This is book one of a new series. Lyndsay Murray is opening Spice Isle Bakery with her family. They feature food from their West Indian background. A rival baker is not happy with the new bakery and threatens to close Lyndsay down. After he is found murdered Lyndsay becomes the number one suspect. She decides to investigate on her own to save herself and her business. Good whodunit.

As the first book in the Spice Isle Bakery series, it was amazing how fast I fell in love with this book. Between her dedication to her family and the little glimpses into who she was before the novel took place, Lyndsay was immediately likable. Furthermore, these glances into her past and who she used to be really solidified the strong woman that she was in the book. I was emotionally invested not only in the case and seeing her clear her name, but also the bakery itself.

While the Investigation itself moved rather slowly, I appreciated that there were still so many other aspects of the story to fill the gaps. It was lovely to see inside the lives of Lynsay’s mother, father, granny, and brother. Knowing that I would get to learn more about the characters that were so close to Lyndsay’s heart helped smooth over any problems I had with the pacing and slightly repetitive nature of the mystery.

The ending was absolutely perfect given all the information that I had been able to piece together throughout my reading. I appreciated that while I had my guesses, it never took away from the story. There was never a moment where my emotional investment wavered.

This is the perfect cozy mystery for anyone who is prepared to be very hungry after reading. The descriptions of the food were incredible and left me wanting to try so many new foods. I cannot wait to see how all of the loose ends and potential future plot points turn out in future books!

4.5/5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Against the Currant by Olivia Matthews is a new and wonderful cozy mystery from the Spice Isle Bakery series. Matthews doesn’t quite have the rhythm down, but she’s close. It was a delightful mystery about regular folks, and a murderer with an everyday motive. Lyndsay is from a family that has emigrated from Grenada in the Caribbean. They have lived in the same house for years, Mom and Dad, Granny, and Lyndsay. Her brother, Dev, was a lawyer and lived at his own place. As a team they had opened this bakery. She had used her savings, her mom and dad had contributed a lot, and Dev and Granny were minority shareholders. It was the soft opening, Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday, and grand opening scheduled for Wednesday. Claudio Fabrizi was one of the early customers, raving at her for the umpteenth time that she was ruining his business and he would take her down. She responded in no uncertain terms that he should get a grip and get out. All was well, until Claudio turned up dead, murdered. The police thought she was the best suspect and she couldn’t let that stand so she started her own investigation.

Lynds was the shy girl who crept down the sides of the hallways in high school, hoping to go unnoticed. She had gone to college, gotten a degreem and worked in a marketing firm and she was no longer that girl. She kick boxed every morning for exercise and stress relief and she could stand up for herself. She had plenty of back up with her immediate family and her large extended family who all lived in the same community. She was an excellent character and written well by Matthews. Several of the characters were especially strong, including Granny and Alphonso, her lawyer. I expect the others to flesh out as the series progresses. The plot was a good one, but a little weak in the ending. It all happened too fast and was too pat. All in all, it was a terrific book, putting a taste of the Caribbean on the page. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Against the Currant by St Martin’s Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #OliviaMatthews #AgainstTheCurrant

Are you interested in: a cozy mystery set in a Brooklyn neighborhood, where the a new bakery is opened by a family who is beloved to the community?
A comedic grandma and tight-knit West Indian family?

If yes, then you should definitely check out Olivia Matthews' latest cozy mystery release, Against the Currant. Not only will you develop a hankering for baked goods that seem only a short walk away, but you'll also be pulled into the warm family dynamic that helps the strengths of the story linger after you've flipped the last page.

In Olivia Matthews’ new Spice Isle Bakery mystery series, Lyndsay Murray and her family are the proud owners of Spice Islands Bakery, a family business offering delicious cuisine and baked goods from their Grenadian heritage. The community is incredibly supportive, except for rival baker Claudio Fabrizi, who shows up on opening day ranting about putting the Murrays out of business. Lyndsay gets into a heated argument with him, which unfortunately, makes her the prime suspect when Claudio is found murdered the next day.

What a great book this is! The mystery is entertaining and has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. The plot moves along and keeps you turning the pages until the last page, which, fortunately, includes recipes for the delicious dishes in the book. My favorite part, however, is the Murray family. Their love and support for each other is lovely. They are so relatable and loveable, especially Lyndsay’s Zumba-dancing, advice-giving granny. She is such a hoot.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the series and spending time at Spice Isle Bakery.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

My first question is if you can’t bake then why on earth would it be your lifelong dream to open a bakery? You save your whole life and work extra hard to accomplish this goal but again why? That made no sense to me at all...

As mentioned Lyndsay has been obsessed with her dream of opening a Caribbean bakery in her neighborhood since forever. With the help of her family the dream is finally coming true. The business is family run and family owned so the fact that she can’t bake doesn’t matter much because her parents, grandmother and brother can. The problem comes in the form of another bakery owner, Claudio, whose business is in the neighborhood. He assumes for no reason that this is all about him and stealing his business and his customers even though they aren’t selling the same things. After repeatedly threatening her and her family prior to the opening he shows up the day of their soft launch to cause a whole scene. Which is witnessed by a whole lot of people and Lyndsey tired of the harassment puts him in his place. Naturally because this is a cozy mystery he gets murdered later that night and of course Lyndsay is a suspect because.... reasons. The man had been harassing her in life and apparently will from beyond the grave.

Does it matter that everybody, including his own son, hated this man? Do the police use any logical thinking in that if he let the killer in it wouldn’t have been Lyndsay someone he didn’t like? Why would you let a stranger you don’t like into your house late at night? So you know cozy mystery so Lyndsay has to solve the murder herself with the help of her family and community.

So to be fair I think I just don’t like cozy mysteries that much there’s always just a level of nonsense I can’t take. Maybe there just has to be something truly interesting worth me getting invested that is hard to find in these types of books. The other problem for me I guess is I don’t exactly like how the author writes. It’s likely a me problem but this is my 3rd book by her and I only read this one basically to see if it was just the other series that I didn’t like. So I probably won’t read any more of her work but again it’s likely just a me problem. This book wasn’t too bad it dragged as these types of books tend to do, it was just ok for me.

Lyndsay is about to fulfill her dream of opening a Caribbean bakery in her Brooklyn neighborhood. There's a nasty man who runs a different kind of bakery somewhat nearby, and he comes in on opening day and get into an altercation with Lyndsay. Then he's murdered, and Lyndsay is the prime person of interest. The detectives don't seem inclined to look further, so she decides to investigate. Is the deceased's son a suspect because he has gambling debts? How about the woman who felt the dead man cheated her? The Grenadian-American family is very close knit and likable, and they are determined to help prove Lyndsay innocent.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital ARC

An interesting start to a new cozy mystery series. I enjoyed the characters, the food that was mentioned, the cultural aspects, the mystery and red herrings, and the sense of community around the family and their new bakery. There are a few things that took me out of the story that I hope will be tightened up in future books, but I liked it overall and look forward to the next book in the series.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

If you like A Deadly Scoop you might enjoy this book. I really enjoyed the family, community, and Caribbean inspired books but I think the plot was really slowed down by all the details. It was a wee bit repetitive to read about things that happened in high school though it helped give context to why succeeding was critical.

Olivia Matthew’s Against the Currant is a solid entry into the cozy mystery genre. The main character is Lyndsay Murray, the primary shareholder of a family-owned West Indian bakery in the Little Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn. Before the bakery’s hard opening, Lyndsay becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a competitor who is hated by everyone in the neighborhood, While the novel starts fairly slowly, this gives the author the opportunity to flesh out the main character and her family, and to introduce the reader to Grenadian food and culture. Once the plot gets going though, the mystery is packed with many plausible suspects and twists and turns to keep the reader’s interest.

I especially appreciated the culture and racial diversity in the novel, which makes it a stand-out in the cozy genre. I look forward to reading further novels in this series. 4.0 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with advanced courtesy copy of this book.

Lyndsay Murray has long dreamed of open a bakery with her family that celebrated their Caribbean heritage. Just as that dream is about to be a reality, rival bakery owner Claudio is found murdered in his home. Though all the evidence is circumstantial, are the police even looking at other possible suspects or are they just looking for more evidence against Lyndsay?

I'm always on the lookout for new cozy mysteries, particularly ones that are unique in some way. Against the Currant is book one in Oliva Matthews's Spice Isle Bakery Mystery series. It is set in a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York known as Little Caribbean.

Lyndsay, along with her parents and brother, immigrated to the U.S. when Lyndsay was little more than an infant. Sometimes later her grandmother joins the family in New York. Extended family also live in the family. I think this is the only cozy mystery series I've read that features an immigrant as the main character.

This is my first book by Olivia Matthews though she has several novels which are part of two other series.

I thought the premise was a good one. I love culinary cozies and I liked learning about the Caribbean culture. I had never heard of the phrase "She kissed her teeth." I'm assuming it is an idiom common in their culture. I think it is like sucking air through your teeth.

Unfortunately, I found the execution lacking. The pacing was off. And a pet peeve of mine is continuity issues and this one had a few. The timeline was off in a couple scenes. For example, it was around midnight when one scene started and the characters drove 20 minutes home, told their story, called the police and family, the brother came to the house, and then they drove back to the scene to meet the police and it was just after midnight when they get there. Then they go over what happened with the police and then drive back home and it is still just after midnight.

I know this is the first book in a new series so there is some amount of set-up and explanation required but it felt like there was too much explaining of things in the first several chapters and it was repeated a number of times. I felt like I was being beat over the head with the fact she opened a family bakery among other facts. There was a lot of telling instead of showing as well. All of this added up and diminished my enjoyment of the novel. It was such a slow start. We know who is going to get killed and who is going to be accused of the murder early on and I found myself thinking "can we hurry up and get to the murder?" I found it to be a boring read that was a struggle to get into.

Some of the characters have potential. I wasn't overly fond of the main character Lyndsay. I found her to be a little too immature. She should have moved on from high school by now. I know it's hard as I too was mistreated in school, but she's been to college and graduate school and worked at a marketing firm. She's probably in her 30s by now and shouldn't still be thinking of herself as the shy, tormented child. I've moved on and I didn't enjoy reliving the toxic thoughts through the character.

I think the secondary characters could have been put to better use. I was expecting some good zingers from her grandmother. And I couldn't really figure out why Lyndsay's cousin Reena was around sometimes. She is there to be a foil to Lyndsay and she fills that role well but she doesn't have a stake in the business as far as I could figure out. I assume she is supposed to fill the quirky sidekick role which she doesn't do as well. But seeing as Lyndsay doesn't have any friends outside of family, she is the best choice for a sidekick and contemporary confidente.

I often find the first book in a new cozy mystery to be a bit of a bumpy ride - it is why I often don't start a new series with book 1 (I like coming in around book 3 or 4). I would consider reading a second book in this series to see if some of the kinks get worked out as I do think it has the potential to be a fun series.

My review is published at Girl Who Reads - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2023/01/against-currant-by-olivia-matthews.html

I really enjoyed this book! Culinary cozy mysteries are my favorite and this was so unique. I really loved learning more about West Indian food and the characters was fantastic. Can’t wait for more in this series!

Dollycas's Thoughts

The first book in the Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries introduces readers to Lyndsay Murray. Her lifelong dream has been to open a West Indian bakery featuring food and using recipes from her Grenadian history. The bakery is set to open in the Little Caribbean neighborhood, of Brooklyn, New York. She is so excited to be working alongside her parents, grandmother, and even her brother who is helping out with the opening.

The bakery's opening day arrives and is very well received by everyone in the area except Claudio Fabrizi, who owns and operates another bakery a few blocks away. He doesn't want any competition even though the new bakery is offering very different choices from what he serves at his place. He barges into the Spice Isle Bakery spewing threats and just being nasty. Lyndsay has been dealing with the man for weeks and has had enough. She comes around the counter and has a serious verbal altercation with him in front of a room full of her customers. So when Claudio is found murdered the next day, Lyndsey finds herself at the top of the suspect list, Before her lifelong dream goes up in smoke she has to find the real killer and fast.

______

I love that this story features a tight closely knit family. Lyndsay starts out pretty meek and mild but over the course of the book her self confidence grows exponentially. It was a pleasure to see this happen. Her grandmother is also a treasure. Sitting at a table crocheting, ready to jump in and help in any way possible. She is not afraid to speak her mind or give a push or a shove to get anyone moving in the right direction. Her parents are hard workers who love their daughter and want to help her succeed. Her father is in charge of the Caribbean music played at the bakery and Lyndsay knows his emotions through the songs he plays. Her brother Dev, a junior partner of an international law firm has taken time off to help during the opening week. Family always comes first and they back it up in both their words and actions. All are cleverly written and evolve nicely throughout the story, leaving plenty of room for growth as the series continues.

The mystery was complex with more suspects than I first imagined. Claudio Fabrizi was not a nice man. He was cantankerous and rude. No wonder his business was going down the tubes. Filled with twists and turns Lyndsay followed the clues, asked some great questions, and did her best to solve the mystery. Like me, she was surprised when the guilty party revealed themselves, but her actions in the showdown were absolutely epic and had me cheering.

I really enjoy Ms. Matthews's descriptive writing style. She sets a scene so well without getting overly wordy. I could easily imagine each place Lyndsay went. I could hear the music and smell the food. All the food served at the Spice Isle Bakery was new to me but everything sounded so good. Recipes for the popular Currant Rolls and Coconut Bread are included at the back of the book.

The Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries are off to a great start with Against the Currant. The characters are unique and interesting as is the setting of the Little Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn. I am excited to see the series continuing with Hard Dough Homicide which will be released in May. I am eager to see what drama Lyndsay Murray and her family get into next.

I thought this was a great beginning to a new cozy mystery series! And the food mentioned sounded really good. Overall, I would definitely recommend trying this book!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Nach längerer Zeit habe ich mal wieder eine Cozy Mystery gelesen und sie hat mich daran erinnert, warum ich diese Art von Büchern generell mag. Denn das gemütliche Tempo und der Fokus auf die Charaktere sowie ihr Leben gefiel mir gut.

Der Roman ist der erste in einer Reihe, im Zentrum steht eine neue Bäckerei in Familienbesitz. Beim Lesen gefiel mir dieses Setting sehr gut, die Spezialitäten aus Grenada haben mich zum Teil ganz schön hungrig gemacht. :)

Die Geschichte und vor allem der Kriminalfall waren interessant, konnten mich beide aber nicht komplett faszinieren. Dazu hätte der Fall etwas raffinierter sein müssen, zudem wirkte das Opfer, das man zunächst noch lebendig kennenlernt, auf mich etwas zu eindimensional.

Den Fokus auf die Familie der Heldin muss man mögen, mir war es teils einen Tick zu viel. Die gegenseitige Unterstützung fand ich toll, ich hätte Lyndsay aber gerne öfter in Situationen ohne ihre Familie erlebt.

Die cozy mystery ließ sich insgesamt gut lesen, ob ich das zweite Buch in der Reihe lesen werde, weiß ich aber noch nicht. Mal sehen, worum der Fall gehen wird.

🖤🖤🖤1/2

Für wen?

Wer ruhige cozy mysteries mit einem Fokus auf Familien mag, sollte sich das Buch mal näher anschauen.

Title: Against the Currant
Author: Olivia Matthews
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 4 out of 5

Little Caribbean, Brooklyn, New York: Lyndsay Murray is opening Spice Isle Bakery with her family, and it’s everything she’s ever wanted. The West Indian bakery is her way to give back to the community she loves, stay connected to her Grenadian roots, and work side-by-side with her family. The only thing getting a rise out of Lyndsay is Claudio Fabrizi, a disgruntled fellow bakery owner who does not want any competition.

On opening day, he comes into the bakery threatening to shut them down. Fed up, Lyndsay takes him to task in front of what seems to be the whole neighborhood. So when Claudio turns up dead a day later—murdered—Lyndsay is unfortunately the prime suspect. To get the scent of suspicion off her and her bakery, Lyndsay has to prove she’s innocent—under the watchful eyes of her overprotective brother, anxious parents, and meddlesome extended family—what could go wrong?

I really liked the cultural aspects in this book! They absolutely fascinated me. I found myself looking up soca music and some of the foods—which sounded amazing—just to settle myself a little more deeply into the characters’ culture. I think Lyndsay is a great character: she’s grown a lot from childhood, but she’s still fighting not to go back to old habits. And this isn’t a romance—unusual for a cozy mystery—although the potential is there for the future. The vibrant characters kept me engaged, and there was never a dull moment while reading this.

Olivia Matthews is a bestselling author. Against the Currant is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

This new series is off to a great start. Set in Brooklyn, New York it showcases Caribbean cooking. Lyndsay has always wanted to own a bakery that honors her family heritage and now that dream has come true. On opening day things look rosy...until they aren't. There is another local baker who is furious that Lyndsay has brought competition to the neighborhood. That's when things sour for Lyndsay. He shows up and makes it crystal clear that he wants her shut down post haste. Going toe to toe with him, she tells him off and she has a huge audience when she does. Then things go from bad to horrible when Claudio, the baker in question, meets his maker via a murderer. Of course the police hear all the details of Lyndsay's encounter with him and she becomes the prime suspect.
Time for family and friends to gather around Lyndsay and help her not only clear her name but catch the killer. The list of suspects turns out to be a long one and it includes Claudio's son. Claudio was not a nice person.
The mystery was well crafted and kept me guessing wrong but the best part was the feeling of family and friendships working in the community. Add the descriptions of yummy food and I wasted no time adding this series to my TBR list. I only have to wait until May 23, 2023 to read the next book in the series, Hard Dough Homicide.
My thanks to the publisher St. Martin's and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Lyndsay's dream of opening a West Indian bakery in her neighborhood is finally coming true. But the owner of a rival bakery nearby tries to intimidate her into closing. When he is murdered after arguing with her at her bakery's soft opening, the police look at Lynds as a prime suspect.

The book began with a somewhat slow start with lots of establishing the bakery and family. The speed didn't particularly pick up, as the story continued. It was a slow and easy read. I didn't particularly enjoy the telling of the mystery.

By far, my favorite aspects were the mouthwatering descriptions of baked goods with a recipe included at the end. The Spice Isle Bakery sounded like a wonderful place to visit. And I also really enjoyed the feel for the community. There were some great and supportive characters.

Thank you to you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this cozy murder mystery. It was full of culture and community and had my mouth watering throughout. It would have enjoyed more scene diversity, as the majority of this book takes place in Lyndsay's bakery, but otherwise I thought it was a thoughtful, funny, low stakes mystery. I really enjoyed Lyndsay's family, and I look forward to spending more time with them in the next books!

Against the Currant is a new cozy mystery series by Olivia Matthews. It’s a charming, sweet, mystery about Lyndsay and her close-knit, supportive family who opens a Caribbean bakery and cafe in a small neighborhood of Brooklyn, which is Lyndsay’s life-long dream. She has saved her whole life for this opportunity and the bakery is proving to be a huge success on their soft opening. When a rather heated argument takes place between usually soft-spoken Lyndsay, and the infamously caustic Claudio, antagonistic nearby bakery owner, the breakfast customers support her for standing up to the bully. However, when he is found murdered later that day, all fingers point to Lyndsay, despite other viable options.

I loved the people, the strong sense of family and community and the rich culture and tradition displayed in this story. I did find it to be rather slow in getting to the actual investigation and somewhat repetitive in regards to various speculations and aspects of the crime. This caused me to lose a bit of interest in the plot despite the novel’s charm. The culprit was fairly obvious, though the conclusion offered a nice final twist.

This simplistic, sweet cozy mystery offers a unique and heart-warming variation to this genre, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I just hope that in the next addition to the series, the plot is a tad more complex and less redundant.