I've read all the Flavia de Luce books. They're like a cross between Nancy Drew and the Addams family. I like that sort of mix.
Flavia rides off on Gladys (her bicycle) to deliver a message to an old man who does wood carving. Someone has damaged some of the carvings in the local church. Flavia finds the man dead, hanging upside down from a contraption of some sort. She, of course, investigates before calling the police.
I think the mystery in this one is a little thin. I was a bit disappointed by the perpetrator and the solution. But, on the way, there were some interesting characters and incidents. The ending was abrupt and unexpected, though.
Danielle at A Work in Progress mentioned The City Baker's Guide to Country Living a while ago and just recently posted her review of it. Danielle is a much better reviewer than I am. I'm always in too much of a hurry to get on to the next book.
Olivia Rawlings is a baker who sets a prestigious private club in Boston on fire while serving Baked Alaska. She was ready to leave anyway, to leave the club and her married, wealthy lover. She goes to visit her friend Hannah in Vermont and ends up taking a job baking at the Sugar Maple Inn.
Livvy, as her friends call her, also plays the banjo. She's invited to play with a group in town. One of the other musicians, a fiddler, is handsome and she falls in love with him. His family treats her like a daughter. But it all comes apart when his father dies. It's the kind of small town where everyone has known each other for generations and where everyone knows everyone else's business, even though there are lots of secrets.
This was a light read, full of lots of baking and cooking. It inspired me to bake a Lemon Drizzle Cake, which I've been intending to do for weeks. Once it's baked, it has to be eaten, which is why I'm feeling a big porky at the moment.
It also ticked several of my boxes, as they say. Olivia lived and worked in Boston, where I used to live and work, she has an Irish Wolfhound mix, and I've had the pleasure of sharing my life with three Irish Wolfhounds, and she uses Nancy Drew books to level the legs of a table, and I love Nancy Drew. Although I'd never use them to level a table.
