Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murder Takes the Cake | 2008 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 2 | Dead Pan | 2009 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 3 | Killer Sweet Tooth | 2011 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 4 | Killer Sweet Tooth: A Daphne Martin Cake Mystery | 2011 | Gayle Trent | N/A |
| 5 | Battered to Death | 2013 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 6 | Killer Wedding Cake | 2015 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
Daphne Martin just wants to bake cakes, but her small Virginia town has a surprisingly high body count. The series begins with Murder Takes the Cake, where Daphne’s business brings her into contact with a murder victim and she cannot resist investigating. Across six books, she balances cake orders with crime solving.
Gayle Trent uses the culinary mystery format to good effect here, mixing baking details with small-town intrigue. The series wrapped up with Killer Wedding Cake in 2015, giving Daphne a solid run of mysteries built around community drama and buttercream.