Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too (Blackbird Sisters Mystery) by Nancy Martin

Nora starts to dabble into the political realm while trying to decide who will be able to provide the best future for her, a stable reporter or the almost gangster she loves.

Nora is tracking down a friend and stumbles upon a murder, of a man without a shortage of enemies. Asked by a friend to help clear his father’s name, and trying to keep her friend Deliah out of trouble Nora risks her health in solving a murder.

Nora’s world is in delicate shape, and Michael has left her, while Emma (her sister) is moving in to help. In the end, the real murder is discovered the motives are revealed, and Nora takes a much needed vacation thanks to Lexie. The book has some really sad moments, and was not my favorite to read because of Nora’s loss and the twisted motives behind the murder and who the murderer is. However, the ending redeems itself with happiness between Nora and Michael in a nice tropical setting.

Character List/Book Summary:

Nora = pregnant, dealing with serious morning sickness, miscarried already and needs to be careful to keep this pregnancy, discovers who Clover’s real father is.

Emma = working for Larry, moves in with Nora to help her in her current state, recognizes Boy

Libby = wants the three sisters to pose nude for a calendar, upset with Emma’s job and that Nora is pregnant

Michael = hanging out with new guys, has a new “girlfriend”, thinks Boy is smarter than he pretends to be, trying to help his cousin get out of a life he doesn’t want, helps Nora work out the murder, realizes the baby is his once he finds out Nora is pregnant.

Reed = doing a semester in London and not Nora’s driver

Larry Wolmeister = owner of Dungeon of Darkness, and Emma’s boss

Maxine Peeples = member of Libby’s yoga group posing with her sister for July

Richard = crime reporter, offered an editor’s job, wants a relationship with Nora, knows who the father is and says he will raise her child as his own

Rawlins = Libby’s son, Nora’s driver while Reed is away, Michael stopped letting him hang around the garage, knows Clover and her friend Jane, helps Nora understand the background

Deliah Fairweather = event planner, PR guru, police think she is the killer

Lexie = Nora’s friend, and realizes that Nora loves Michael even if he is not good for her. Her childhood past is revealed and Nora asks her to help Jane, because of similar past.

Pierpoint Fitch = clipped Emma’s car leaving the family estate, asks Emma to train him for a triathlon, police briefly think he killed Zell

Boylan Fitch = PA legislature, possible US senate candidate, asks Nora for help clearing his father’s name, comes across as incredibly dumb, hints to Nora that her plumber’s helper is from the investigator’s office as is Michael’s new girlfriend

Zell Orcutt = inherited Fitch Fancy and selling it from the family, opening a restaurant called Cupcakes, the name is to insult what his stepdaughter worked to build after a wild child rockstar phase, found dead in the garden while the auction house is moving items out of the house

Verbena Fitch Barnstable = Zell’s stepdaughter, was a rocker named Viper once, would do anything to let her daughter, Clover, have what she wants. Confesses to murdering Zell to protect the real killer. Tried to poison ChaCha

ChaCha Reynolds = young looking, Zell’s partner in Cupcakes, shot her boss several years ago, was sleeping with Zell once a week, and will inherit Zell’s fortune according to his latest will

Clover = Verbena’s daughter, Cupcake girl, fired by ChaCha, wants to be famous, hires people to follow her around faking being the paparazzi, including her friend Jane

Jane = follows Clover around and does whatever Clover tells her to do, including sleeping with Zell

Darla = Michael’s current “girlfriend” Boy mentions she is from the investigator’s office, man handles Michael and Nora trying to find the missing boy

Mary Jude = food writer who realizes that Nora is pregnant, and tells her going it alone is not horrible if the father is not a good fit

Keesa = Deliah’s daughter and stays with Nora for a bit

Little Carmine Pescara = Michael is helping to hide him while the family and the police think he is dead. Starts a new life instead of the one he was born into.