Title: Baking Bad
Author: Kim M. Watt
Series: Beaufort Scales Mystery #1
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Cozy mystery, Dragons
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2018
I absolutely adore cozy mysteries. There is something about them that is such a fun and enjoyable diversion. Particularly in this world that is insane and incredibly intense. The fact that this is a well-written cozy mystery with dragons was going to pull me in far more deeply. And then there’s the fact that the Women’s Institution are absolutely obsessed with tea and cake. This is definitely not the book that you should be reading on an empty stomach. Or without tea and cake at hand to enjoy the high jinx and nonsense that the cast manage to get up to.
Throughout the entirety of this story, I could not stop smiling and giggling. Every single chapter was hilarious and I honestly could not stop laughing. I mean, not only are there meddling, pint-sized dragons who can’t stop getting involved and irritating the cops involved in the murder. But Alice and Miriam can’t stop there nosy meddling ways either. The fact that Miriam and Alice are elder women with complex pasts who will try anything just made it all that funnier. A young detective comes to a small town expecting to easily solve a murder, but then has to deal with the nonsense that Alice brings along to the table.
I could honestly spend this whole review reflecting on how much I love and was entertained by the WI and their shenanigans. Not one of them is a meek elderly lady who is easily led. Rather, they all have opinions, they all want to help. And even the more clueless of them seem to just get under foot and cause havoc and chaos. I honestly found DI Adams trying to deal with their nonsense and figure out just how the hell to solve a mystery in a small town to be one of the most hilarious things I’ve read in a while. It was such a subtle and English humour running through the words. And I couldn’t put them down.
Even though there are hints as to who the real villain was from the beginning, I didn’t actually guess who it was. In hindsight it is incredibly obvious. Partly this is because Watt was incredibly good at providing Red Herrings and misleading you throughout. But it was also in great part to the fact that I couldn’t stop laughing at the shenanigans. I didn’t even necessarily care who committed the murder throughout most of the story. I just wanted to see what awkward position Beaufort, Montgomery, Alice and Miriam would find themselves in next. Which, of course, just makes me want to dive into Yule Be Sorry all that much more.
| <- The Tales of Beautfort Scales | Yule Be Sorry -> |
Earth and Skye 