The sixth Katie Lightfoot adventure, SPELLS AND SCONES,
starts out innocently enough as the Honeybee Bakery caters
an event at the bookstore next door. A popular radio show
host and self-help book author will speak and then chat
with customers and sign their books. Along with her
admirers though, a few hecklers attend the event, and Angie
Kissel in particular draws the eye of the police when the
author's body is found in the bookstore's storage room with
Angie standing over her. Katie's Aunt Lucy and one of the
emergency workers who respond to the call, smell almonds,
and Detective Peter Quinn thinks it's a homicide by cyanide
and that Angie's his killer.
In a brief conversation with Angie, Katie finds out that
Angie used to practice witchcraft but gave it up for some
reason. Her marriage broke up when she told her then
husband about what she used to do based on advice from the
now-dead proclaimed marriage expert. But, more than that,
Katie's Mungo used to be Angie's familiar. And Mungo is
convinced she's innocent and encourages Katie to prove her
innocence. Katie isn't so sure about having a familiar who
used to belong to Angie.
The story centers around the murder, but author Bailey
Cates has other subplots and red herrings going on to
maintain interest. Katie finds out that many people could
have access to cyanide, but which one actually did? On the
boyfriend front, Steve is back in town, and Declan isn't
pleased.
Cates always gives us an interesting story and a little
more insight to the lives of characters outside of Katie.
And, of course we have the clashes between Katie and Quinn
as she gives him clues and he tells her to stay out of his
investigation. While this isn't my favorite of the six
novels in this series, I enjoyed it. Sometimes a cozy
mystery with familiar characters is the only read that will
fit the bill. As a fan of magic and witches in my cozies,
Cates' series remains a favorite.
There's a body in the bookshop in this latest novel from
the New York Times bestselling author of the Magical
Bakery mysteries...
When the bookshop next to the Honeybee Bakery hosts a
signing for a Savannah radio celebrity's new self-help book,
magical baker Katie Lightfoot is happy to provide some
delectable desserts. The whole spellbook club is going to
the event, curious about the book (and maybe to sample some
goodies), but the final chapter comes too soon for the
author when she is found dead at the event.
The prime suspect is Angie Kissel, a former witch whose
familiar was once Katie’s own terrier, Mungo. Katie is at
first hesitant to help, afraid of losing the little dog who
has become so important to her. But after a little nudge
from Mungo himself, Katie decides to try to conjure up the
real killer—before Angie gets served...
RECIPES INCLUDED!