I am a HUGE fan of the Great British Bake Off, and also of romantic mysteries, so when I saw this book I had to read it! The behind the scenes of filming the show was so interesting - is it really like that? (Minus the murder, of course!)

The mystery is interesting, although the solution comes a bit quick at the end. The romance is adorable! I would love to see more of these two. The recipes at the end are amazing! So many and a good selection of different types of desserts.

All in all I really enjoyed this one!

This cozy mystery with a hint of romance was right up my alley. I love reading and baking and to come across a novel that combines my two loves made my heart warm. I definitely felt the Great British Bake-Off vibes and loved those scenes where Claire and the contestants were using those pre-1900’s implements to craft their bakes. I also loved that hint of heat I felt when Claire and Jonathan met for the first time. There was quite a bit of flirtation, and as the investigation progressed and those real feelings developed? Yum.

The romance was sweet, but what about the mystery? I actually really enjoyed following along with our two main characters, their interactions with the other bakers, producers, and staff, and thought the author found the right note to keep this strictly in the cozy mystery genre. I wasn’t surprised by the ending, but the author led us gently to the conclusion. I can’t wait to see what new mystery Claire (and hopefully Jonathan) can solve!

What a delightful story from start to finish! I enjoyed the relatable FMC and loved the baking vibes throughout this story. The sweet romance and cozy mystery were just the perfect combination to help me beat the winter blues!

Read if you enjoy:
-baking + foodie romances
-relatable characters
-British setting
-a great mystery

Romance: sweet and swoony

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Shadow Mountain and Austenprose PR for an advanced copy of this ebook. All opinions are my own.

Cozy mystery and the Great British Bake Off had a baby this would be the book! A cute read that will give you an inside view to a bake off with a side of Murder!

I received an ARC through Netgalley and all opinions are my own.

Pasteries aren't the only things tempting Claire Walker as she navigates being a contestant on a reality baking show. One of the contestants is murdered and suspicion runs rampant amongst the contestants. Meanwhile, Claire and the dashing host, Viscount of Colburn, Jonathon Ainsley have their own fires simmering as they work with each other.

This story was delightfully quirky with just enough tension, romantic and mysterious, to keep the plot moving forward and readers intrigued. They won't want to miss what Claire will serve up next.

If the Great British Bake Off and Miss Marple had a baby, I feel like this would be it.

It’s cozy (despite being about a murder), sweet (no pun intended), and well-paced to keep the pages turning.

Was it corny? Yes. Unrealistic? Yes. Did the food related puns drive me crazy? Absolutely yes.

Still, my only real qualms were the quick end (I would have liked an epilogue farther into the future…like what happened later?) and more development of the murder victim. The person was present for so little of the book, the main character’s emotional distress to their loss seemed unbelievable.

Regardless, a good read. Probably one of my favourites from the author! I would definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a low stakes, easy read.

Claire lands a spot on Britain’s Battle of the Bakers, but things take a nasty turn when a fellow contestant is murdered.

I love baking shows, in particular The Great British Baking Show, which this book's competition takes inspiration from. I thought it was a really fun idea for a novel. Add in a mystery, and I was doubly intrigued.

I will say that it had a bit of a slow start. Once the mystery began, though, things picked up, and while I did have a little trouble connecting to the story, I ended up enjoying it.

The baking scenes were fun and made me so hungry! And I liked Jonny. He was a classic but lovable grump.

I loved the setting of Blackfirth Park and was very intrigued by the history of the manor. Though, I wish that history would’ve been explored a little more in depth, along with the legend of the murder of Lady Coburn.

The mystery was intriguing. The "who" was fairly obvious, but the "why" surprised me. If you're looking for a sweet cozy mystery, give this book a try. It's the start of a series, and I'm curious to see where that will lead.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and comments are my honest opinion.

The concept was really cute and the characters were well-developed.
This is definitely a cozy mystery, which is new for me. I wasn't expecting the slow pace. I got to the half-way mark and nothing had happened to move the story forward other than the inciting incident and a bunch of highly detailed baking descriptions.
The main character's over use of baking puns went from quirky to too much pretty quickly for me and then others joined in? That felt too corny.
This book was clearly well researched and the author has a passion for the subject, but it just wasn't for me.
I think this genre isn't from me, but if you're looking for a slower, predictable mystery world you can sink into, this is a good choice

Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for this eARC.

From the description alone I was so excited about this book, and it did not disappoint. The pacing of the story was really good, so I easily got sucked into the book. I love that it was foodie plus mystery with a touch of romance sprinkled in. The author did a great job of blending all those components.
Thank you NetGalley for the advance electronic copy.

This cozy mystery with a strong dash of romance was exactly what I needed this winter. It's well paced with rounded characters in a setting that feels lived in.

"It's because I know the kind of baker you are. And it is definitely not one who only does mediocre bakes. In fact, I don't think you're capable of anything resembling mediocrity, but the fact that you think you are means you are always wanting to push further and work harder. You're never going to be content with what you produce, and it only makes you better."

I personally loved this book! Everything about it. It was fun, quirky, wholesome, and kept me enthralled from start to finish, devouring the audio in one day!The romance was so sweet and I loved Jonny's and Claire's banter. They are hilarious and so cute together.
The mystery! I had no clue who the actual culprit was right up until the end. And I am usually a pretty good guesser.
Lastly, I actually really enjoyed the quirky swear words Claire, and then Jonny use. They made the book light-hearted and fun, and felt unique to the story.
This book had me salivating (from all the food references), guessing, swooning, and intrigued from start to finish!

Content Guide:
baking terms used as swear words; Kissing only; Several murders/deaths (mildly described)

Thank you to the Author and publisher for the review copy. All thoughts are my own.

A murder mystery centered around a baking show? Sign me up! This was such a fun read!

I really enjoyed the plot and the bits of mystery and history thrown in, and as a British Bake Off fan I loved the baking show element. It was different and cleverly done. Claire and Jonny were great characters and I loved the dynamics between them. Plus our town detective! There were so many lovable characters. The murder mystery was pretty straight forward and I liked how they caught the culprit. The romance was sweet and had great build up. I very much enjoyed this read! And I’m extra excited for the recipes at the end!

Looking forward to more Claire Walker Mysteries in the future!

I received an advanced copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Interesting premise, but this cozy mystery was too heavy on the cozy and too light on the mystery for me. I figured out the bad guy waaaaay too early to be satisfying, and the romance was silly, as was the ridiculous baking-themed cursing (to be fair, my mom would say "Sugar!" in lieu of curse words, but she certainly never said, "Cakes and crumpets!" or other such nonsense). The grump of the sunshine and grumpy trope was barely grumpy for half a second at the beginning, and the sunshine was too sunshiny to be believable. The way the police handled the death and attempted murder was also unbelievable. I'm sure this book will appeal to some, I'm just not one of them.

Thank you to Netgalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

What could be better than a mystery, romance and a bake off competition? That’s what this story has an abundance of. Clair loves teaching and history, but her life had become a little mundane, so she decided to apply to a baking competition that would be held at a historical estate with the original historical mill and kitchen. To her surprise and excitement she was chosen to be on the show.
Jonathan Ainsley, the 17th Viscount of Blackfirth Park, was trying to increase the earnings of his family’s historical estate when he agreed to allow them to film their bake off competition on his property. This is the beginning for this intriguing story.
The idea of the story pulled me in. I thought the intro and getting to know the characters was great. If you’re looking for a very simple, easy read, it might be right up your alley, but I was hoping for a little more depth in the mystery with some plot twists and turns. I would have liked more drama that revolves around the legend of the historical manor. The sweet, slow burn but good chemistry romance that simmers throughout the book is good. The bake off was fun and a great diversion. The story has good bones, but for the length of the book, I anticipated more…
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was everything I could've possibly wanted: baking, English (the country and the culture), romance, and a good murder mystery!

Anyone who loves The Great British Bake Off will love this! Not only is it centered around the prospective baker, Claire, we have a Viscount named Johnny AND this competition is centered around history!

I could fangirl over this book forever, because it just has so many green flags for me. But alas, you need to know what this book is about!

As previously mentioned, Claire is a baker by hobby who is chosen to be a contestant for Battle of the Bakers, a popular cooking show.

She can't help feeing a sort of sense of dread as she arrives, and rightly so, because the first contestant isn't eliminated. They are found DEAD.

Together she and the handsome Viscount try to figure out who is targeting the bakers and solve the ancient mystery surrounding the 10th Viscountess of Colburn's death.

Do you love the Great British Baking Show? Then you won't want to miss this one!!
This is a literary version of the show - except better, because it's got a murder mystery mixed in!
I loved the main character, Claire, and seeing her as a participant in this baking show.
It was way out of her comfort zone! But....then what stretched her even further is when she had to help
solve the ongoing murder at the site of the tv show.
(and was it related to the centuries old murder that had also happened there, in almost an identical manner?!)
Full of baking tidbits and baking show drama,
high excitement action and murder, with a hint of romance mixed in, this book has even more than that!
Disclaimer: I receive complimentary books from various sources, including, publishers, publicists, authors, and/or NetGalley. I am not required to write a positive review, and have not received any compensation. The opinions shared here are my own entirely. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

4.5/5 Stars.
Well, this is certainly a change of pace for Connolly, at least for me. You see, I only discovered Connolly when she started writing biographical, historical fiction, when she came out with her novel “A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice” which is the best Titanic novel I’ve ever read. She then had a WWI book “Under the Cover of Mercy” which was amazing. Finally, her “Hidden Yellow Stars” was her WWII/Holocaust novel, which also got top marks from me. Before then, she’d written quite a slew of historical romance novels, and my regular readers know that romance isn’t my thing. Now she’s taken a new turn for this first book in her newest series. She’s time traveled to present day, moved into the cozy mystery genre, added a culinary aspect, and slipped in some romance for good measure.

So, about the elephant in the review room – the romance bit. Obviously, Connolly has lots of experience in this genre, and especially when it comes to being a major part of the story. In this case, while there’s a budding romance going on, it does take a bit of a back seat to the murder mystery. Or rather, the murder mystery becomes part of the vehicle for the romance. Even so, this is something that is probably a touch more prominent than I would have preferred. Especially considering the whole bake-off bits that surround the initial murder. Now, this is probably just me, because I did think that there was a touch too much angst between Claire and Jonny, and it would have been less distracting had the two of them been less coy with each other throughout the story. I mean, their attraction was pretty obvious, and if they’d just succumbed to their feelings sooner, we could have had a touch more concentration on the murder mystery and the baking contest. But I’m sure that lovers of romance novels will totally drool over it.

What I was drooling over, however, was all the baking going on here. Like Connolly, I’m addicted to the Great British Bake-Off, as well as it’s Australian counterpart. So, the idea of putting a murder mystery with the backdrop of a similar show was, if you ask me, brilliant! Okay, so no, this isn’t the first book I’ve read with a baking/cooking contest, but it is the first one with a murder mystery. Obviously, one of the best parts of any culinary fiction books are the recipes that are included. Now, many of the books I’ve read have had the recipes interspersed between the chapters. Connolly decided to put all of these at the end of the story, which was fine with me (they’ll be easier to find on my Kindle if I want to try one later on). In addition, the descriptions of the baking processes themselves were very nicely done and easily imaginable.

Finally, there’s the mystery part. I think that if we consider that this is Connolly’s first foray into the murder/mystery genre, we can give her some allowances. Even so, I think she did a pretty good job with the task of keeping the murderer a mystery for as long as possible. Interestingly enough, Connolly decided to see if their prime suspect could be tricked into giving themselves away, rather than just finding the proof through clues and declaring the solution. That put a bit of a thriller element into the book, which worked very well. Regarding the motive for the murder, that was a bit… well… sketchy, to be honest, and how the murderer was able to wrangle their way to find the opportunity to kill was also a bit on the rough side. But like I said, this is her first book in this genre, and I’m guessing the subsequent stories in this series will get trickier and more complex. That’s why I’m recommending this book with a very healthy four and a half stars out of five.

To be honest, I wasn't into this book when I started and almost gave up at about 30%. The plot at that time was more focused on the crime and less on the baking part, which was the part I was looking forward to. However, I am glad I persisted because I really liked the book (and there was a lot more baking stuff later). Some of the crime procedurals were a little off but I know nothing about how the British police system works so that may just be my perspective.

I didn't expect this to be a love story either but honestly it made the plot more engageable. I could see how this could take off as a cozy mystery series.

This was a delightfully sinister turn of the GBBS. I would definitely read another installment in the series.

Thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.

If you love the Great British Baking Show, then this book is for you!

Clair becomes a contestant on a baking show, but things get intense when there's a death during the competition.

The baking scenes were so fun, the mystery was perfectly cozy, and there was a perfect amount of romance thrown in!

Prepare your kitchen, this book will have you ready to bake some tasty treats!

Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing, NetGalley, and Rebecca Connolly for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Rebecca Connolly will get a handshake from me for this book. As an avid fan of Great British Baking Show I was so excited for this book and it definitely didn’t disappoint. It was a charming mix of baking, mystery, and romance—perfect for fans of cozy whodunits!!