Brownies and Broomsticks

A Magical Bakery Mystery, Book 1

By: Bailey Cates

Narrated by: Johanna Parker

Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

Katie Lightfoot's tired of loafing around as the assistant manager of an Ohio bakery. So when her aunt Lucy and uncle Ben open a bakery in Savannah's quaint downtown district and ask Katie to join them, she enthusiastically agrees.

While working at the Honeybee Bakery - named after Lucy's cat - Katie notices that her aunt is adding mysterious herbs to her recipes. Turns out these herbal enhancements aren't just tasty - Aunt Lucy is a witch and her recipes are actually spells!

When a curmudgeonly customer is murdered outside the Honeybee Bakery, Uncle Ben becomes the prime suspect. With the help of handsome journalist Steve Dawes, charming firefighter Declan McCarthy, and a few spells, Katie and Aunt Lucy stir up some toil and trouble to clear Ben's name and find the real killer....

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2012 Penguin Group USA (Inc.) (P)2013 Tantor

A Little Mystery with your Magic

Johanna Parker is an excellent narrator as always, and Bailey Cates has created a quirky coven of colorful characters that are worth spending some relaxing hours with. As a cozy mystery, this story doesn't require deep thinking or puzzling. Actually, I think the fun might crumble in the face of too much over-thinking.

If you enjoy baking, the recipes included in the book are available on a pdf at the publisher's website with a code given at the beginning of the recording. I haven't downloaded them yet, but there are a lot of yummy-sounding items at the bakery.

If you enjoy things magical, the basic practices, symbols and herbs discussed are true to tradition as far as my experience. I always wonder about that in a fiction book, so that was a nice discovery.

As far as negatives go, while the female characters are alive and textured, the male characters are flat and fall into stereotypes -- good guy fireman, slimy reporter, cranky detective, thug, nearly invisible husband. Also, since it's the first book in a series, and there are a so many characters, more time is spent introducing people than developing the mystery. I guessed whodunnit within minutes of the murder.

That said, I enjoyed these people enough to listen a second time while I was doing other things around the house, and I will be happy to buy the second book in the series when it comes out in audiobook.

I was wrong!

I was very reluctant to use a credit on this. Oh, just another cute bakery and witches story. I throughly enjoyed the book. It's an easy listen, moves along very well. Do not buy it if you want sex, profanity, blood and gore. IT WAS FUN!

Great fun, and easy listening

Would you listen to Brownies and Broomsticks again? Why?

I really enjoyed this book, I have to drive a lot because i live in the middle of no where so having a book that will entertain me is very important.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did get more and more into it as the story continued.

Any additional comments?

Enjoyed this book, but sadly this narrator does not narrate the next book, which has put me off the series some. The new narrator is not as good, and I find her voice annoying.

Some voices! But still worth a listen.

I put this down to .75 narration speed and it was much easier to listen to. I found there was not a clear enough definition between the voices of the the men and in particular didn't like the voice of Declan. Doesn't sound real but contrived and falsely deep. I'd love to see a change in his voice and the book definitely needs to change that silly yip/yep of Mungo. But it was still a fun book to listen to!

Light Fun Sleuth Novel

Any additional comments?

Its light. Its fun. It is not thought provoking, or emotionally challenging. It took a minute to get out of the Sookie Stackhouse frame of mind due to the narrator but after I got into it it was ok. It was a nice setup novel, just a hint of romance but the setup for a angsty love triangle is created. The story was amusing but not as funny as a Molly Harper or Janet Evanovich. It was "magical" but not overwhelmingly or complicatedly so, more contemporary than urban fantasy, she's not building a whole new world. I give three stars because it was good but it wasn't epic or a reread.

Light and funny

Although the subject of witches may seem silly, the book is light but not silly. Great as a respite between serious books!

Enjoyable new series...

Any additional comments?

This book was a fun listen. Nothing fancy... just a typical chicklit mystery but... I liked the narrator. I liked the story. It had just enough humor and romance and it villain wasn't obvious. You end up feeling more sorry for the killer than the victim.Look forward to the next books in this series. I hope audible brings them in soon.

It was ok

This was an entertaining book with a good plot and well written characters. The book seemed to follow a formula. New woman in town, two men for a love interest, someone she cares about is in trouble, she vows to solve the crime. It all of the points, but I didn't get pulled into the book. On the surface it was okay, but it lacked depth. I might listen to the next one if it is offered on audible. Also, there are supposed to be recipes in the book. When I went to the tantor website I was not able to access the recipes.

Cute

I thought this story was cute, it didn't require you to think to hard about anything. The mystery aspect of the story was nice, and most of the characters were interesting. This book is definitely directed more towards younger girls, I think they would enjoy it the most.

Wow, cute and a good story too

Starts off a bit hinky with the neice quiting her job as assistant manager of a bakery in Ohio and heading to SC to do the baking in her aunt & uncle's new bakery. It improves with the appearance of a little dog who stays. And keeps going uphill from there. Its good enough that I've listened to it many times and keep picking up new details that I missed before. I hope there are more in this series.