Excerpt: 'To Have and to Kill' By Mary Jane Clark

Dec. 29, 2010 — -- Bestselling author Mary Jane Clark introduces readers to a new protagonist, Piper Donovan, in her newest book, "To Have and to Kill."

After struggling as an actress, 27-year-old Donovan moves home to help out in her mother's bakery. But a mysterious murder quickly interrupts her quiet life, and Donovan soon finds herself right in the thick of things.

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Read an excerpt of the book below and then check out the "GMA" Library for more great reads.

Mother and daughter worked, side by side, in the kitchen of The Icing on the Cupcake. Piper Donovan mixed buttercream while her mother poured smooth batter into round baking pans. The front of the store was closed, the shelves emptied of the rolls, Danishes, and coffee cakes eagerly purchased by the morning's many customers. The ever-present aroma of sweet delights wafted throughout the building.

With her long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, Piper stood at the table laden with bricks of butter, cartons of eggs, and bags of flour and sugar. She picked up a flower nail—a thin, two-inch-long metal rod with a small, round platform affixed to the end—and secured a square of parchment paper to it. Holding the flower nail in one hand, she applied firm and steady pressure to the plump bag she held with the other. Piper concentrated on the stream of stiff buttercream icing that oozed out from the piping tip and fashioned it into an acorn shape on top of the parchment. Then, pick¬ing up another decorating bag, with a different tip, she piped a wide strip as she turned the nail, cloaking the top of the acorn completely. Piper slowly spun the nail, making longer petals that overlapped again and again. When she reached the bottom, she had created a perfect yellow rose.

She repeated the process over and over, gently sliding the parchment squares with the finished roses onto baking sheets before storing them in the refrigerator.