Do you believe in fate? Maybe you prefer to think of it as destiny. Or divine intervention. Whatever you want to call it, I’m a believer. Three years ago, I lived in Utah, a world away from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Though I love to travel and had visited several places I thought I might like to live “someday,” I really suspected that I’d stay in Utah forever.

Then my youngest daughter and her husband relocated to the Gulf Coast region and (rudely) took my only grandchild with them. I visited once and fell in love with the location. After my second visit, during which my second grandchild entered the world, I was also in love with the people and pretty sure I could be happy living a block or two from the Gulf of Mexico.

I set a goal to move by October of that year but, frankly, it wasn’t a very realistic goal and by September I’d all but given up on it. That’s when my editor and I discussed the idea of a mystery series set in the world of cake decorating. During a phone call in late September, we agreed that New Orleans would be a fabulous setting for the new mystery series. Since my daughter lived only a few hours from New Orleans, I thought doing the research would be … well … a piece of cake.

An hour after I hung up from talking with my editor, the doorbell rang and the mailman handed me a certified letter. It contained a notice that my landlord had sold the home we lived in and that the new owner had decided not to renew our lease. We had 30 days to pack up everything we owned and find a new place to live. I panicked for a few minutes, and then a very clear thought that seemed to come from somewhere, or someone, else went through my head. “If you have to pack up everything you own and put it on a truck, you might as well take it off the truck in Florida.”

My oldest daughter decided to make the move with me. We loaded up, drove across country, and unloaded all our earthly possessions on October 29th – defying all logic and fulfilling my goal of moving to the Gulf Coast region by October.

Whether it was fate, destiny, divine intervention, or just dumb luck, I found myself in the unique position of discovering this fascinating area of the world along with Rita Lucero, the protagonist of the new mystery series. Rita came to New Orleans from New Mexico and decided to stay when she was offered a partnership in Zydeco Cakes, which she now runs with Miss Frankie Renier, her almost-ex-mother-in-law.

Zydeco is located in a remodeled antebellum mansion near the Garden District and Rita lives in a fabulous house she inherited when her estranged husband was murdered. She also acquired a staff of quirky, eccentric, and emotional cake decorators, and a bank account that changed her world.

In CAKE ON A HOT TIN ROOF, she also gets custody of the ceramic baby her almost-ex found in last year’s Mardi Gras King Cake and with it, the obligation to host this year’s party for the Krewe of Musterion. The party takes Rita out of her comfort zone, and an unexpected visit from her aunt and uncle add to the stress. But things go from bad to worse when local celebrity Big Daddy Boudreaux is found floating face-down in the swimming pool.

CAKE ON A HOT TIN ROOF is the second book in the Piece of Cake mystery series. I hope you’ll have as much fun spending time with Rita, her family and her friends as I do!