Scottsdale, Arizona, may not be the liveliest place on earth, but it’s never been as dead as this. Hundreds of fans have gathered together for the first annual Old Town Zombie Walk, and Mel, Angie, and the Fairy Tale Cupcake crew are donning their best undead attire to sell some horror-themed desserts to the hungry hordes.
But the fun turns to fright when Mel finds a real dead body in a prop casket outside of the bakery’s truck—and the corpse looks alarmingly like a zombie of their own. Knowing that Joe, Angie’s brother and Mel’s former flame, has been working on a dangerous mob case, Mel worries that the murder is a hit gone wrong and that someone near and dear was the real target. To keep any of her friends from winding up six feet under, Mel will do whatever it takes to find a killer—no matter how scary things get...
INCLUDES RECIPES
What does
this have to do with DARK CHOCOLATE DEMISE?
Well, given that the book is set against a zombie walk, I had to do a
whole lot of confronting my fears while I was writing it, the first fear being
that of the undead. I don’t like
zombies! I tried to watch the first
episode of The Walking Dead and got
so scared I had to leave the room and watch the show from the hallway with one
eye open.
On the
off chance you haven’t seen any zombies in movies or on TV, let me warn you now
that they are not an attractive people.
Their complexion is a bloodless shade of gray, their eyes are sunken
into their sockets, they are generally splattered with blood and in many cases
they have gaping, oozing wounds. Not the
sort of guy or gal you want to bring home to meet the family.
When I
was in the thick of writing about zombies and reading up on their sudden
popularity, I got to scroll through bazillions of pictures of the undead. My favorites were the zombie bride and grooms
as they still seemed to have a certain optimism about them.
I did
learn a few things about the current climate of zombie loving that is
happening. Several sources theorized
that the zombie is popular because he’s kind of slow, he’s not very bright, and
in an apocalyptical situation this gives even the most average Joe a fighting
chance against the zombie, unlike say a plague that just spreads randomly
through the population. The other thing
about zombies that appeals is that there is a sense that if the zombies are
eradicated then humanity can start over whereas if the planet is decimated by a
nuclear weapon all life could be destroyed and there is no do over.
While I
was doing the research, it did become very clear, that a zombie event does lend
itself quite perfectly to a murder and with my hooligans cheering me on, I
overcame my fear and actually had a lot of fun writing the seventh Cupcake
Bakery mystery, DARK CHOCOLATE DEMISE, which finds a zombified Mel and Angie in
a fresh batch of trouble. Scottsdale, Arizona,
may not be the liveliest place on earth, but it’s never been as dead as this.
Hundreds of fans have gathered together for the first annual Old Town Zombie
Walk, and Mel, Angie, and the Fairy Tale Cupcake crew are donning their best
undead attire to sell some horror-themed desserts to the hungry hordes.
But the fun turns to fright when Mel finds a real dead body in a prop casket outside of the bakery’s truck—and the corpse looks alarmingly like a zombie of their own. Knowing that Joe, Angie’s brother and Mel’s former flame, has been working on a dangerous mob case, Mel worries that the murder is a hit gone wrong and that someone near and dear was the real target. To keep any of her friends from winding up six feet under, Mel will do whatever it takes to find a killer—no matter how scary things get...
But the fun turns to fright when Mel finds a real dead body in a prop casket outside of the bakery’s truck—and the corpse looks alarmingly like a zombie of their own. Knowing that Joe, Angie’s brother and Mel’s former flame, has been working on a dangerous mob case, Mel worries that the murder is a hit gone wrong and that someone near and dear was the real target. To keep any of her friends from winding up six feet under, Mel will do whatever it takes to find a killer—no matter how scary things get...
So, go get your zombie on and come with me on the latest adventure of
the cupcake gang!
Happy Reading,
Jenn
