4.0 out of 5 stars
Potions & Pastries is the 7th book in the Magical Bakery Mystery series by Bailey Cates. I enjoyed this book a lot. This series just gets better and better.
Purchase Links: Amazon – B&N – Kobo
Synopsis
It’s been exactly two years since Katie and her aunt and uncle opened the Honeybee Bakery, where they serve delicious—and bespelled—treats to the good people of Savannah. After a dinner celebrating the bakery’s anniversary, they all take a stroll along the waterfront and meet Aunt Lucy’s friend Orla, a colorful character who has been telling the fortunes of locals and tourists alike for years.
The next day, Orla meets with what seems like a terrible accident, but Katie’s witchy intuition tells her it was something more sinister. Together with her trustworthy coven and her firefighter boyfriend, she’ll race to find out what happened to the unfortunate fortune-teller before the piping hot trail goes cold…
Review
When I first started reading the series, I thought the stories were entertaining, but none of them seemed like anything to really “write home about”. But I kept reading the series because I liked the characters. These latest two books though have really been great and I’ve really enjoyed them.
In this particular book, Katie and her friends are trying to solve the mystery of Orla, Aunt Lucy’s friend’s death. It seems like a tragic accident, but Katie knows that something just isn’t right about it. But delving into this mystery almost makes Katie a victim!
The plot was well-written and well thought out. I wasn’t positive about the villain until it was revealed. I knew it was one of about 3-4 people but I just couldn’t settle on a particular person before it was revealed. This book definitely kept me on my toes with guessing!
The characters in this series are wonderful. They’re well-rounded, complex, developed characters who have their own sense of weirdness and fun. I find it very entertaining to read about them! I recommend this series to any paranormal cozy mystery fan! Make sure you start at the beginning of the series with Brownies and Broomsticks in order to understand all the dynamics between the characters!
About the Author
Bailey Cates is a pen name for Cricket McRae who enjoys home crafts like food preservation, cheese making, candle making, and fiber arts. She writes the Sophie Mae Reynolds Homecrafting Mystery Series. As Bailey Cates, she also writes the Magical Bakery Mysteries.
For two years Cricket managed her own soap making business, including all product design, manufacturing and marketing. The recipes included in her first book, Lye in Wait, are all Cricket’s original formulations. She has also worked in a variety of other fields ranging from drivers license examiner to program manager for a major software firm. This fulfills her mothers warning that shed never have a regular job if she insisted on studying philosophy in college.
Mary Ellen Hughes is the bestselling author of the Pickled and Preserved Mysteries (Penguin), the Craft Corner Mysteries, and the Maggie Olenski Mysteries, along with several short stories. A Fatal Collection is her debut with Midnight Ink. A Wisconsin native, she has lived most of her adult life in Maryland, where she’s set many of her stories. Visit her at
, which she pens as Avery Aames. She will soon debut the new 
. Daryl also writes stand-alone suspense: 
and 
Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in “Murder, She Wrote.” She loves to cook, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!
Valerie's Musings 