The Golden Spoon

“The Golden Spoon,” Maxwell, Jessa. New York : Atria Books, 2023.

Content Warning: Sexual assault, child abandonment, anxiety/panic attacks.

If you love baking competitions and cozy mysteries with an edge, this is the book for you!

Every year for the last ten years, Betsy Martin has invited bakers to her estate for a baking competition. She envisions something less cutthroat than most cooking and baking shows on television for her show, but this year, the network has thrust a co-host, Archie, on her, who hosts one of those cutthroat shows. The six contestants are all home bakers, and the Golden Spoon competition ensures that one of them will go home with a contract for a cookbook and great national exposure. Betsy gets something, too – enough money to keep her estate afloat for the next year.

At first, everything goes well, but when it is time to taste the breads on Day 1, we find out that one contestant used salt instead of sugar (was it an accident, or did someone switch his canisters?). On Day 2, one contestant’s fruit filling for her pie is burnt because a burner was turned up all the way, and another contestant realizes his orange extract that he brought from home has been switched out for gasoline. Someone isn’t playing fair. Then on Day 3, someone finds a dead body, and everyone is a suspect.

Each chapter is narrated by a different person, from the contestants to the hosts, and this provides a fuller picture of what’s going on that you would have with just one narrator. The descriptions of the bakes will make your mouth water!

This mystery is fun to read, but also deals with some serious topics. There is mention of sexual assault, child abandonment, and panic attacks. However, the book also focuses on friendship and coming together when hardship hits, and the ending is just wonderful.

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. She can be reached at madams@alamancelibraries.org.