Bailey Cates – Brownies and Broomsticks

The first book in the Magical Bakery Mystery series, published May 1, 2012.
Genre: cozy mystery
Cover: cute, makes me hungry!



EASY-BAKE COVEN

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..


After a bad breakup with her fiancée, Katie is happy with the chance her Aunt and Uncle offer her, to work in their brand new bakery. She is a good chef, and she knows she is ready for the challenge of her own place, or co-owned. But even before the bakery is officially opened, a woman is murdered and her Uncle Ben is the prime suspect. Mavis Templeton was a rich old woman, with a lot of power in Savannah, so Katie is sure there must be people out there who wanted her dead. Her Uncle would never have killed her!
Back at her cottage, the little Cairn terrier is waiting for her again, and Katie can’t resist him any more. If no one is looking for him, and he has no tags or chips, she will keep him. And Mungo is quit happy with that. After all, he is her familiar. Katie doesn’t know yet that she is a witch, descending from a long line of witches, but her Aunt will have to show her sooner than she planned. To help her husband, she needs the help of her bookclub ladies, which happens to be a spellbook-bookclub. At first, Katie finds it hard to believe, but some clues and details about her childhood are falling into place. Finally, she feels like she belongs. But why did her parents hide this from her?

With the help of two handsome men, one a hot firefighter and a close friend to her Uncle Ben, who used to be the firechief before he retired, and a reporter who also is a witch, Katie sets out to find clues and the real murderer before her Uncle gets arrested and their bakery bankrupt even before opening day!


I’ve had this book on my wishlist for a few months, and when Felicia gifted me a cozy mystery of choice, I knew I wanted this one. Thank you again Felicia!

I very much enjoyed it. It is the third cozy mystery with a new witch I have read in a short time, but I think I enjoyed this one the most. It was more open about the witchcraft, and what the ladies of the coven practised and tried to work, and I enjoyed that a lot. Also, Mungo the little dog is a great secondary character, who really stole some paragraphs.
The chance of a love triangle is something I don’t really like, but if I were Katie I would also have a very difficult time choosing between them. Still, I do prefer the hot fireman, even though he has no idea that she is witch. I did not really like the pushy reporter Steve Dawes, but he kind of grew on me and came to Katie’s help without questioning her or doubting her.

The story is fast paced, and the reader finds out the same things Katie does. The real killer was a mystery to me, which is always nice. And there was enough time for some private Katie time, like her decorating her new house, spending time on her garden and with her doggie. It just is exactly what I enjoy in a paranormal cozy mystery.

I am really looking forward to reading more books by Bailey Cates, and for this series, she landed on my autobuy list immediately.

9 stars

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian