This is the first book I have read in the Five-Ingredient series. But I loved it so much that I will definitely go back and read the earlier books. What a wonderful cozy mystery. The characters are well developed, the storyline is intriguing, and the mystery will have you guessing until the end. Grandpa and Val are a wonderful duo and I loved their relationship. This particular book was a treat in that the characters participating in the Deadly Desserts bake-off as part of the Maryland Mystery Fan Fest prepared desserts by pretending to be unique characters (Nero Wolfe’s gourmet cook, Fritz; Lord Peter Winsey’s valent and cook, Bunter; and Sherlock Holmes’s landlady, Mrs. Hudson). A lot of twists and turns that will keep you invested in the story, flipping the pages as fast as you can. I can’t wait for the next adventure with the rest of the gang.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

For more reviews, please visit my blog at: https://www.msladybugsbookreviews.com/. Over 1000 reviews posted!

Book 8 in the series and still one of my favorite cozy mystery series.

Val and her Grandfather are on the road and staying at a hotel hosting a Mystery Fan Festival complete with Sherlocks, Miss Marples, a bake off and Murder! Perfect setting for any cozy mystery reader. Granddad has been invited to participate in the mystery bake off alongside his recipe column nemesis. Val is there for moral support and volunteering to help at the fest. As soon as they arrive they are clued in to be cautious and watch their backs. Made more suspicious when they find out a murder had happened in hotel the previous year. But as the the fun starts and Granddad makes his spectacular debut at the bake off (look for the recipes at the end of the book) we find out that Granddad's vintage recipe box is missing and the game is afoot. Then Val is woken in the middle of the night to find her neighbor is dead under suspicious circumstances and any one of the new characters she has met could be involved in this deadly scene. A terrific setting and a terrific ending. Well written. Fun new characters that keep you guessing who done it. Any loyal mystery reader would find a weekend away like this delightful. Maybe without an actual murder though. Can be read as a stand alone. Thank you netgalley and Kensington for eARC. This is a fun captivating read. 4 solid stars and I will keep up with the series.

Val, her Grandfather and her best friend Bethany were at a murder mystery book fest. Her Grandfather and two other contestants were to bake a dessert dressed as certain mystery characters.

While they were there they encountered a murder. Val and her Grandfather couldn't help themselves they had to help solve the mystery.

This is the first book I have read by this author and it will not be the last. I really enjoyed it and think you will too.

Bake Offed is the 8th book in the Five-Ingredient Mystery series. Val is helping her friend, Bethany, as a volunteer at the Maryland Mystery Fan Fest. Granddad is participating in a cooking contest where the contestants have been given the role of a cook to a famous fictional sleuth. They must prepare a dessert that the cook would have prepared for the sleuth. Granddad is playing Fritz, Nero Wolfe's gourmet cook. The other 2 contestants are playing Lord Peter Wimsey's valet and cook Bunter and Sherlock Holmes's landlady, Mrs. Hudson. Granddad is not happy about the third contestant, Cynthia, as she stole his idea of Five-Ingredient Recipes and some of the recipes, and pitched it to write a recipe book. When Cynthia receives a threatening note, the festival organizers want her to withdraw, but she refuses. Ending up dead later that night, has Val and her granddad on the trail of a killer.

It was nice to see this book set on the road, it a hotel where the festival is being held. There is another crime that interests granddad but not the police, and that is the theft of his Nero Wolfe recipe box. He is sure that Cynthia stole it, but it wasn't in her room when her body was found. This was another interesting, well-plotted mystery in this series. There weren't as many suspects as in other books, but it seemed they all had alibis. It took some fancy thinking, trial and error and granddad pulling a fast one in a room full of festival attendees to find the killer. I wasn't sure who the culprit was, not what happened to the recipe box, but I enjoyed the reveal and the recovery. Overall this was another good addition to this series, but wasn't quite as good as the previous book in the series.

What a delightful story, light mystery to make your day brighter. Val and Granddad compete in a baking contest. When it turns deadly they try to solve what happened. Loved everything about the book

I'd not read any books in this series, but I was tickled by the idea that a young woman and her grandfather were the amateur detectives. I started reading this on a flight to Washington DC. and was delighted to find that the book was set in Maryland. Val is helping her friend host a mystery convention, with one of the highlights a baking contest, and Grandad is one of the participants. Someone slips a warning message in his conference tote bag, and then one of the participants is found dead by Val. It's not a difficult mystery to figure out, but the characters were pleasant enough to spend some time with, and I do like the idea of a multi-generational amateur detective team. I won't go out of my way to track down any more in there series, but if one comes my way, I'll probably read it. Another squeaky clean mystery.

This is a funny series, the first seven installments are great! This 8th installment was too wordy and I did not enjoy reading this story as did the others.

Val and her Grandfather are helping her friend Bethaney with a Festival that celebrates cooking and mysteries. Granddad is dressing up of Nero Wolfe's chef, Fritz and cooking a 5 ingredient dessert that Nero Wolfe would eat. Granddad also writes a newspaper column with 5-ingredient recipes. Two others participants are doing the same thing. One of the other participants is not nice. She basically stole his column idea and beat him to a book deal as well. There are also rumors and accusations that she sabotaged other competitors in other cook-offs. When she turns up dead, Val and Granddad are on the case.

This was a fun cozy. I liked Val and her Granddad. There are all types of characters and many of them seem to have motives or just seem sketchy. This is kind of a locked door mystery. Very enjoyable.

Val and her grandfather are deep in another mystery at the Maryland Mystery Fan Fest. Her grandfather is participating in a dessert bake off. One of the competitors is not well liked and soon finds herself the victim of murder. Val's granddad is quite the character and adds a quirky element to the book. I enjoyed this book for both the mystery and the characters and look forward to the next book.

⭐⭐⭐ -- This cover is all kinds of yummy looking! 😂

This is the newest installment of the <b>A Five-Ingredient Mystery</b> series by Maya Corrigan. I have read the previous two (both holiday themed) and enjoyed them, so I was expecting to feel the same way about this one. And I did (mostly). I loved the setting of a mystery fest and the mystery writers tie in. The main characters remain likable. And the recipes sounded yummy. Alas, the plot itself seemed a bit all over the place. A lot of characters (suspects) that I had trouble keeping straight. It started to drag halfway through and I subsequently lost interest and skimmed the last 15% or so. 🤷🏻‍♀️ That said, i am still onboard with giving the next book in this series a read. 👍🏻

**ARC Via NetGalley**

Val Deniston has seen more than her share of dead bodies. She deserves a break from her café manager job and sideline catering business. Her best friend, Bethany, is one of the organizers for a mystery fest, far enough from home to require a hotel room and count as ‘being away.’ Val’s helping with panel discussions and is hosting the trivia contest. Her grandfather is one of the cooking demonstrators tasked with making a dish from classic mysteries. His offering is for the famous Nero Wolfe, a challenge because Wolfe’s meals always use the maximum number of ingredients. Granddad, known as The Codger Cook, never uses more than five.

When one of the three contestants is found dead in her bed, many of the mystery fans believe it’s part of the entertainment and the police detective is an actor. Val and Bethany discover the body when they’re awakened after midnight by a whistling teakettle in the next room. It had been a full day with panel discussions, the cook-off, and meals, yet the bar area is like a revolving door as participants are in and out until closing time. The hallways, stairs, and elevator are in almost constant use with witnesses only seeing glimpses of each other, making alibies hard to pin down.

A second woman collapses and is rushed to the hospital, but no one can be sure she was the intended victim. Meanwhile, valuable items are stolen, sabotage suspected, grudges held. Val has a sense of urgency to help solve the case. A police detective she knew years ago is in charge and not doing a very good job. Can the case be solved before the event ends on Sunday?

This is the eighth book in the series. Val had only moved back home to get Granddad’s house sold and him settled into a retirement or nursing home. He refused. The compromise was Val living with him. Since then, he’s thrived. Val is hard pressed to keep up. It’s a nice change to take the characters out of their comfort zone where they know all the suspects and drop them into an unknown situation. The mystery has enough hidden agendas, mistaken identities, and red herrings to give even Hercule Poirot’s little gray cells a workout.

Recipes are based on the board game Clue and include Mrs. Peacocktail, Hot Miss Scarlet Punch, Mr. Green Salad, Colonel Mustard Vinaigrette, Mrs. White Bean Chili, Professor Plum Cake, Nero Wolfe’s Lemon Sponge Cake, and Beerimisu, Granddad’s dessert for Nero Wolfe, a twist on the traditional tiramisu recipe with the substitution of stout and Kahlua for the usual espresso.

I have really enjoyed all the Five Ingredient Mysteries!

This one was no exception, a dead body, a whistling kettle and a stolen book. How could it get better than that!

This is a series I will definitely continue with and have been buying the audiobooks as they are released. I good cozy mystery is always good to listen to while knitting.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

I great read, recommend it.

A nice, clean mystery. Loved the character of granddad having a lead role. Val, granddad, and Bethany go to a mystery convention (great setting) and a panelist is murdered. Suspects abound, family shows up, questions are asked. I really liked the Cast of Characters at the beginning- it would be helpful if all books had one.

Val and her Granddad, Don, are accompanying Val's friend Bethany to the Maryland Mystery Fan Fest. Happy for the getaway, Val is planning on a relaxing weekend helping her friend. Don too is looking forward to the fest where he will be competing in the Deadly Desserts Bake-off. But right away, there is something weird going on. Don's fest packet includes a warning about another of the contestants, Cynthia Sweet. When Cynthia's tea kettle starts whistling around the midnight the first night, Val alerts security who enters the room with her. The pair find Cynthia dead in her bed. She is also missing her rare poison ring, which she'd been wearing at the bar before returning to her room, and a rare box of recipes that she had been "keeping" for Don.

Naturally, Val and Don (who also moonlights as a PI) start looking into her death. Was it murder, or a natural death? And if it was natural, where did the ring get to?

This was pretty good. Lots of illusions to famous mystery stories by Christie, Holmes, and Stout. There was a lot going on too - Cynthia's COD; the missing ring; the missing box of recipes; the man entering Cynthia's room; an attempted poisoning; a missing good Samaritan. But despite all the action, there was no issue keeping all the information straight. Overall, an interesting mystery.

Val Deniston and her Cooking Codger columnist granddad Don Myer are more than happy to help out their friend Bethany O’Shay, as Bethany finds herself somewhat in over her head while organizing the Maryland Mystery Fan Fest. Val volunteers to run the mystery trivia contest and monitor discussion panels, while Granddad will serve as charity auctioneer and, perhaps most importantly, as one of the contestants in the mystery-themed bake-off. Each of the competitive chefs are to take on the role of a famed fictional cook and bake up a treat that will be judged not only on tastiness but on the entire mystery presentation.

Things start getting weird almost from registration, when Granddad gets an anonymous note warning him about the suspicious behavior of one of his competitors. Cynthia Sweet seems harmless, even helpful, but is apparently super competitive, and isn’t above sabotaging her rivals in order to gain the upper hand. Granddad and Val are on alert for shenanigans given the proximity of their hotel rooms to Cynthia’s, but mostly figure they’ll be enjoying a weekend of mystery appreciation with fellow aficionados.

Alas then that Val is woken by a strange whistling noise on the very night that they check in. She figures Cynthia must have left the travel kettle on in the adjacent room and accidentally fallen asleep, and tries knocking first to rouse her neighbor. When she earns no response, she’s forced to alert hotel security. The young security guard thinks that an older lady would be less alarmed by another woman coming into her room in the middle of the night than by a strange man, so asks Val to accompany him. They’re both horrified to discover that the reason the kettle is still going is because Cynthia is quite dead.

The police are called in, as they must be for any unattended death, and Val is surprised to find that her old acquaintance, Roy Chesterfield, is on the case. He’s been promoted to detective, and is more than willing to listen to any information Val picks up while she circulates amongst the guests. It soon becomes clear, however, that Cynthia did not die of natural causes, and that her murderer is still present at the fest. Will Val be able to sort through the many strands of mystery obscuring the truth as to who wanted Cynthia dead and why, before she becomes the next victim herself?

This was another meticulously plotted installment of the Five Ingredient Mystery series, with Val’s cooler head reining in some of her granddad’s wilder ideas as to whodunnit, how and why. It’s clear that Maya Corrigan both knows and loves her mysteries, and I laughed out loud at some of her observations regarding the genre and those who adore it (the “anti-Christies” nickname especially tickled me.) Val and I also share an antipathy to the board game Clue, which is fine for younger people but lacks too many answers to the more salient questions of “why” that are inevitably raised by any crime.

Speaking of Clue, eight recipes are included, all for dishes discussed in the text, many of them inspired by the characters of that iconic board game. The recipe I chose to try for this column was in that latter group, and not just because of the very cool new game art Hasbro recently released for it:

QUOTE
Mrs White Bean Chili

This basic recipe makes a vegetarian chili. Add cooked chicken for a meat version.

4 cups vegetables or chicken broth
4 15-ounce cans of white beans (navy or Great Northern), drained and rinsed
2 cups salsa verde (mild, medium, or spicy, depending on your taste)
1 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning, or more to taste
Optional: 2 cups cooked chicken, cubed or shredded

Combine the broth, half of the beans, and the salsa in a soup pot. Cook on medium to high heat until the mix simmers. Add the adobo seasoning.

Using an immersion blender, whirl the mixture to make it thicker, but not quite smooth. You can also blend the soup in batches in a standard blender.

Stir in the remaining beans and the diced tomatoes. Add chicken if using. Bring the mix to a boil and turn down the heat to simmer it for 15 minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with your choice of toppings: shredded cheese, sour cream or yogurt, avocado chunks, tortilla chips.

Serves 6-8.
END QUOTE

I sometimes wonder how the Codger Cook manages to pack so much flavor into recipes that only require five ingredients. This was definitely one sensational way to do it! You don’t even need to add any extra seasonings to this chili: the salsa and adobo do plenty of flavorful work by themselves. I actually cooked and shredded my own chicken for this dish, using a Mexican spice blend to season the chicken, but even before I added that to the pot, this was a very rich-tasting dish. Even my picky children came back for seconds.

This is also a surprisingly fast way to put together a lot of delicious, filling food for a small crowd. The blending proportions make for the perfect texture, too. I’d highly recommend this recipe, especially for any busy cook who wants to impress without spending too much effort or time.

Next week, we hop just a few states north from my and Val’s homes in Maryland to make a smashing success of a snack while investigating the first in a long-running series I haven’t yet reviewed for this column. Do join me!

Princess Fuzzypants here: Val and grandfather are attending a murder/mystery fest with a twist. There will be an award for the best five ingredient dessert that would have been served to a famous fictional detective. Grandfather is one of the three contestants and even though he receives a warning about another contestant even before it starts, he had no idea how deadly the competition would be. By the end of the first night, the contestant, Cynthia, about whom he was warned, is dead. Val thinks she can pinpoint time of death thanks to a whistling tea kettle that woke her up.

Nothing is quite as simple as that and between Val and Grandfather they add and eliminate suspects as more information comes forth. First they must discover who the various attendees of the fest are and how they connect with the deceased. There are some big surprises when they learn a couple of those present had a close connection with her. Was it one of them? Was it both of them? And why was she killed? In the midst of that there is also a special box with recipes that her grandfather owned that went missing during the event. Who stole the box? The answers to all these questions are explained in a very entertaining manner.

Four purrs and two paws up.

Bake Offed takes place at a mystery fan festival; making it already take place in fun and interesting setting. Adhering to the classic Agatha Christie mystery traditions, cafe owner/caterer/amateur sleuth, Val Dennison helps solve the murder that takes place at the festival. I just love her quirky grandfather who assists her and the way the mystery played out was very smart. If you’re looking for a nod to the classics in a contemporary cozy, Bake Offed fits the bill.

this is my second book from the “five-ingredient mystery” series and from what i remembered from the first time i read a novel from maya corrigan, her style of writing is similar to that of agatha christie’s. their novels are full of twists, turns, and red herrings that get revealed along the way. as a fan of these types of mysteries, i was super excited when i started to notice that not all things appeared to be what they seemed … i admire how val takes the time to check off all her suspects’ alibis, which eventually leads to her reenacting the murder. just as in previous installments, she makes a wonderful team alongside her granddad and i love the way they work together.

the idea of having a bake-off highlighting treats from different eras and enjoyed by beloved fictional sleuths really appealed to me. i thought it was such a clever idea to bring in big names - like sherlock holmes - into the story and it was especially fitting because they were attending a mystery fan fest. however, with so many suspects and attendees, i found myself struggling with remembering everyone’s names. all of these characters made their debut in this installment and it felt like i was being bombarded with lots of new people. having said that, i still enjoyed reading this novel and finding the murderer with val.

Books in the Five Ingredients series are always entertaining and well plotted. This one confirmed my opinion and I thoroughly enjoyed it and the solid mystery kept me guessing.
I was happy to catch up with the fleshed out characters, had fun and liked it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine