It’s the tenth year of Bake Week, and cookbook author and “America’s Grandmother” Betsy Martin is ready. The show is filmed every year at her estate, with her as the host and judge. Six amateur bakers come to her home, Grafton Estate, and stay for a week as they work their way through a week of baking challenges, until there is only one baker left to win the Golden Spoon.
But this year is different. For the first time, she didn’t choose the bakers. Her former assistant, now producer on the show, did. And she’s not the lone host anymore. The production company has insisted on a second host, and they chose Archie Morris. He’s also a host on a cooking show, but instead of the warm, gentle atmosphere like she encourages at Bake Week, he likes to stir up the contestants and doesn’t hold back his harsh opinions of their food. Betsy is worried that he will ruin her show. But she doesn’t have time to do anything about it, because the bakers are on their way.
The first day of the baking week is Bread, and the bakers are challenged to make two loaves, one sweet and one savory. But as the day wears on, some of the bakers find themselves struggling. A refrigerator door is left open, almost ruining one baker’s bread dough. And at the judging, another finds out that the sugar and salt containers were changed, making their bake inedible. The next day, one baker turns their stove off on a pie filling, only to find that same burner all the way up moments later, burning the filling and ruining their bake.
But there is more than that going on at Grafton Estate. And that is not so obvious as in the tent, where a man has been killed.
As the bakers start to come clean about what is really motivating them to be there for Bake Week, secrets come out and enemies are revealed. Who will still be standing as Bake Week comes to an end, and who will end up burned?
The Golden Spoon is a dark and delightful mystery filled with secrets and intrigue, as if Agatha Christie appeared as a guest judge on The Great British Bake Off. Author Jessa Maxwell has cooked up a showstopper of a murder mystery for her delicious debut, and I can’t wait for seconds.
I loved how the story unfolds slowly, with surprising discoveries and dynamic characters. The layers of deception and suspension add so much dark fun to this story, and I am such a fan of Bake Off that I could read novels about cooking competitions all day for a week and still want more. Especially when the books are this good. The Golden Spoon works as a statement on reality baking shows and the producers who make them. It works as a really suspenseful murder mystery. And it works as good, old-fashioned entertainment. If you are a fan of any of those, you should check out this book and see if it’s for you.
Egalleys for The Golden Spoon were provided by Atria Books through Edelweiss, with many thanks.
