The crime brûlée bake off

Rebecca Connolly

Book - 2025

"The Great British Baking Show meets a cozy mystery with a contemporary romance and a Regency-era twist When Claire Walker is selected to be a contestant on the immensely popular cooking show, Britian's Battle of the Bakers, she is thrilled. She can't wait to spend eight enchanting weeks baking at the picturesque estate of Blackfirth Park. She can almost smell the fresh pastries wafting through the air as she and her fellow contestants use historical equipment to bring pre-1900s recipes to life. If she can win the fifty thousand pounds, she'll be able to ditch her teaching job and launch her baking career. The Viscount of Colburn, Jonathan Ainsley, is the custodian of Blackfirth Park and an eligible bachelor. With his fa...mily's income dwindling, he reluctantly agrees to host the entire production team, but he refuses to participate since he's had enough of single women who see him as nothing more than a potential conquest. But when a contestant is found dead soon after filming begins, Jonathan is forced to get involved. To make matters worse, the baker's death is eerily similar to the legendary death of the tenth Viscountess of Colburn two hundred and fifty years earlier, which sends rumors racing through the estate. Even as suspicion falls on some of the bakers, a decidedly different kind of heat begins to simmer between Claire and Jonathan. If they are to have any hope of a future romance, they must first solve the mystery before the show gets canceled or someone else falls prey to the Blackfirth Park ghost. "--

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Review by Library Journal Review

Claire Walker is thrilled when she is selected to be a contestant on Britain's Battle of the Bakers, which will be filmed at Blackfirth Park, one of England's stately homes (and the private residence of Jonathan Ainsley, the Viscount of Colburn). Jonathan is trying to keep the estate solvent and would be just as happy if the show filming on his park did not also showcase the historical family murder from 250 years earlier, when the 10th Viscountess of Colburn was strangled and drowned in the mill pond. Alas--or as Claire would exclaim, "crepes alive"--a contestant is soon found dead in the same pond. The estate is locked down, and Claire and Jonathan are drafted into helping solve the murder. The details of the cozy mystery spin out with regular order as the pair logically identify the killer and conduct a courtship on the side, while the baking show continues apace, even as it becomes clear the contestants are in danger. VERDICT Connolly (A Sporting Season), known for romances, ably opens this new ro-mystery series, crafting a slow, charming, sweet fall and filling the case with details of baking, estate living, and reality TV filming.--Neal Wyatt

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