Deadly Delights: A Bookish Baker Mystery by Laura Jensen Walker #Review (Includes Spoilers)

Deadly Delights: A Bookish Baker Mystery
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Wisconsin
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (June 8, 2021)
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 1643855921
ISBN-13: 978-1643855929
Kindle ASIN: B08HYFYFC6

In Laura Jensen Walker’s second Bookish Baker mystery, Teddie St. John enters a pie-baking contest. But her chances of winning plummet when she’s suspected of killing one of the judges!

August in Lake Potawatomi, Wisconsin, always means one thing: the annual baking contest. Picture The Great British Baking Show, writ Midwestern. It’s a huge draw for the upper crust of Wisconsin pastry aficionados. And, of course, bon vivant baker-turned-mystery writer Teddie St. John has a pie in the ring. The white vinyl baking tent boasts an array of folding tables housing each entrant’s daily baked good. And at one of those tables sits the corpse of the head judge, his face half-buried in a delectable coconut cream pie.

The body in question belonged to notorious Les Morris. Les may have been getting on in years, but he hadn’t outgrown his well-earned reputation for lechery. Now, Les is no more. But unfortunately, by his side lies Teddie’s distinctive embossed rolling pin…covered with blood.

It’s out of the baking pan, into the oven.

Dollycas’s Thoughts – Note there are SPOILERS below.

It’s time for the annual baking contest in Lake Potawatomi, Wisconsin, and illustrious baker Teddie St. John is one of the contestants. Sadly Lester Morris is one of the judges. He’s a man who can’t keep his hands to himself and he preys on young woman and even pinched Teddy’s butt while judging her baked goods. She gets him back with a whack from her rolling pin but that doesn’t even slow him down. He just makes a crude comment and moves along.

Day 2 means it’s time for pies but it looks like Lester has gotten a head start on his judging with his face buried deep in a coconut cream pie when Teddy arrives. She quickly realizes something is amiss because as she moves closes she sees Lester, “the molester” is dead and her rolling pin appears to be the murder weapon. The man has more than a few enemies and Teddy knows she didn’t kill him, she just needs to find who did.

I have been excited to read this book since I turned the last page of Murder Most Sweet. I love Teddie St. John. She is a confident strong woman who is also a breast cancer survivor. She made a huge decision I am not sure I could have made. I admired her immediately. The characters the author surrounds her with were just icing on the cake.

I also enjoy that the story is set in my home state. The author loves the kringles Wisconsin named the official state pastry in 2013. They are a big thing in Racine near where the story is set. They weren’t a family tradition for me like they are for the author and Teddie but they are delicious and I would never walk away from a slice of apple or strawberry kringle.

So I was reading along, dead guy, Teddy’s long-distance relationship, twists, clues, turns, then SPOILER ALERT – there was a suicide, I paused, took a couple of deep breaths, and kept reading. Then SPOILER ALERT – there was another suicide and this time it was way too similar to the way my son took his life. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I closed my Kindle and had a good cry. After more than six years I still can’t read about a death like that. It was hard to move on.

I wasn’t sure I would be able to go back and finish the book but I had committed myself to review this book. So several days later I went back to the story and skipped ahead a bit and let’s just say there was another twist that changed some things from their original appearance. It was still hard to read but I pressed on and I am glad I did because there is a very special event that takes place on the final page. I loved it and it allowed me to close the book with a smile on my face.

Had I known about the subject matter of the book I would have passed on this book even though I loved the characters because I need to protect my heart and I apologize for the spoilers in my review but I needed to explain myself. I am not sure how to rate the book so I won’t here. A person without my history will love this book and while this book didn’t work for me I am looking forward to the next one which I think will be taking Teddy across the pond.

Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent

About the Author

Laura Jensen Walker has loved mysteries ever since she read Trixie Belden in the fourth grade in her Danish-founded hometown of Racine, Wisconsin–America’s kringle capital. A former journalist and the author of several novels and humorous non-fiction books, including Thanks for the Mammogram! Laura, like her main character, chose to go flat after her second mastectomy and is grateful to be a longtime breast cancer survivor. She lives in California with her Renaissance-man husband and their canine-daughter Mellie. (from Amazon)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”