annieb123's Review of Macarons Can Be Murder (A Paris Kentucky Bakery Mystery)

by Rose Betancourt

Perfect for fans of Ellie Alexander and Lucy Burdette, Rose Betancourt’s series debut is a culinary treat sure to charm.

Living in Paris, Kentucky, and having a sidekick cat named Pepe le Pew gives Marci Beaucoup’s life a certain je ne sais quoi. Combining her love of baking and France, Marci opened La Belle Patisserie to bring her small Southern hometown a bit of French flair and lots of croissants. Everything is sunshine and macarons at the bakery until her landlord calls to tell her she’s selling the property. Marci’s relieved to hear that if the top bidder, an enchanting Frenchman named Antoine Dubois, gets the property, he’ll renew her bakery’s lease. Charmed by Antoine, Marci figures this development isn’t half bad and sees a handsome new landlord in her future—but then Antoine’s estranged ex-girlfriend Kelly turns up dead in front of her bakery. Sacrebleu!

Everyone calls Marci’s pastries “to die for,” but nobody’s actually died at La Belle Patisserie before. Antoine quickly becomes the main suspect to everyone in Paris—including to womanizing detective Maverick Malone. Who else would have killed Kelly but the ex-boyfriend she was just seen fighting with on the day of her death?

Marci finds out from her landlord that if Antoine is arrested, his purchase of her building will fall through—and her landlord will sell to developers instead, who plan to demolish the building and construct a strip mall in its place. Enamored with Antoine and with her patisserie dreams hanging in the balance, Marci is determined to prove Maverick and the rest of Paris wrong and find the true killer before Antoine winds up in jail—and she has to say au revoir to her bakery.

Now Marci finds herself mixed up in the murder investigation, and she must find the killer before her half-baked theories result in her untimely death.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Macarons Can Be Murder is the first book in a -very- light cozy romance mystery by Rose Betancourt. Released 11th July 2023 by Nonstop ReaderCrooked Lane, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, 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.

This reads more like a romance-y drama filled light novel than a well constructed mystery (even for a cozy). The characterizations are two dimensional and mostly superficial. The main character's name (Marcie Beaucoup) is cringeworthy, and definitely reads like the pun occurred to the author who proceeded to write a whole series around it. The secondary characters are tacked on and just show up and disappear when their scenes are done. The action and plot developments were strongly foreshadowed and there are few twists and turns to the denouement.

The writing is uneven, and the dialogue is a bit rough, but as a first novel, and series starter, it's possibly worth a look for fans of very light cozies who don't mind insta-love and MC mooning like a love-struck 13 year old.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 7 hours 6 minutes and is capably read by Nan McNamara. She has a well modulated alto voice and delineates the characters accurately. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Three stars.

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

Reading updates

10 April, 2024: Started reading

10 April, 2024: Finished reading

10 April, 2024: Reviewed