Rach's Reading Club

Apologies, my inner editor is out to lunch for the time being, so I've written a short story rather than a summary.

"Baking Bad - a Cozy Mystery (with Dragons): Tea, dragons, and murder - a funny cozy mystery with a scaly twist." (A Beaufort Scales Mystery Book 1)  

Overview: This story is what the long subtitle says and more. The story takes place current day in a fictional northern England country village and revolves around a delightful group of "women of a certain age" (and a few younger women as well). They comprise the Women’s Institute of Toot Hansell – a relatively large group who get together for tea...and almost nothing else. You get to glimpses of many of the members, but the story follows two main (human) characters, Alice and Miriam, who are complete opposites and therefore the closest of friends. Miriam is "sensitive," which is why she was the first to befriend the two dragons who also spend a lot of time having tea with the WI, or at least Miriam and/or Alice. Obviously, not everyone can see the dragons; humans don't see things they aren't expecting to see, and also, dragon scales have camouflaging abilities. But the women of the WI are all friendly with the dragons and treat them like they would another neighbor.
         In this story, the women of the WI are preparing for the village fete with their vicar when he is murdered in his home. The WI (but mainly Alice, Miriam, and the dragons) can't leave the investigating to the police, and chaos ensues. Chaos, and many opportunities for tea...and cakes, scones, biscuits.

What I liked most: I loved the characters in this story. They are well defined and relatable. The police officer who becomes more involved with the WI than she'd have preferred is great, with her eagerness to solve the case and her firm control of each situation – down to her inability to control any situation involving the WI. Alice and Miriam are both so relatable and funny, and the two dragons are both very human seeming with their own insecurities – and hunger for tea and as many cakes as they can get. I giggled my way through a lot of this book.

What I liked least: I was hungry the whole time I was reading! Really, everywhere they went, every time two people got together, they had tea. And having tea means tea and cake or pie or biscuits. And not just that, but the reader is told what kind of cake or pie or biscuit they're all eating. This isn't actually a negative. A fun thing is that at the end of the book is a link to a recipe book for the tea cakes/pies that the ladies of the WI baked! I haven't baked anything from it yet, but I've been watching episodes of the Great British Baking Show again

Recommended for Anglophiles, cozy mystery lovers, and "women of a certain age" who'd like to learn more about the dragons of Great Britain.


   

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