Take a remote Vermont estate. Add the owner, a famous cookbook author. Mix in six contestants for a TV bake-off show, a flashy new cohost and a team of technicians. Beat with a mixer, while simultaneously pouring in a murder and dark family secrets.
The result is a a perfectly concocted culinary mystery that is sure to send readers to the kitchen to at least whip up a batch of brownies—once they know who done it, of course.
Betsy Martin welcomes contestants to her ancestral home, Grafton, every year to film “Bake Week,” a takeoff on the “Great British Baking Show.” It’s definitely not “Hell’s Kitchen.” Betsy runs a genteel program, thank you very much.
This year, however, the producers have brought in the crass Archie Morris, another celebrity baker, to share the reins with her. Betsy is not pleased. Then, from day one, things go wrong on the set. The contestants start to spiral out of control. A violent rain storm that cuts off Grafton from the rest of the world is the icing on this collapsing cake.
The story is told in alternating chapters, from the point of view of the varied contestants and Betsy. The group includes Stella, a former journalist who took up baking to recover from a trauma. Pradyumna invented an app, sold it for a fortune, and bakes to find fulfillment in his life. Lottie, a retired nurse, has been baking all her life, while Hannah is the pretty young pie-making star at a Minnesota diner. Peter restores old buildings, and sees Grafton’s architectural secrets. Gerald is a math teacher with an intense attention to detail that proves to be very useful.
The Golden Spoon features an intriguing setting, absorbing characters and platefuls of yummy confections. Cozy mystery lovers will eat it up.
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