Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Atria Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Golden Spoon in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster ALC
Published: March 7, 2023
Summary:
A killer is on the loose when someone turns up dead on the set of a hit TV baking competition in this darkly beguiling debut mystery that is perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Nita Prose, and Anthony Horowitz. Soon to be a limited series on Hulu.
Production for the tenth season of Bake Week is ready to begin at the gothic estate of host and celebrity chef Betsy Martin, and everything seems perfect. The tent is up, the top-tier ingredients are aligned, and the crew has their cameras at the ready.
The six contestants work to prove their culinary talents over the course of five days, while Betsy is less than thrilled to share the spotlight with a new cohost—the brash and unpredictable Archie Morris. But as the baking competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
A deliciously suspenseful thriller for murder mystery buffs and avid bakers alike, The Golden Spoon will keep you guessing until the very last page.
My thoughts:
Give me all the locked-room mysteries because they are one of my favorite tropes when it comes to thrillers and murder mysteries and that is exactly what we have here. Throw in a baking show, giving off any of the major baking competitions we see on TV nowadays and I’m in. These are, incidentally, just about the only reality shows I watch!
This was a fun, fast-moving mystery that kept my attention the entire time. I loved how it started with a glimpse of the murder and then back-tracked a bit to show what led up to this happening. The story is told from a lot of points of view, which at first is a bit jarring, but once the story gets moving, becomes quite easy to adjust to. As the competition gets started, strange things start happening and you start to become suspicious of who might be behind it all…and who the dead body is.
I would definitely classify this as a cozy mystery, even though the murder doesn’t actually happen until the last third of the book. The short chapters kept this one moving, and of course all the characters had secrets. It’s a fun read that kept me entertained from start to finished, and maybe just a little hungry, too!
Audio thoughts:
The audio for this one was fantastic. It’s done with a full cast and I loved it. The narrators were Andrea Emmes, Andy Garcia-Ruse, Graham Halstead, Kitty Hendrix, Kamran Khan, Jackie Sanders, Andre Santana and Emily Tremaine and I thought they all did a great job to bring this book to life.
