Yet another food related cosy mystery I came across following how much I enjoyed Cheddar off Dead. This one was just over 2 hours long and an easy listen for during work hours.
I'll admit though, it wasn't as memorable. I listened to Baking and Entering a few weeks ago now and I am struggling to remember anything at all. It is coming back to me as I read through the synopsis, but I think that goes to show how disappointed I am following the book despite it being a fun few hours.
In this book we follow Maggie, a lady who has recently inherited a house and doughnut shop from her late aunt as she tries to solve a murder which happened in the alley behind her bakehouse.
Along the way we meet some interesting characters such as Ruby, who is a very forceful and overbearing character compared to Maggie who comes across quite meekly, as well as Orson who was up until his hire a prime suspect in the murder. We also see a potential romance spark between Maggie and the police chief whom she was childhood friends with.
This was one of those books that you wanted to be short and sweet in a balanced way, and yet this seemed to be heavy on the sweet and way too short. The mystery was wrapped up very quickly and didn't seem to progress in any way that could be followed. It was a case of look at this small get together with these bunch of people who vaguely know each other and came in for doughnuts, oh the murderer confessed! It happened so quickly that I'm not actually sure who the murderer is as something else must have caught my attention for a second as we went from something about an umbrella to the epilogue.
I didn't really like how Maggie interacted with her 'suspects'. The treatment of Orson was awful and while I don't blame his reaction to the accusations, I also thought he was overly harsh in his response. She did feel guilty and that is absolutely the reason why he got some free doughnuts, but the progression between how he reacted with smacking his boots against the window and the confrontation and then ending with him getting a job with the women didn't sit well with me. His behaviour was aggressive and quite intimidating. I wouldn't have let him in at all, but Maggie let him in and then gave him a job, she's way too trusting and rewarded a disgruntled man's behaviour, who quite frankly has always been awful to her since her move to town. He demanded freebies every day and I appreciate he is low on money and scrounges in the rubbish for items to sell and him now getting a job was cute, but he was not a character that gave me good vibes. This was solely down to the progression of his particular arc. If more time was given for redemption and trust to be built I'd have felt less iffy about it, but we snapped our fingers and became friends.
Same was done with Ruby. She waltzed in one day, basically took over the bakery from nowhere because she helped out Maggie's aunt one time and did not take no for an answer. She pushed for changes she had no right to make, I.E the lunch special, and put her foot down about shopping for the ingredients to make it happen. I was sitting there going 'woah hold fire!', Maggie didn't know her, she could be doing anything to that food. It's down to the owner to purchase goods, she was way too in your face and suspicious from the get go and yet Maggie was having spaghetti and wine like an old friend with her by the end of the first day. She wasn't even sure she liked Ruby and yet let her walk all over her. It was a bizarre introduction and one that came out of nowhere. We had established the scene and the characters and then boom, curveball, here comes Ruby to progress things aggressively. She'll grow on me as I work through the series and maybe this book deserves a re-listen, but right now was was an unwelcome addition, that or she needed a better intro to the story.
In terms of cosy food related mysteries this wasn't a big one that focused on the food like some of the others. Maggie didn't eat doughnuts to relax, she didn't share any recipes, and it just seemed like a backdrop was all, there wasn't enough food.
Overall I give Baking and Entering a 5/10. It was sweet and cosy which is what I wanted, but it was also pretty meh. I hope they improve as I go along as while this was an okay introduction, it was also a fairly meek book.
Have you read this book? Got any foodie mysteries to recommend? Leave a comment on my socials!
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