Book Review - The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

Title: The Golden Spoon
Author: Jessa Maxwell
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2023
 
Description: Every summer for the past years, six awe-struck bakers have descended on the ground of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week”but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin.
 
The author of numerous best-selling cookbooks and hailed as Ämerica’s Grandmother”, Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, although no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. Things go awry as the baking competition begins. At first, it’s merely sabotage – sugar replaced by salt, a burner turned too high – but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
 
Review: “The Golden Spoon” is a cozy mystery, which was marketed as a mix of “The Great British Bake Off” and “Knives Out”. Lots of atmosphere, little blood. If you like mystery, but not the gore and blood that comes with them often, this is your type of book.
 
We meet the host, Betsy Martin, and all the contestants. The are introduced and all have their own chapters, told from their POV. I like that. The book is a very quick read and the story is easy to follow.
 
It is a mystery, but there is not a lot of suspense. For the majority of the book, we follow the six contestants and the host in their journey through “Bake Week”, each with their secrets and with strange things happening now and then.
 
Through the entirety of the book you are wondering who will be the one that gets killed, but it’s actually very predictable. I guessed it early on in the book. Obvious? Probably. The murderer and the person sabotaging the competition, not spoiling if it’s the same person or not, could also be guessed due to the few characters we are following. But are not as obvious.
 
“The Golden Spoon” is a quick read, but never extremely exciting. Good for beginners of the mystery genre. A book with a ton of potential, but didn’t fully succeed.
 
Rating: 3/ 5