Author: Carlene O'Connor
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book (Audiobook Available)
ISBN #: 9781496730817
Kensington Cozies
320 Pages
$27.00; $13.99 Amazon
February 21, 2023
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
In Kilbane, opinions are plentiful and rarely in alignment. But there's one thing everyone does agree on -- the bakery in the old flour mill, just outside town, is the best in County Cork, well worth the short drive and the long lines. No wonder they're about to be featured on a reality baking show.
All six contestants in the show are coming to Kilbane to participate, and the town is simmering with excitement. Aside from munching on free samples, the locals -- including Siobhan -- get a chance to appear in the opening shots. As for the competitors themselves, not all are as sweet as their confections. There are shenanigans on the first day of filming that put everyone on edge, but that's nothing compared to day two, when the first round ends and the top contestant is found face down in her signature pie.
The producers decide to continue filming while Siobhan and her husband, Garda Macdara Flannery, sift though the suspects. Was this a case of rivalry turned lethal, or are there other motives hidden in the mix? And can they uncover the truth before another baker is eliminated -- permanently.
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Garda Siobhan O'Sullivan is elated when she is tasked with security for a televised baking show. She's hoping to nab free samples and see just how the professionals do it. When it's announced that one of the contestants is a celebrity cook who has published books and is about to write a memoir, the grounds are full of onlookers who want to meet the woman.
But there's a disturbance in the form of a young man who uses his bullhorn to disrupt the proceedings -- which haven't even begun yet. While the owner of Pie Pie Love (where the contest is being held in an old flour mill) asks her to get rid of him, she does her best. But it's not long before there's a tragic occurrence which changes the rules.
Now she and her fellow Garda, including her husband Macdara Flannery, are investigating more than baking gone wrong. It's murder. And they need to find a killer before anyone else is found dead in the mix...
This is the ninth book in the series, and I swear that they keep getting better. Of course, we have the O'Sullivan family members (all six of them) and watch their changes, as we have throughout the series. But this time, it's Siobhan's game, and she's on top of it. Her mind churns even as she samples devilish delights, and Flannery is willing to allow her to take the lead while he searches for facts.
It's obvious that one of the players is a killer; but is it one of the bakers, the owner of the bakery, or even the cameraman or his boss? With things happening around them, it appears that the killer is always one or two steps ahead, and they need to find out why. Watching Siobhan is the best part of the book, as I love how her mind thinks. She mentally theorizes, then uses that to sort fact from fiction.
Although I discovered the killer before her, it's probably because (and I have mentioned this enough to be ad nauseum) I read a lot of mysteries. I look for clues. It makes me enjoy the book more. But finding the killer was enough to make the entire book worthwhile. It was rather sad in itself, but worth the journey. And at the ending, all was as it should be (as of course we knew it would).
Journey to Ireland with Siobhan and the rest of the crew, and you will not regret it. It seems such a lovely place that I would like to visit it someday. Highly recommended.
I received an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Carlene O'Connor's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/o/carlene-oconnor/
No comments:
Post a Comment