confection, filled with murder, mystery, history, and voodoo, in which Piper Donovan must unmask a devious killer striking in New Orleans's legendary French QuarterThat Old Black MagicAspiring actress and wedding-cake decorator Piper Donovan has barely arrived in New Orleans to perfect her pastry skills at the renowned French Quarter bakery Boulangerie Bertrand when a ghastly murder rocks the magical city. Intrigued by the case, Piper can't help but look for the "Hoodoo Killer" among the faces around her. Could it be the handsome guide eager to give her special private tours? Or the inscrutable jazz musician who plays on historic Royal Street? What about the ratings-starved radio talk-show host? Or even the amiable owner of the local Gris-Gris Bar?Though Piper has a full plate decorating cakes for upcoming wedding celebrations, she's also landed an exciting but unnerving role in a movie being shot in the Big Easy. When the murderer strikes again, leaving macabre clues, she thinks she can unmask the killer. But Piper will have to conjure up some old black magic of her own if she hopes to live long enough to reveal the truth.

Its the dead of winter and struggling actress and wedding-cake decorator Piper Donovan is thrilled to be in warm and romantic Sarasota, Florida, enjoying the powdery white beaches, soothing seas, and golden sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico. She and her family are there to celebrate her beloved cousins wedding. Not only is Piper creating the sugar-sand-dollar-festooned wedding cake, shes also the maid of honor.But a cloud seems to be hovering over the whole affair. Shortly after a bridesmaid mysteriously disappears, a kindly neighbors car is run off the road and a prospective witness, an innocent Amish teenager, is threatened to keep silent. Then a body is found on the beach where the wedding will take place. With the nuptials threatened, it falls to Piper to unmask a killer. Could it be the wedding planner with something to hide? A doctor and his wife who collect unusual Japanese figurines? The best man, an exdrug dealer with lecherous eyes and roving hands? What about her cousins future stepfatheror even the bridegroom himself?As Piper gets close to figuring out whos been covering his guilty footprints in the sand, the cunning killer has already set his sights on Piper as his next victim!

Clark has perfected the suspense novel.BooklistNew York Times bestselling author and mystery writer par excellence, Mary Jane Clark kicks off her delicious new Wedding Cake mystery series with To Have and To Kill. A tasty departure from her thrillers featuring KEY News television anchor Eliza Blake (Dying for Mercy, It Only Takes a Moment), To Have and To Kill introduces readers to actress-turned-wedding cake decorator Piper Donovan, who discovers that the heat in the pastry kitchen can be hotterand deadlierthat she ever imaginedand that her creative new enterprise is anything but a piece of cake. Foodies and fans of cable TVs Amazing Wedding Cakes, as well as Faye Kellerman, Jayne Anne Krentz, and Diana Mott Davidson readers are going to eat this one up!

The recently renovated Pentimento, located in New York's exclusive moneyed enclave of Tuxedo Park, is no ordinary estate. Strange secrets have been ingeniously built into its fountains, frescoes, statues, and architecture?clues to a bizarre mystery that is first brought to light when the owner commits suicide during a lavish gala.Eliza Blake, co-anchor of the popular morning television show KEY to America, is present when the party is cut short by the host's sudden, macabre death?and she's the first to discover that Pentimento is a giant "puzzle house." But each piece is leading Eliza and her KEY News colleagues?producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman B. J. D'Elia, and psychiatrist Margo Gonzalez?deeper into darkness, toward a killer who believes that some puzzles must never be solved. And it soon becomes shockingly clear that no amount of wealth or privilege can keep the residents of Tuxedo Park safe . . . and alive.

A seasoned television professionalthe host of the top-rated KEY News morning showEliza Blake has reported on tragedies many times from behind the anchor's desk . . . and she has survived devastating crises of her own. But only now is she learning the true meaning of terror when her seven-year-old daughter, Janie, is kidnapped from summer camp. Forced to suffer through a mother's worst nightmare in the glare of the camera lights, Eliza finds herself trapped in a media circus as the police and FBI explore every avenue . . . and every lead winds up at a dead end.But Eliza isn't going to just sit around and wait for answersbecause every minute wasted in the desperate race to reveal the shocking motives of a ruthless abductor brings a frightened little girl one minute closer to her death.

On the day she died, Constance Young was the undisputed star of morning television. But her plans to move herself and her loyal audience to another network were cancelled when she ended up at the bottom of her swimming pool. And the fabled unicorn amulet that Constance had been wearing during her final hoursa gift from King Arthur to his beloved Guinevere and the centerpiece of the upcoming Camelot exhibit at New York's Cloisters museumis missing.A morning show veteran and now anchor of the KEY Evening Headlines, Eliza Blake is shocked by the death of her former colleague, and is determined to discover who wanted Constance out of the way . . . and why. To do so, she enlists the aid of three KEY News coworkers: "e;Jane-of-all-trades"e; Annabelle Murphy, who can switch from producing to sleuthing at a moment's notice; charming and fearless cameraman extraordinaire B.J. D'Elia to add brains, brawn, and a much-needed male perspective to the team; and Dr. Margo Gonzalez, on-air psychiatrist, who understands the complex puzzles of the human mind. Calling themselves "e;The Sunrise Suspense Society,"e; they set out to get to the bottom of the heinous murder, in a case that will test their ingenuity and their courage to the very limits.The deeper they dig, the more twisted the trail to Constance's killer becomesas the list of suspects grows longer by the minute. Was it her spurned and enraged medievalist lover, or a muckraking author who blamed her for ruining her life? Perhaps money was the motive, and Constance's sister, jealous of her wealth and fame, was responsible. Or possibly someone at Key News was angry enoughor frightened enoughto commit cold-blooded murder. The one sure thing is that Constance Young made a lot of enemiesand now one of them is Eliza's enemy as well. And the closer she and the Society get to unmasking the murderer, the closer they each get to dying, suddenly . . . and brutally.