A bottle episode of a book, with all the action taking place at the bridal expo and only four hours to solve the murder before multiple law enforcement agencies descend on the suspects, including Maddy.
The identity of the killer was easy to guess, the mystery pretty straightforward with more focus on the wedding planning details. But I enjoy seeing what the characters are up to, and I was glad to see Carson make a small appearance. I've been liking her. Baby of course is essential to the story as well. I'd have liked a bit more urgency. The time crunch is mentioned briefly and then dropped. There's a possible hint about the plotline of the next book, plus I'm sure we'll get to attend Maddy and Michael's wedding.
Some perfect for fall apple recipes included.

Icing on the Murder by Valerie Burns has Maddy freaking out over planning for her wedding with Michael, so she decides to hire a wedding planner.

Can Maddy figure out who killed Serafina?

Maddy Montgomery
Maddy is attending the bridal expo, which is being held at the casino near New Bison. She and the rest of the Baker Street Irregulars have gotten together to solve the mystery. This one is to keep Maddy from going to jail instead of down the aisle. Maddy is a fantastic character and one that I enjoy reading about. The biggest thing I like about her is that when she knows what she wants, Maddy will go after it. Even if that means convincing Michael that solving a mystery is for the best, and who cares if some people disagree. I would love to be friends with Maddy as she has good fashion sense and always has a supply of baked goods. Except there is the small issue that she attracts dead bodies. I love how mature she got from the beginning and how she actually loves living in New Bison instead of in Los Angeles or anywhere like that.

The Mystery
Maddy and Michael were competing to win a chance to have Serafina plan their wedding for free, with all costs included. They both decided that they didn't want Serafina to do it after seeing what Serafina is really like. Instead, Serafina got killed. The two of them, plus the Baker Street Irregulars, have only four hours to solve the mystery before the FBI comes in and takes over. I must say that I got this one, and I couldn't help but wonder how that person could have done it despite the strong red herrings. The main reason is that the culprit just kept standing out to me, and I'm glad to see that I was right.

Five Stars
My rating for Icing on the Murder by Valerie Burns is five stars. I am in love with this series by Ms. Burns, and I definitely recommend it. It feels like I'm coming home to old friends every time I pick up one of these books.

Ms. Burns included recipes in the back of the book. The recipes are Bob's Apple Cake, Apple Cider, Spicy Ginger Cookies, Grandma Fischer's Apple Walnut Cake, Bourbon Apple Cider Cake, and Caramel Apples. They all sound so good. She even has notes at the back about the apples.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. 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 Icing on the Murder by Valerie Burns.

Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out Baroness Book Trove.

The time has come for the 4th book in the Bake Street Mystery series. I COULD NOT WAIT to read this book. This series, and author, is definitely in my top 5 to read.

Maddy recently got engaged to Michael an she wants the perfect wedding. She is afraid of making the wrong choices, so she enters in a contest to win a package for a well known wedding coordinator. Bad news lies ahead, because the wedding coordinator is horrible and she ends up dead. Maddy and the gang have 4 hours to figure out how she was murdered because Maddy might be somewhat of a suspect and State Trooper Bob isn’t Maddy’s biggest fan.

Great book! The whole series is a must read!

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an advanced copy of this book.

This was a great addition to the series. As a former wedding professional, I loved the setting of the bridal show and enjoyed learning about new trends in wedding planning. I enjoyed the time spent with Maddy, Michael, and their friends as they tried to solve the mystery. I love dogs and Baby is a fun addition to the series, though bringing a dog to anything that serves food doesn’t seem sanitary. This was a fun, quick mystery that had me guessing and second guessing the guilty party until the very end. Looking forward to the next in the series.

I nearly DNFed this book as much as I love Valerie Burns and read all her books since the beginning of the series: the first part it was a bit too sappy, all those blah about the importance of wedding in a woman's life are bit weird especially when you know whom the heroine is talking at.
That said I decided to be patient even if my adhd was protesting and there was a rainbow waiting as it became fast paced and very funny at around 35%
So I can say that I thorughly enjoyed 65% of the book and found 35% meh.
This means my rating is 3.5 upped to 4.
Please not that this is my personal reaction in a moment when I'm tired and need to go on holidays.
Baby is lovely, made wish I could adopt a mastiff (or a Neapolitaner Mastiff even better)
Have fun
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Icing on the Murder is book #4 in the Baker Street Mystery series by Valerie Burns.

Maddy and Michael are planning their wedding. If Maddy can win the contest for an all expense paid wedding, that would be wonderful for them. The famous wedding planner is a nasty person, so it didn’t come as a surprise when she ends up dead. The big challenge is sorting through all of the people who wanted her dead. I love how all the characters worked together to investigate the murder. As good as the mystery was, my favorite part is the characters and seeing how they’ve grown and developed relationships through the series.

Thank you to the author, Kensington Cozies, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Maddy is showcasing her business at a wedding exposition. She’s also entered a contest to win the wedding. I’ve heard dreams from a top-tier wedding planner. However, things take a turn when one of Maddy‘s tools is used to kill the not so nice wedding planner. And the Baker irregular figure out who the real culprit is, because right now it sure looks like Maddie has been set up to take the fall, which would upend all of her own wedding plans.

I really enjoy this series. I love seeing a young woman succeed and finding happiness. I love, baby! Who wouldn’t love this beautiful and majestic creature? But most of all, I love each and every entry in this series. A strong protagonist, acute pup, a murder mystery, and love. It’s got all the makings of the fabulous cozy mysteryn series that it is.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Valerie Burns for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Icing on the Murder coming out July 29, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I read the book right before this one in the series. I’ve read other books by this author, and I really enjoy her cozy mysteries. I think Maddy is a really smart and strong character. I love the food references. The mystery was really good. I think there was a lot of progress. I’ll definitely check out more books in the series!

Maddy Burns is excited about her upcoming wedding to veterinarian Michael Portman and she wants everything to be perfect. Because of that she attends a bridal expo not only to showcase products for her bakery but in the hopes of winning an all-expenses paid wedding from a famous wedding planner. Those hopes are quickly dashed however when someone is murdered at the expo and some of the suspects are close to Maddy. Maddy knows she has to help solve the murder but will she run out of time to do so?

“Icing on the Murder” is the nicely done fourth book in Valerie Burns’ Baker Street Cozy Mystery Series. Truthfully it has taken me awhile to warm up to Maddy as a character – she can seem a bit shallow at times with her focus on fashion and social media – but Burns not only slowly reveals details about Maddy’s past that show why she is the way she is but has allowed Maddy to grow as a character (although Maddy herself is slow to realize how much she has grown). Her relationship with the people in her life really make this book work – that includes her relationship with her 250-pound English Mastiff, Baby who is really the star of this series. The mystery is well done – the murder victim is one of those over the top mean people found only in cozy mysteries but that allows for plenty of suspects. I love trying to figure out who the killer is in these kinds of books but wasn’t quite sure in this one. The ending when all was revealed was well done on many layers.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

I’ve loved every visit to New Bison, and Icing on the Murder is another sweet and satisfying entry in the Baker Street Mystery series. If you’ve read the previous books, you’ll find all your favorite ingredients back on the page: a lovable English Mastiff named Baby, swoon-worthy baked goods, a quirky group of amateur sleuths, and a cozy romance that adds just the right touch of warmth.

Some of my favorite things:
✅ A bridal expo setting that feels fresh
✅ Baby, who honestly steals every scene he’s in

But my not-so-favorite thing?
➖ Maddy’s ongoing insecurities are starting to wear thin. After four books, I was hoping for a little more growth in her confidence—especially considering everything she’s achieved.

Still, this series continues to charm with its mix of humor, heart, and just enough mystery to keep things interesting. If you love your cozies light, clever, and full of delicious distractions, this one’s a treat.

#IcingontheMurder
#NetGalley

I thought this was a murder mystery but it seems to be a book about cake? I’m 28% in and nothing has happened yet. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

This reminded me of a bottle episode of TV, and I liked it!

The majority of the story took place in at a Bridal Expo and all the usual suspects are back. Maddy is getting married to Michael and has a booth at the Bridal Expo, which happens to be at the Casino on Native American land (important for jurisdictional purposes!). She's also positive that she's going to win the contest being thrown to have your wedding planned by a very well known Wedding Planner.

Like all cozy mysteries, NOTHING goes according to plan and the wedding planner is killed by cake tier stakes from Maddy's apron. Since the casino is on tribal land, no one knows who's in charge, leaving Maddy time to investigate while the LEO's wait to determine jurisdiction.

As mentioned above, this played in my head as a bottle TV episode, everything taking place at the expo. All our of suspects are there, all of them with motive, and while it was kind of obvious who the murderer was, people's reasons for wanting the wedding planner dead were one-upping each other in a way I found humorous.

This has been a steadily "good" series, but I think Icing on the Murder is the best of the bunch.

Thank you to Netgalley & Kensington Publishing for the ARC.

Ok! So now I have to go back read this series from the beginning!
This was so fun. I loved the characters and the mystery in this.
An engaging culinary cozy mystery that hooked me on page one.
I hope the previous titles in this series is on KU!

Oh that Baby’s such a big, drooling Mastiff of a sweetheart most of the times, but boy if you need a bodyguard or someone to help with a killer, he’s your man, er dog. I loved how Miss Hannah got a really much better part in this book and actively helped with the investigation. She cracks me up and I just know I’d love her if I met her, what a cool lady!

The Baker Street sleuths were at it again when murder hit the bridal expo and Maddy was trying to clear herself along with an unlikely ally who said she needed cleared of the crime too. The showdown was tense and I was actually wondering what Maddy had up her sleeve for this. But no worries, Baby’s always got something up his sleeve, er paw. I absolutely can’t wait for the next book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Kensington Cozies via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

This was the fourth book in the Baker Street Mysteries series and it is a fun series. This was a very short cozy mystery that was pretty straight forward. I like these characters and was glad to see a new volume, but this one had more about Maddy’s upcoming wedding than the mystery and the solution was rushed a bit (and not as twisty as I would have liked). I listened to the audiobook and I really liked the narration. Maddy is getting ready for her marriage to Michael, but she is worried that she will not make the right choices and she wants it to be perfect. She enters a social media contest with a famous wedding planner because she knows having her tell Maddy what she should want would give her the perfect wedding. Unfortunately the wedding planner is murdered before the contest can even be finished.

Icing on the Murder is the fourth book in the Baker Street Mystery series, but it can be read as a standalone. In this story, Madison Montgomery, a social media influencer and owner of Baby Cakes Bakery (named after her massive mastiff, Baby) is planning her wedding with her fiancé, the heroic and handsome hometown veterinarian, Michael Portman. Luck would have it that the nation’s biggest bridal expo comes to the small town of New Bison, Michigan giving Maddie the chance to showcase her wedding cakes and enter a contest for an all expenses paid dream wedding planned by the famous yet vicious celebrity wedding planner, Serafina. Maddie finds herself in the midst of another mystery when Serafina is found murdered by cake skewers from Baby Cakes! Maddie and her friends sift through suspects and clues to prove Maddie’s innocence, find the real killer, and solve the case.

This marvelous mystery is filled with surprises. There are also some delicious recipes shared at the end of the book! If you love cozy mysteries that highlight comedy, romance, and friendship, you will thoroughly enjoy this story and the entire Baker Street series.

Thanks to Kensington Publishing for providing me with an advance copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Icing on the Murder is a slow-paced cozy bakery mystery. The book gets exciting when they start taping the wedding contests. Serefina's lies and antics caused a lot of drama. She stirred things up, and Michael, Maddy's fiancé, came to the rescue. This was one of my favorite moments. It was hilarious. But it also shows that he cared about Maddy. That scene at the taping proved he is the type of man to have in your life.

It takes a while to get to the murder scene. It happens about forty-one percent into the book. But when it happens, it is exciting. I also enjoyed Baby, Maddy’s dog. To me, he is the scene stealer of the book. Baby is a fierce protector.

Burns has numerous side characters in the story. Each has a personality that stands out. I love the banter between them.

Such a fun series with an amazing cast of characters. Even though the story revolves around a murder, it's light and humorous. I appreciate the bonds of friendship and family as well. Of course, Baby is my favorite!!

Valerie is a fantastic woman and her personality and values truly shine through her gift of story telling. Reading her books gives me the same feeling and snuggling under my favorite blanket with a steaming mug.

This was an absolutely adorable whodunit. I loved the bakery aspect and all of the cozy fun vibes. It was an enjoyable mystery, that was really cute. It had a lot of fun side characters, and I enjoyed their banter and community. Such a fun read and I look forward to add more books by this author to my tbr.

This was a pretty faced paced book, taking place over just a few days, with the murder/investigation/arrest all in one day!

We find ourselves with the happy couple trying to win a free wedding planning session with a top planner at the local wedding expo. Things go sideways when Serafina is murdered.

I figured out the murderer pretty quickly, but it was a sold read and I am looking forward to the next book.

And yes, Baby saves the day and does provide some comic relief throughout the book.