Item: Magic and Macaroons
Rating: 3.00
Author: murderbydeath

by Bailey Cates

From the New York Times bestselling author of Some Enchanted Eclair comes a tale of delicious desserts and supernatural sleuthing...

For magical baker Katie Lightfoot, the only way to beat the Savannah summer heat is to whip up some cool treats for the Honeybee Bakery's patrons. But when a meeting of the spellbook club is interrupted by a stranger collapsing on the floor of her shop, mumbling something about a voodoo talisman, Katie drops everything to begin investigating.

Her search for answers quickly leads her into a dangerous blend of Savannah's infamous voodoo queens, a powerful missing charm--and a deadly witch who seems to be targeting the city's magical community. And with the case getting hotter by the second, Katie will have to work fast to track down the talisman and the killer before the timer runs out...

RECIPES INCLUDED

I'm generally a fan of Bailey Cates writing but this one left me feeling ambivalent. The characters remain charming, and I love the Savannah setting, but... meh. It didn't help that the murderer was achingly transparent from the first (although part of it was a surprise, at the very end). Really there wasn't much mystery at all. Cates did have me smiling though when she takes a moment in the book to explain the difference between a macaroon and a macaron; both luscious desserts but utterly different from one another despite the confusing similarity of their spellings. It was a source of confusion when I first moved Down Under, (macaroons, which are the ones made of coconut, are not generally known here at all, though macarons - think oreos made with meringue - are hugely popular), so the aside felt very relevant. I have the next one in the series, but unless it's a markedly more exciting plot, I might let this series go with no hard feelings.

Magic and Macaroons (Magical Bakery Mystery, #5)

by Bailey Cates

Reviewed by MurderByDeath on Sep 14, 2017

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