A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death (A Baker Street Mystery) by Valerie Burns
About A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death
On the shores of Lake Michigan, influencer Maddy Montgomery has turned the bakery she inherited from her great aunt Octavia into a destination. There’s just one thing she won’t post: the body in the freezer . . .
Thanks to Maddy’s social media savvy, Baby Cakes Bakery is becoming a huge success — so much so that she’s attracted the attention of her former nemesis, the fiancé-stealing Brandy Denton. When Brandy blows into New Bison like an ill wind and disrupts a vlog Maddy’s filming, their argument goes viral. After Brandy’s body is found in the freezer at Baby Cakes, Maddy instantly goes from viral sensation to murder suspect.
As Maddy is still reeling from the murder, a stranger shows up in the bakery claiming to have been a friend of Octavia. He believes Maddy is in danger. When a second body washes up on the lake shore, it seems clear someone’s out to kill to keep a secret — and it may have to do with her great aunt.
Maddy rallies her aunt’s friends, the Baker Street Irregulars; Sheriff April Johnson; and her veterinarian boyfriend Michael — not to mention her English mastiff, Baby — to do some digging and root out whoever’s behind the killings . . .
About the Guest Post
COZY DOESN’T MEAN WEAK
Cozy mysteries may not feature a tough-as-nails, hard-nosed, pistol-wielding, foul-mouthed detective, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t still pack a punch or be impactful. If you stroll down the aisles of your favorite bookstores, you won’t have any difficulty separating the darker noir, true crime, or gritty police procedurals from the cozy mysteries. The titles and the covers are a dead giveaway. But just because cozy mystery titles are full of puns or the covers are overflowing with cuddly kittens, adorable puppies, or trays of delectable baked goods, that doesn’t mean that the books are light-weights that shy away from tough issues.
There are some dos and don’ts for cozy mysteries that contribute to the misconception that cozy equates to cream puff. Cozy mysteries almost always feature an amateur sleuth rather than a hardcore alcoholic cop like Jesse Stone or a shoot first and ask questions later Dirty Harry. I have an active imagination and even I can’t imagine Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher pointing a gun and shouting, “Go ahead. Make my day.” Cozy mysteries don’t have gratuitous sex (well, any sex), graphic violence, or swearing. Plus, it’s not uncommon that in addition to a murder that must be solved, cozies will often include a knitting pattern, a tip for decluttering your home, or a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Nevertheless, cozy mysteries can still address important issues… in their own way. I’m a big fan of Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mystery Series, about a widowed midwife, Sarah Brandt. Over the course of the twenty-plus books in the series, Thompson sheds light on issues of class, race, sexual orientation, and police corruption at the turn of the century in New York City. Thompson doesn’t beat audiences over the head, nor does she forget that the ultimate point is the mystery. However, she does manage to enlighten while she entertains.
In Sit, Stay, Slay!, the fifth book in my Dog Club Mystery series, I shed light on the practice of dog racing and the plight of these (thankfully) now-retired greyhounds. My Mystery Bookshop series features a story within a story that is set before the start of WWII in England. And in my Baker Street Mystery, A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death, I touch on the tunnels near Lake Michigan that were used by slaves escaping on the underground railroad and were later used for bootlegging during prohibition.
Genre fiction is often looked down upon as “escapist,” and not taken seriously by literary fiction enthusiasts. Within the mystery genre, cozy mysteries are a subgenre that is even further down the ladder. Nevertheless, cozies can broach subjects in a way that is subtle yet relatable. I’m not deluding myself into believing that cozies will have the same law-changing power as books like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still make an impact. If honey can attract more flies than vinegar, then who knows what a great chocolate chip cookie recipe is capable of accomplishing?
About Valerie Burns
Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha and Edgar Award-nominated author. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series. As Kallie E. Benjamin, Valerie writes the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. She is an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, and a mentor in the Pocket MFA program. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles. Connect with Valerie at vmburns.com.
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