You'll know pretty immediately if a murder mystery taking place in a Bake Off-ish setting is something you'll like. The good news is that the story pulls through on the premise. The Golden Spoon is set in Vermont, which I think helps. It wouldn't have worked quite the same if it had been British. The cast of characters was fun to follow.

A leafy, lovely house on magnificent grounds is the setting for a cooking competition that offers the reader a little insight into what televised competition can involve. A Vermont estate cloaked in mystery opens its doors once a year for a baking competition. We are offered a glimpse into each bakers reason for accepting the challenge. It is overseen by the Grande Dame of baking Betsy Martin, a perfectionist of graphic proportions. A woman who gets her way with a smile before the cameras is less than cordial away from the lights. The competition this year has started off rough and is quickly becoming a police matter. It becomes clear there is more on the line than a national title. Happy reading

This might be titled The Golden Spoon, but its alternate should be Death at the Bake Off. Whatever its title, its a fun, cozy mystery that will make any writer ask "Why didn't I think of that?". The book is set at Grafton Manor, the New England family estate of home baking celebrity chef Betsy Martin. Betsy created Bake Week more than a decade ago, but now is confronted with a brash, male co-host (with turquoise eyes. Sounds like someone from across the pond) that the producers have brought in to spice up the show. Betsy loathes him. The Golden Spoon is told from seven different POVs -- the six contestants and Betsy. Readers meet Hannah, the youngest at age 21; Lottie, the oldest at 70+; Stella, a journalist; Gerald, a fussy math teacher, Peter, who restores old homes; and Pradyumna, a restless millionaire who has entered Bake Week to spice up his life. I particularly liked the scenes during filming of Bake Week -- the breads, pies and cakes -- and the baking disasters that befall some contestants and the relationships that develop between them. I am happy that The Golden Spoon has been optioned by Hulu; it will make a great series. I salute Maxwell for writing such a fun mystery as her debut novel.

Ok amazing! How can you go wrong with the GBBO set in Vermont with a thriller twist.

I really enjoyed how the book was set up in the beginning. We get an overview of the competition and we get different contestants POVs. It’s great.

Unfortunately the writing was slow at some parts and I had trouble getting through the book. However, the book started off with a bang and kept you thinking “who is it?” “What happened”

This fun novel marries the comfortable tropes of a cozy mystery with the fantastic setting of a bake off competition show. The author does a great job of setting up each character—and anyone who has watched baking shows will recognize several common types of contestants: the young one with more confidence than experience, the seasoned grandmotherly type, the precise gentleman who views baking like a science project, etc. With the added backdrop of a mysterious old manor house, this book was hard to put down.

A murder mystery and Bake Off - what more could you ask for? This was a partial-cozy murder mystery that had me right from the prologue. You get to know all the characters right from the beginning, so there was no confusion remembering who was who. I didn’t find the characters particularly likable, but they each had their own quirks that made things interesting (especially Gerald)! At times it felt like there were maybe too many things going on at once and not enough time spent on each idea. It made some things feel rushed/forced. The plot really picks up in the last 25% and I audibly gasped towards the end. Definitely pick this one up if you’re a fan of Bake Off and in the mood for a quick, fun mystery!

Delighted to include this title in the March edition of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction, for the Books section of Zoomer magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

I love The Great British Bake Off and I love mysteries so this book was so much fun to read! I appreciated the baking side as well as the murder side. It was difficult at first to keep the characters straight, but once I got into it I was hooked. I felt like the ending was a little rushed, but overall a good read. Would recommend for mystery readers and cozy mystery readers alike.

If there is one thing I love almost as much as reading, it's watching cooking competition shows, so to say I was excited to read The Golden Spoon is an understatement. Unfortunately, this book left me feeling like Gordon Ramsey when someone disappoints him on Master Chef, shaking my head and murmuring, "Oh dear oh dear."

The concept is this: Six contestants travel to the Vermont estate of "America's grandmother," celebrity chef Betsy Martin, to compete on her popular cooking show, Bake Week. For this historic tenth season, a controversial co-host has been added, and competition for the prized Golden Spoon is fiercer than ever. But then, of course, the necessary ingredient of any locked room mystery comes into play: Someone is murdered.

To use a food analogy, the concept of The Golden Spoon is like a glistening, perfectly seared, impeccably seasoned filet mignon that you just cannot wait to dig into. But the execution is like biting into that filet and realizing not only is it well-done, it's also not filet mignon at all; it's a cube steak or something. That's about the level of disappointment I experienced here.

The Golden Spoon has a fantastic setting in a Gothic mansion and food descriptions that made my mouth water (I want a piece of Pradyumna's dark chocolate peanut butter layer cake, stat!), but beyond that, I just felt like debut author Jessa Maxwell didn't make the most of her concept.

For one thing, the book is narrated by all six contestants in the first-person in very short chapters, and their voices aren't all that distinct. Maxwell does make an effort to make them interesting and to bring in themes like #MeToo, age discrimination, mental health issues, alcoholism, and dysfunctional family relationships, but it all felt a bit forced to me. I think this would have worked better in the third-person, especially since the writing is pretty surface level (all telling, no showing) and doesn't have a lot of emotional impact. The characters are really just vehicles to move the plot forward, and I found the plot and pacing uneven. The murder doesn't even happen until the 80% mark, so whether you'd refer to this as a cozy mystery or a locked-room mystery -- for most of the book, there isn't even a mystery to solve.

All of that said, The Golden Spoon will certainly find an audience with fans of cozies who like their mysteries on the not-too-serious side. And I do think this will make a fun TV show, so I'll definitely watch when it's adapted by Hulu. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advance reading opportunity.

I read this fresh off of bingeing the latest season of Bake-Off and I could not have picked a better book to read after finishing. I love the show and this is a fun cozy mystery twist set in Vermont with a few tweaks to the competition. But the baking was interesting, the mystery was interesting and there was a bit of a twist. This was fast paced and had lots of different POVs, which was done well. I definitely recommend!

The Golden Spoon comes out next week on March 7, 2023, and you can purchase HERE! I really liked this one!

Flixer streaming service announces they are beginning to film season ten of the hit show Bake Week. The beloved baking show, which captured the world's hearts a decade ago, has upped the ante this season for its tenth anniversary with a new cohost at the front of the tent. Veteran judge and show creator Betsy Martin is slated to return but this year she'll be joined by award-winning baker and Cutting Board host Archie Morris. This is the first time in the show's history that Betsy has shared the tent with another host. Filming will once again take place on the grounds of Betsy Martin's family estate in the mountains of norther Vermont.

This book combined two of my favorite things, mystery and baking shows. I loved the setting of a baking competition set under a tent on the grounds of an old mansion. As the show goes on it becomes clear that contestants are being sabotaged and eliminated unfairly. There is behind the scenes drama and alliances forming. Then a dead body is discovered. The characters were fun and I liked reading about the off-set drama. I did find the ending a bit predictable (I guessed it part way through) but still enjoyed the read. I think fans of cozy mysteries and anyone who has enjoyed The Great British Baking Show will find this an engaging read. Thanks to Jessa Maxwell, Atria Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Best combination ever. Reality baking show and a slow burn mystery novel. Way to go Jessica Maxwell! I really enjoyed this novel. Didn't see the plot twists coming at all.

The Golden Spoon mixes together the Great British Bake Off and Only Murders in the Building, and creates a delectable treat that I couldn’t help but devour. This story follows six contestants on Bake Week, which is hosted by America’s Grandmother and renowned baker, Betsy Martin, at her family’s estate in southern Vermont. But as the contestants settle in, someone starts sabotaging their desserts, sweet secrets are revealed, and worse, someone is found murdered in the tent they’ve made their kitchen with a scream that could curdle sweet cream.

I loved the premise of this story; it’s so creative. All the characters have their own unique quirks and well-thought out personalities, and while sometimes it felt a little on the nose and cliched, it didn’t bother me because I loved all their quirks. It was the right amount of fluff to leave me satisfied. And the fluff followed throughout the story. I never felt as though anyone was truly in danger, not even the person murdered, but it kept up with the lighthearted nature of the story. These characters turned to baking to find healing, and their journeys towards this all mixed together well in the end— yes, even amidst the murder, which helped them move forward, too. Icing on their metaphorical (and physical) cakes. The Golden Spoon is a quick, entertaining read for folks looking for a mouthwatering mystery you can curl up with on the couch and finish in a bite-sized sitting. My rating? Three and a half cupcakes (it was just a little too sweet for me to finish that fourth one).

3.5 stars rounded up. As a fan of both cozy mysteries and the Great British Baking Show, this book seemed right up my alley. I loved the setting and development of the individual characters, I just found the ending to be a little rushed and predictable. Overall an enjoyable read and I look forward to checking out the Hulu adaptation! Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a solid 3.75 for me rounded up to 4 just for the enjoyable nature of the read. Six baking show contestants, 2 hosts, 2 staff members all combine to a fun, light mystery read. If you like any type of baking show or more intimate reality tv shows where the contestants are just normal, fun people, then this book would be perfect. I like how each chapter is told from a different perspective. It has been compared to The Maid and I would say it has that same light hearted mystery voice. The contestants are all fairly likeable and each has their own struggle, torment, or mystery. Fun, quick read.

As a fan of The Great British Bake Off, I was pretty excited to sink my teeth into this novel. But wait! This isn’t just a novel set in the world of a baking competition, it’s also a murder mystery.

Set on the lush grounds of the original host’s Vermont estate, six contestants were selected to be among the bakers of Bake Week’s next season. Who would cave to the pressure in the tent? Who would wow the two judges? Who would win the coveted Golden Spoon award? Who would stay alive?

The book begins with a bang. Someone from the show is found dead. The story is then told in alternating chapters from the contestants’, as well as Betsy Martin’s perspective, the show’s beloved grandmotherly host and judge, and the estate’s owner.

I love books that are told from alternating perspectives, and in this book’s case, it worked perfectly. It enabled me to get acquainted with each of the contestants, to see what made them tick, and to see what their motivations were. I also got a glimpse into Betsy Martin’s world, and I would be lying if said that I didn’t picture her to look exactly like Mary Berry.

Did I trust any of the contestants, the judges, or the crew of Bake Week? Absolutely not. That’s the fun part about these types of novels, we get to become amateur sleuths and try to decipher who is truly just in it for the cake and ganache and who is the guilty party.

The Golden Spoon was an entertaining read. While it wasn’t an edge-of-your-seat mystery, I still enjoyed my time in the tent and on the grounds of Bake Week. As someone who found solace while baking and watching baking competitions during the pandemic, this book was a real treat!

*4 Stars

So this one was such a fun read!! If you love the Great British Bake Off & cozy mysteries, this book is for you! You know right from the beginning that someone has been murdered but you don’t know who. Most of the story is then told in flashbacks leading up to the murder, as everyone converges on Grafton Manor for season 10 of Bake Week, a cooking competition TV show. Told from the POVs of all the different contestants & Betsy Martin, the famous host, the pace is quick & the characters are interesting. The secrets come out & the baking gets heated…but whodunnit??? I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Debut author Jessa Maxwell has written a story that will appeal to those who enjoy cooking/baking shows, offering a look behind the scenes.

The Golden Spoon is a cozy mystery that follows a cast of flawed characters with inner issues, secrets and ambition. The prologue starts at the end of the story, leaving this reader to unravel the mystery searching for clues. But ultimately this was an ok read for me.

There isn't really a huge cast of characters but at times I wish I'd taken notes of each as they were introduced. They were unique with their quirks and backstory.

The Golden Spoon is a mystery that given more pages, time, depth and detail would have been a good, good sized story. For me this was a slow burn with most of the action happening in the last few chapters/epilogue, coming a little too late to really connect and appreciate the plot.

The blurb doesn't mention this being made into a mini series, but it's in the works, I think will work nicely.

My thanks to Atria Books & Netgalley for a digital arc in exchange for a honest review.

This was a cozy mystery in a sense that it was very low stakes. I did like that we got the perspective from all the contestants and their unique backgrounds. Seven POVs might have been a bit overkill though. Describing it as “The Great British Bake Off meets Clue” is very accurate. It reads quick and easy. There was a lot of really good detail of the dishes, ingredients, baking techniques, etc. so if you like cooking/baking shows you’ll really enjoy this book for that reason alone. It will definitely keep you reading until the last page. The writing style was very simplistic and read like a YA novel. The murder is teased in the prologue but hardly any time is spent investigating who-done-it. The final reveal/”plot twist” was a little lackluster as if it were an afterthought.

It is also described as “Murders Only In the Building” which led me to believe it would be a cozy humorous murder mystery, but there was little to no comedy. This book would make for a good intro to (cozy) murder mystery for readers new to the genre. Would also be a nice palate cleanser. I’d give it a solid 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! I really liked how we got to be with every contestant and our main host of the show. Such an exciting and fun idea for a murder mystery. This book made my rainy weekend feel cozy and wanting to bake! Can’t wait till Jessa Maxwell comes out with another book. Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and Jessa Maxwell for this amazing anticipated book!