Bakeries and Buffoonery by Elizabeth Pantley – a Review
Description:
It’s a magical book club! When this group chooses a book, magic happens. The mystery comes to life, and they find themselves part of the story. To exit the book and get back home, they need to solve the mystery and reach The End.
This time, the club chooses a book called The Great Cake Rivalry, because, well … cake! They read the back cover and it’s unanimous. So off they go into another grand adventure into a town aptly named Frosting.
Frosting is a rural town in an idyllic setting. The people live quiet lives most of the year. But in the spring, things change. The Annual Cake Competition becomes the focus of every man, woman, and child. They take this competition seriously. The cakes are spectacular. The festival is fabulous. For a week there are contests featuring all kinds of cakes. The people of the community become official tasters and vote for the winning cakes in each category.
The grand finale is a display of finely decorated cakes, made by the town’s bakeries. The winner of the best design receives a prize package that would make any baker dizzy.
Sadly, this event has been tainted. Once a year, each one different, but all somehow related to this event, a person is murdered. The main investigator is stumped, but that could be because he’s an inept buffoon.
Can the book club help the people of this community figure out who is causing this disturbing pattern of deaths, and stop another murder from happening? Can they figure out why some of the citizens dress so oddly, and why they always wear those unique backpacks? All while they fill themselves to the brim with cake, of course.
Review:
Bakeries and Buffoonery by Elizabeth Pantley is the 4th book in her fun Magical Mystery Book Club series. Refresher: Paige and her Aunt Glo, inherited the grandmother’s country inn, which comes with a magical library. The magical library consists of 8 members, who choose a book, and they are transported into the story, with cozy mysteries that they have to solve. This is a lighthearted and fun series, with wonderful characters and a magical cozy mystery.
The group gathers for their next meeting in the library, choosing a book called The Great Cake Rivalry and off they go on another adventure, ending up in a town called, Frosting. It is a quiet town, but when spring comes around, the Annual Cake Competition becomes the focus of the town, where bakeries compete for prizes. The competition is very serious, and in the last few years, there has been a murder each year, which no one has solve. The town are all obsessed with the wonderful cakes, which include an amateur baking contest, which the group participates in, as well as attending the festival. It was fun to watch all the members of the club try to find clues to the murderer, as well as enjoy all the cakes, and food along the way.
Bakeries and Buffoonery was a terrific and fun addition to this series, with all of the members in the middle of this mystery. There were many suspects, with different clues, as they continued to get more information, including doing their own baking in the amateur contest. I really enjoy the camaraderie between the club, and love the concept of becoming part of the chosen book. I really like Paige, Glo and other members, but of course I loved Frank, the talking cat. There were a number of surprises throughout, which was so much fun and a blast to read. Bakeries and Buffoonery was a wonderful lighthearted fun magical mystery, which was very well written by Elizabeth Pantley. I look forward to the next book.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy supplied for review
