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It is rare for me to not read a series in order. I usually prefer to follow the subplots as they happen. However, I was recently tasked with a challenge to read a bakery-themed cozy mystery. Since I knew I would eventually read this one anyway and because the main characters experience a new book within each book, I decided to read Bakeries and Buffoonery (Magical Mystery Book Club 4). I knew this one also featured fairies, which I love, so for that reason also I was really excited to read it.
By this fourth book in the series, it is well-established that when the book club members read aloud the first part of a book from the magical library, they become characters in that book. In order to get out of the book, the mystery must be solved. At this point, they are voluntarily doing this. It's no accident that they end up in these books. But don't worry. Their Snapdragon Inn where the book club is held ends up in the book with them. They don't necessarily know where the inn is when they arrive in the book, though. However, they do eventually find it. Their new fictional world also comes with all of their basic survival needs or the means to obtain them.
The murder mystery in Bakeries and Buffoonery is a little different than what we normally see in a cozy. When the book club members enter the book, they are aware that several murders have already taken place in the small town over the past few years. They are trying to catch a serial killer before another murder occurs. What makes this even more unique is that the book they are reading, which of course is the book they enter, is narrated by the killer. They just don't know exactly who that killer is. In order to really get a feel for what's going on in the town, the club members enter the annual baking competition that takes place over several days. Using the clues from the portion of the book they read and sleuthing while in the town, they work together with the town's inspector from the book within the book to try and catch the killer.
Having skipped books 2 and 3 (for now), there were a couple of new main characters in this book. The author did a great job giving us enough information to know who they are, but not spoiling anything from previous books. I did not feel lost at all not knowing their full backstory. It just made me curious, and now I have an even stronger desire to go back and read the two previous books that I skipped.
In addition to the two new main characters, we are reunited with all of the other ones I met in book 1, Shifting and Shenanigans. This includes Frank, the talking cat. There are hints of curiosity about his backstory, which I understand is revealed in a later book in the series. There are also more tidbits of information revealed about other members of the book club. Just when we think we really know them, we learn something new.
The book club members are the usual eclectic group coming from various backgrounds and ranging in age from teenager to octogenarian. They work together to solve the mystery, but they also divide and conquer when necessary. It's the perfect example of teamwork. Their banter in between the sleuthing is likely to make you laugh until you cry.
When it's just the book club members chatting, they often meet in the magical library at the Snapdragon Inn. As I mentioned in my review of Shifting and Shenanigans, there are stairs to get down into the library, which would prevent some people with mobility impairments from entering. My hope is in a future installment we find out there is an elevator or perhaps a stair lift to assist those with mobility impairments. I want to imagine myself in the magical library, but I can only do that if it's accessible.
When they enter the fairy world in Bakeries and Buffoonery, they soon realize there are a plethora of suspects with motives and means. I had some suspects in mind as the culprit, but I changed my mind a few times until about the 90% mark when I zeroed in on the real killer. It was soon after that when the gripping big reveal came.
If you enjoy baking cozies with a dash of magic, I'm confident you will devour Bakeries and Buffoonery. There are a lot of mouth-watering descriptions of all the cakes that are made for the competition. It is quite entertaining to watch the book club members make their cakes. They certainly do enjoy the process! There are no recipes in the back of the book as there often are in bakery-themed cozies, but throughout the story there are plenty of ideas to get your baking wheels turning.
The only sad part about reading "The End" in each installment in this series is that we leave behind characters we've come to connect with. I really like the way the author handles the emotional side of this. Much like saying goodbye to people we love in real life, it's bittersweet when we know they will have their happily ever after (this is not a spoiler - cozies always have happy endings, except for the culprit), but we also know how much we will miss them.
But the good news is that there are currently 11 books in this Magical Mystery Book Club series. That's 11 different (to my knowledge) cozy worlds to visit! That means no one can make the argument that the murder rate in any one town is high.
Another book that is somewhat of a spinoff of this series has also been released. That one is called Flimflam Fairy. It's the first book in the new Magical Cozy Mystery Bookstore series. I'm currently reading it and loving it! I'll be part of of a blog tour for this book in September, so stay tuned for that!
In the meantime, I hope you'll give this series a try if you haven't already. Like me, you can easily jump in with any book in the series. You are likely to meet characters you don't know, but you'll quickly get to know them. One of the best things about this series is that the book club reads and enters a different cozy mystery with each installment, so the subplots are minimal. The language is clean (no swearing) and they contain all of the other elements we love about cozies.
