Bakeries and Buffoonery

Magical Mystery Book Club Book 4

By: Elizabeth Pantley

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

It’s a magical book club! When this group chooses a book, magic happens. The mystery comes to life, and they find themselves part of the story. To exit the book and get back home, they need to solve the mystery and reach The End.

This time, the club chooses a book called The Great Cake Rivalry, because, well … cake! They read the back cover and it’s unanimous. So off they go into another grand adventure into a town aptly named Frosting.

Frosting is a rural town in an idyllic setting. The people live quiet lives most of the year. But in the spring, things change. The Annual Cake Competition becomes the focus of every man, woman, and child. They take this competition seriously. The cakes are spectacular. The festival is fabulous. For a week there are contests featuring all kinds of cakes. The people of the community become official tasters and vote for the winning cakes in each category.

The grand finale is a display of finely decorated cakes, made by the town’s bakeries. The winner of the best design receives a prize package that would make any baker dizzy.

Sadly, this event has been tainted. Once a year, each one different, but all somehow related to this event, a person is murdered. The main investigator is stumped, but that could be because he’s an inept buffoon.

Can the book club help the people of this community figure out who is causing this disturbing pattern of deaths, and stop another murder from happening? Can they figure out why some of the citizens dress so oddly, and why they always wear those unique backpacks? All while they fill themselves to the brim with cake, of course.

Bake off with a twist

I enjoyed this book but it's no good if you are on a diet, then again maybe it is because you dont get to eat the creations, just imagine them. I love how the cover art for this series gives you an idea of what to expect and yet you still get surprised. Normally a story gets a bit boring with characters describing everything that passes there lips but with each cake brought or spoon mixed there is a reason and it goes towards investigating the murders. I like how the author changes the series up once again, this time by having the opening credits of the special book they have chosen, having been written by the the killer, giving you a reason behind the deaths before they even enter the book. The characters are a lot of fun and I am glad that the ghost from the previous book gets to help. Although the series does work as a standalone I think it works even better listened to as part of a series, that way you get to know the characters and the mysterious library a lot better. The mystery kept me guessing or maybe I was distracted by imagining the cakes that are described. I can't wait for the next book to see what the library has in store for them next.
The book club have always liked there food, so when one of the members picks a book called The Great Cake Rivalry everybody jumps at the chance to investigate the mystery and to try a few treats. A small quiet town comes alive for one week when it holds its yearly cake competition but somebody doesn't want it to go ahead and will stop at nothing to make sure it doesn't, even going so far as to commit murder. The book club members have one clue, after the murders failed to stop the competition this year the killer is thinking big and planning an explosion. Can they put a stop to it before anybody else gets hurt? Or will the temptation of the cakes on display prove to be to much?
The story is narrated by virtual voice and while not as good as a human narrator, it isn't bad. You don't get male and female voices but as the story is so we written you somehow always know which character is speaking and it never gets confusing.

This series stays fresh book after book.

Listening to the audiobook just made this wonderful, fantasy book shine more. Read via AI, there is a bit of an adjustment period. Once you become use to the rhythm and tone, you find yourself noticing nothing but the wonderful words that draw you into the book.

The Magical Mystery Book Club series is one of the best cozy mystery series I have read. The newest addition to the series, Bakeries and Buffoonery by Elizabeth Pantley doesn’t disappoint. This time the gang head to a town named Frosting for a cake contest that is taken very seriously by the townspeople. So seriously, someone is killing off someone every year.

Paige and Aunt Glo, plus the usual gang, are all excited about joining a book that is about cake. It’s a paranormal so Frank can speak and be heard. Mollie, the latest addition to the series discovers a few tricks of her own in this story. And one of their own, is actually quite good at baking and seems to fit right in with this town. I was quite surprised about the killer. Ms. Pantley camouflaged the clues well.

The author has kept the series fresh and intriguing. New main characters come and go so you never know what’s waiting for the reader. Plus, you never know where the next adventure is going to take you. I eagerly await the next installment as I wish I could find myself in one of Ms. Pantley’ s books.

My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions expressed are
my own.

Fairy Baking Cozy Mystery

"Bakeries and Buffoonery (Magical Mystery Book Club #4)" by Elizabeth Pantley is a baking cozy mystery plus fairies. The only thing it was missing from a stereotypical baking cozy mystery was a recipe. I wont say that it needed one though.

These books still make me think of the "Magic Tree House" series with the jumping into books to solve a mystery. This time they have to find the culprit after getting some clue from the culprit in the first part of the book they picked. I have to say I was leaning towards this person but almost switched to someone else right before the reveal.

The Voice

While clear and distinct at regular speed the voice drags. The pauses were too frequent and too long. It seems that this improved as the book moves toward.
Still a good listen that requires no thought and is fun.

B&B Bk 4

I got this book because I liked the premise of falling into a book physically. While I'm not a huge fan of cozy mysteries I can't complain, since the series clearly identifies "cozy" but the series left me wanting more out of the story, I felt this series had loads of promise for it's idea's of travelling within the book - The character "Moonbeam" was totally redundant and in my opinion and brought the book down instead of adding a new dimension to the story line. Moonbeam also spends too much time minding other peoples business and wanting to correct their language and behaviour -
The virtual voice narrator still needs work, but it's one of the better virtual voice AI that I've listened to. The problem with virtual voice is that it lacks lilt and sarcasm, and idioms like "Tomato - Toe-mot-o" are lost on virtual voice, so it's difficult to feel part of the story in my opinion.