When Sugar and Spice Wasn’t So Nice
Okay, confession time! In the name of research, I’m addicted to True Crime books, shows and podcasts. I’ve gone down some pretty wild rabbit holes in the name of research. And let me tell you, the history of dessert-related crimes is WAY more bonkers than anything I could make up! 🍫
In my latest mystery, “Fudge and Felonies,” my amateur sleuth Ava finds a beauty pageant contestant dead next to a plate of chocolate cupcakes (because apparently, some people will literally die for my recipes 😅). But while Ava’s adventures are purely fictional, history serves up some seriously dark dessert drama that would make even my mischievous Lucky’s fur stand on end! 🐱
1 | The Chocolate Cream Killer (AKA The Original Mean Girl) 🍬
Picture this: Brighton, England, 1871. Christiana Edmunds (who clearly needed a better hobby) decided the best way to deal with her past relationship drama was to poison a box of chocolates and send them to her ex-lover’s wife. When that didn’t work out (shocker!), she thought, “Hey, why not poison ALL the chocolates?” Classic overachiever move, right?
She started buying chocolates, adding strychnine (because apparently arsenic was too basic), and returning them to the shop. Several people got sick, and sadly, a four-year-old died. Not cool, Christiana. Not cool at all. 😔
2 | The Bradford Sweets Disaster (Or Why We Have Food Labels Now) ⚠️
In 1858, a candy maker in Bradford made the mother of all oopsies when he grabbed arsenic instead of plaster of Paris as a sugar substitute. I mean, we’ve all mixed up ingredients before (like that time I used salt instead of sugar in my first batch of cupcakes), but this mistake was next level! Twenty people died, and over 200 got sick. Talk about a bad Yelp review waiting to happen!
3 | The Arsenic Easter Eggs (Easter Bunny Gone Bad) 🐰
The 1930s Australian Norman Pether apparently thought regular Easter eggs weren’t exciting enough, so he added arsenic to his recipe. Spoiler alert: This did not end well. This case is basically why we can’t just walk into stores and buy arsenic anymore. Thanks a lot, Norman! 🙄
Modern Food Safety (Because We’re Not Savages Anymore) 📋
These days, bakeries like my Frosted have more rules than a beauty pageant contestant’s diet plan. Temperature checks, ingredient tracking, proper storage – the works! Though between us, Lucky the cat occasionally thinks these rules are more like suggestions. But hey, at least he’s not adding arsenic to the mix!
Why We’re Still Obsessed 🤔
Let’s be real – there’s something deliciously ironic about murder-by-dessert. It’s like finding out the head cheerleader is secretly a math nerd, or discovering your high school nemesis became a “kindness coach” (looking at you, Brittany Westerheide!). The contrast is just too good to resist!
Writing Deadly Desserts (Without Actually Killing Anyone) ✍️
When I’m writing the Frosted Misfortunes series, I love playing with this sweet-and-sinister contrast. Though unlike these historical cases, my heroine Ava solves crimes instead of baking them into her cupcakes. And her only partner in crime is a slightly chaotic Abyssinian cat who thinks red ribbons are his personal play toys!
So next time you’re enjoying one of my cupcake recipes, rest assured the only thing killer about it is the taste! Unless you’re a character in my books – then all bets are off! 😉
Want to dive into a world where the cupcakes are sweet but the crimes are sweeter? Grab Fudge and Felonies today! I promise the only thing you’ll die from is laughter (and maybe a sugar rush). 🧁✨
About the Author
Lisa Siefert is a USA Today Bestselling Mystery Author who writes humorous cozy mysteries. She dedicates all of her free time to testing out different latte flavors at every coffee shop she comes across and has never once skimped on dessert because life is too short not to. She lives in San Diego with Lucky, her own devious but adorable Abyssinian kitten. She excels at recounting every Hallmark Movie plot ever conceived and can also whip up a mean batch of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Her books feature amateur women sleuths that always believe in silver linings despite all of the murderous clouds surrounding them.
