Hard Dough Homicide: A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery

by Olivia Matthews

Spice Isle Bakery owner Lyndsay Murray is always looking for new ways to grow her family’s business. But she already regrets agreeing to host the retirement dinner for local high school principal Emily Smith. The tyrant used to be her mother's boss and they did not get along. Six guests arrive for the celebration, but only five survive. Emily starts convulsing—right after eating the curry chicken—and dies soon after. It’s not long before the police are knocking on Spice Isle’s door, bringing the Murray family back into the heart of another murder investigation—driving away customers in the process. Lyndsay can't help but wonder if this is the end of the bakery, even though it's just begun. She must put aside her reservations about investigating another crime, because the Murrays refuse to go down without a fight.

• ISBN10: 1250839068
• ISBN13: 9781250839060
• Publish Date: 19 June 2023 (first published 23 May 2023)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: St Martin's Press
• Imprint: St. Martin's Paperbacks
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250839060

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Hard Dough Homicide is the second book in the Spice Island shopfront cozy mystery series by Olivia Matthews. Released 23rd May 2023 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's imprint, it's 304 pages and available in mass market paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. Ebooks with interactive formats are so handy. 

This is a fun and really readable series. It's a breezy fun shopfront cozy with an appealing and intelligent protagonist, a baker, working with her family (and solving the occasional murder/mystery).

As with most cozies, the emphasis is on the characters and the puzzle. It's a well constructed and easy to read cozy, with clean language and no over the top violence. The addition of a likable protagonist and her family with roots in the West Indies gives the whole a Caribbean flair. It's nice to find a new series with well written PoC in central roles with positive representations. Lyndsay's family are adorable and fun to read and their relationship with one another is sweet and fun.

The mystery and resolution are self-contained in this volume, so it works fine as a standalone. It's not at all derivative, but fans of Sue Minix, Wendy Meadows, and Ellie Alexander will likely enjoy this series also.

Four stars. Book 3 is due out from the same publisher late fourth quarter 2023. It would be a good choice for a mini-binge or buddy read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.