Book Review for The Book Girl's Book Club for January: Brownies and Broomsticks

Book: Brownies and Broomsticks (A Magical Bakery Mystery book #1) by Bailey Cates

Edition: Paperback

Description:

Katie Lightfoot's tired of loafing around as the assistant manager of an Ohio bakery. So when her aunt Lucy and uncle Ben open a bakery in Savannah's quaint downtown district and ask Katie to join them, she enthusiastically agrees.

While working at the Honeybee Bakery—named after Lucy's cat—Katie notices that her aunt is adding mysterious herbs to her recipes. Turns out these herbal enhancements aren't just tasty—Aunt Lucy is a witch and her recipes are actually spells!

When a curmudgeonly customer is murdered outside the Honeybee Bakery, Uncle Ben becomes the prime suspect. With the help of handsome journalist Steve Dawes, charming firefighter Declan McCarthy, and a few spells, Katie and Aunt Lucy stir up some toil and trouble to clear Ben's name and find the real killer.




Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Review:

Brownies and Broomsticks follows 28 years old Katie Lightfoot who recently moved to Savannah, Georgia to help her Aunt Lucy and Uncle Ben Eagel run their new bakery, Honeybee Bakery. Getting the bakery ready to open shouldn't be a problem for Katie since she has management experience and culinary skills. However, problems arise when Katie and her aunt and uncle crossed paths with the cantankerous Mavis Templeton, a rich and prominent member of Savannah society who was known to throw her influence and power around. At the last minute, she wanted the Honeybee Bakery to host Savannah's Downtown Business Association brunch meeting in two days.

Although, Honeybee Bakery wasn't officially open this would be a good business opportunity for them even if they have to deal with Mavis Templeton. The brunch went smoothly until Mavis tried to short-change the bakery by offering them a check for less than what was agreed on. A heated argument between Ben and Mavis led to the latter issuing out a threat to ruin their business and with her power and influence, it wouldn't be an idle threat.

The commotion may have been over but things went from bad to worse with Mavis found dead in her car. A witness claimed to have seen someone who resembled Ben near the vehicle, making him the prime suspect.

Katie didn't believe her uncle was the murderer and set out to find out the person responsible. She not only received help from her Aunt Lucy and her book club members: Mimsey Carmichael, Bianca Devereaux, Jaida (I don't recall seeing a last name for her), Cookie Rios but she found out they were witches and so was she. That last bit of information totally threw her because she couldn't possibly be a witch and neither could her aunt or her aunt's friends. As Katie was starting to learn about witchcraft and her family's connection to it, she was slowly starting to believe. However, she didn't think magic and witchcraft were going to help her uncle Ben if they didn't find Mavis' killer.

This was a good mystery and Katie turned out to be a pretty good amateur detective using both deductive reasoning and a little bit of magic. Her investigation uncovered quite a few suspects who could have killed Mavis because unfortunately, she was not a nice person. Throughout the story, Katie gained a better understanding of her powers and was learning the basics of being a witch from her aunt and the other ladies, who I thought all had an interesting approach to magic. Katie even has a cute little doggy (that simply showed up on her porch) who she named Mungo the Magnificent that also has a magical connection to her.

Surprisingly during her sleuthing, Katie got additional help from two charming potential love interest: inquisitive and slightly mysterious journalist Steve Dawes and brave and protective firefighter Declan McCarthy. I get a bad feeling about Steve, although he's interesting, helpful and has a connection to Katie and the magical world, there's something I find very off putting about him. As for Declan, I get a calming presence from him and I can see Katie dating him instead of Steve. I do wonder if I'm picking up on something the author intended for readers to notice or if I'm totally reading into things on my own. I guess I'll see by continuing on with the series which I will be since I enjoyed this first book.