Just For Fun / Amelia Black Mysteries

The Amelia Black Mysteries is a series of Cozy Mystery novels written by Taylor Parker under the pen name of Fiona Kimberly.

Coleware, Mississippi has one particular hotspot in its lovely, if not a bit boring town, and that is the bakery owned by Amelia Black. There people can get together, hang out, and share their woes with her. Amelia loves her bakery, especially with her talent whenever it comes to cakes. True, her well-meaning but obnoxious father may try a bit too hard to get her into the world of dating, and her cats Flour and Sugar can get themselves into more mischief than cats probably should, but her life is stable all the same. But soon enough, her beloved cakes ends up mixing her into various murder investigations all over town.

Works

• #01: Murder and an Angel Food Cake (1998)
• #02: Murder and a Cheesecake (1999)
• #02.5^* By release date order, this would actually be #19.5, but as a prequel, it is set here. "Murder and a Christmas Cake" (2017)
• #03: Murder and a Sponge Cake (2002)
• #04: Murder and a Fruit Cake (2003)
• #05: Murder and a Chocolate Cake (2003)
• #06: Murder and a Coffee Cake (2004)
• #07: Murder and a Red Velvet Cake (2005)
• #08: Murder and a Yule Log (2006)
• #08.5: "Murder and a Cupcake" (2006)
• #09: Murder and a Genoise Cake (2009)
• #10: Murder and a Bundt Cake (2010)
• #11: Murder and an Ice Cream Cake (2011)
• #12: Murder and a Christmas Rum Cake (2012)
• #13: Murder and a Devil's Food Cake (2013)
• #13.5: "Murder and a Carrot Cake" (2014)
• #14: Murder and an Upside-Down Cake (2016)
• #15: Murder and a Vegan Cake (2016)
• #16: Murder and a Cranberry Cake (2017)
• #17: Murder and a Hummingbird Cake (2018)
• #18: Murder and a Marble Cake (2019)
• #19: Murder and a Wedding Cake (2019)
• #20: Murder and a Birthday Cake (2020)
• #21: Murder and a Black Forest Cake (2021)
• #21.5: "Murder and a Snowflake Cake" (2021)
• #22: Murder and a Cookie Cake (2022)
• #23: Murder and a Pound Cake (202x)

^Explanation: This is not a real book series. This is meant to be a series that exists In-Universe of my book series (if I ever get it off the damn ground), The Jonas Jacoby Mysteries. I will be adding various tropes and summaries myself, but if you have an idea for something, shoot me a message and we can discuss if it will go here.

This series contains examples of the following tropes:

• Artistic Licence: Just... everything Thomas says about anti-virus software and how it works in book 18 (Murder and a Marble Cake).
• Asshole Victim:
  • Brandon Webb from Angel Food Cake, a vandal and Lazy Bum who died blackmailing the murderer for money.
  • Murray Hansen from Fruit Cake. The guy was a mean old grump without a kind word for anyone.
  • Downplayed with Sawyer Hennessy from Chocolate Cake. She was certainly rude to her staff, but her killer's motive is far more selfish than she ever was.
  • Theo Cunningham from Yule Log, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who made an already harsh business into an abusive shell willing to do anything to save a couple bucks.
    • Ingrid Maddox from the same book, framing her so-called best friend out of petty jealousy.
• Bludgeoned to Death: Michael Neptune of Murder and a Cookie Cake is murdered by having his head beaten in with a hockey stick.
• Boom, Headshot!: Isla Shaw from and a Bundt Cake.
• Christmas Episode: Every fourth book in the series acts as one. This also applies to "Murder and a Christmas Cake" and "Murder and a Snowflake Cake".
• Continuity Snarl: Murder and a Wedding Cake features a line of dialogue saying Dr. Best is getting a small amount of viral fame after moving to Los Angeles, doing emergency dental work on Hugh Laurie and getting a bit part on House as a thank you. That's a hell of a feat, considering Dr. Best was murdered in Murder and an Ice Cream Cake^note Furthermore, it's said he was in "the latest episode of House", which doesn't work in its own right as House had been off the air for at least six years before the book was even written.
• Death by Falling Over: Poppy Williams from "Murder and a Cupcake".
• Disney Villain Death:
  • Sawyer Hennessy is thrown from her hotel's balcony in Murder and a Chocolate Cake.
  • Ingrid Maddox dies when the harness keeping her on her roof while she decorates for Christmas is cut, sending her falling to her death. By her own design, as it turns out.
• Entitled to Have You: The killer's motive for Sawyer's murder in Murder and a Chocolate Cake. Nathan Newman honestly believed that just because the things he did for her (i.e., the things that were part of his job) were nice, he had earned the right to sleep with her. She naturally refused, and he threw her off the balcony in a fit of rage.
• Frame-Up: Murder and a Yule Log.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every story in the series starts with "Murder and a(n)" followed by a cake that is relevant to the plot.
• Love Triangle: For a majority of the series, Amelia is in one with Detective later Chief Jordan Massey and Dr. Harry Adam's. She ends up marrying Craig Vance, an old classmate of hers from college.
• Murder-Suicide: Revealed to be the case in Murder and a Yule Log.
• Pen Name: Sawyer Hennessy is one in Murder and a Chocolate Cake: her real name is Ava Rogers.
• Plot Hole: Murder and a Vegan Cake does show that Juan Clayton was trying to siphon off money for a protection fund, but the book never really explains how Ismael Moore fit into it or otherwise what the hell he was supposed to get out of the murders.
• Staircase Tumble: This is how Connor Green meets his end in Cheesecake.
• Tampering with Food and Drink:
  • The killer of Fruit Cake murders Murray Hansen by poisoning the fruit cake Amelia delivers to him.
  • Theo Cunningham meets his end through arsenic-laced wine in Murder and a Yule Log.
  • The murderer of Murder and a Vegan Cake (Ismael Moore, specifically), poisons Professor Lancaster by slipping oleander in his coffee.
• Wedding Episode: Murder and a Wedding Cake, natch.
• Wham Episode:
  • Murder and an Upside-Down Cake, where Amelia finally decides to marry Craig Vance.
• You Killed My Father: The motive for Dillon and Liam in Murder and a Pound Cake, as they wanted to frame Amelia for getting their father Juan, one of the killers in Murder and a Vegan Cake killed when he crashed the car he and Ismael Moore were driving to escape the cops crashed.

YMMV Tropes:

• Fandom Rivalry: Has its share of disdain from fans of the Hannah Swensen series, who figure the Amelia Black books are a cheap ripoff.^note They were actually part of the inspiration of this page.
• Jumping the Shark: Many of the series' fans consider Murder and an Upside-Down Cake to be this, feeling Amelia's sudden romance with Craig is too out-of-nowhere and a copout to the long-standing Love Triangle.