Review

For fans of:  Madeline Alt, Juliet Blackwell

Katie Lightfoot and her Aunt Lucy not only run Savannah’s Honeybee Bakery, they’re also practicing hedgewitches; between cooking up goodies for their patrons and casting spells with their coven, they barely have time to think. But when a production coordinator hires them to cater lunch for his film crew and then goes and gets himself stabbed in the back with one their knives, think they must – and fast. Is somebody’s trying to frame the Honeybee? If so, who, and more importantly, why? When another crewmember is hospitalized after eating one of the Honeybee’s cookies, it becomes clear there’s more going on at the set than meets the eye. Can Katie and Lucy get to the bottom of the mystery, or will these homicidal hijinks spell curtains for them and their business?

If you’re looking to inject a little supernatural into your summer, look no further than Some Enchanted Éclair by Bailey Cates. This fourth installment in the Magical Bakery Mystery series is yet another fine example of Cates’ flair for blending her own unique brand of magic with mystery and murder. You feel taken care of from the moment you crack the cover on Some Enchanted Éclair. Cates not only does a marvelous job indoctrinating readers in the more otherworldly aspects of her fictional universe, but she makes the real-life city of Savannah feel like someplace where magic could occur at any moment. The book’s got just enough worldbuilding to make you buy into the series premise, but not so much as to slow the pace or detract from the plot, and the series mythology expands and grows more complex with every additional book, making the experience all the more rewarding for loyal readers.

Katie’s a marvelous heroine – smart, loyal, stubborn, and strong, and the fact that she’s new to the practice of magic makes her the perfect point-of-view character. I love that each member of Katie’s coven practices a slightly different type of witchcraft; it not only lends diversity to the cast, but adds complexity to the tale, as well. And Katie’s developing relationship with hunky magical skeptic Declan adds just the right balance of romance and conflict.

Over the past several years, Penguin’s assembled an impressive list of mega-talented supernatural cozy authors (Juliet Blackwell, Victoria Laurie, Melissa Bourbon, et al.). After four fabulous books, I feel confident saying Bailey Cates can hang with the best of them, and I, for one, can’t wait to see what she does next.

Reviewed by Kat