MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
Jessa Maxwell's engaging debut novel, narrated in individual sections by a talented ensemble, will especially appeal to those who love reality cooking shows. "Bake Week" is an American spin-off of "The Great British Baking Show," tent and all. The show's star, Betsy Grafton, "America's grandmother," has run the show for nine successful seasons, but the producers have hired a famously nasty male chef to co-host the tenth season. As the show is filmed at Grafton's Vermont home, listeners get the personal backstories and secret motives of all six competitors and cohosts. With behind-the-scenes insights and highly personal revelations of breakdowns, abuse, sabotage, and murder, there's never a dull moment. Exceptional performances by each narrator deliver delicious recipes and devious plots. Appetizing listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 02/13/2023
Byzantine chicanery seasoned with a dash of revenge greets six contestants gathered for Bake Week on the property of a crumbling Vermont manse, in Maxwell’s outstanding debut. Tantalizing backstage backstories include those of an ex-journalist from Brooklyn, a pie prodigy from Minnesota, a Bronx math teacher, a wealthy former CEO tech from Boston, a retired Rhode Island registered nurse, and a restorer of old buildings from New Hampshire. Hosting the competition’s 10th season is the heir to the manor, Betsy Martin, joined for the first time by an award-winning baker, Archie Morris, along with regular lead coordinator, Melanie Blair. Sabotage starts slow but early. A refrigerator door is left open; salt is replaced with sugar; a burner is turned up to high; gasoline replaces orange essence in a pie. By day three, it’s clear someone isn’t playing by the rules laid out in a “behemoth spiralbound packet.” Everything escalates to an extremely dark and stormy night (including a blackout), leading to startling revelations and a jaw-dropping confession. Sweet and savory turns deadly sour in this fast-paced, entertaining romp scheduled for a Hulu miniseries. Maxwell is off to a great start. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
"Fans of The Great British Baking Show, rejoice! This cozy whodunit is for you." —NPR
“Two things I love are great food and a great mystery—and The Golden Spoon has both. This delicious combination of CLUE and The Great British Bakeoff kept me turning the pages all night!" —JANET EVANOVICH, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Recovery Agent
"Clever, atmospheric, and creepy, with a spooky mansion, the kind of quirky, reality-TV-ready ensemble you can't help but adore, and storylines as expertly interwoven as a blue-ribbon challah. I can't wait for whatever Maxwell bakes up next." —ANDREA BARTZ, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never Here
“The Golden Spoon is as addictive as bingeing your favorite culinary competition and as satisfying as a piece of your favorite cake. It’s a complex, layered mystery featuring an unforgettable cast of characters who could be either America’s next great baker or its next most famous cold-blooded killer. Jessa Maxwell has crafted a debut that’s mouth wateringly good.” —KELLYE GARRETT, Agatha, Anthony, and Lefty Award winning author of Like a Sister and Missing White Woman
"Jessa Maxwell's debut is a deliciously entertaining whodunit—charming characters, baking mishaps, and a mouthwatering murder mystery. Readers and baking enthusiasts will savor every bite of The Golden Spoon." —SARAH PENNER, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary
"At last, a baking show with a murder; cleverly constructed so we not only wonder who is the murderer, but who will be the victim. A delightful bake." —CHRISTOPHER MOORE, New York Times bestselling author of Lamb, Noir, and A Dirty Job
"A delicious confection—in this multi-character CLUE meets the British Bake Off everyone is suspicious, and the solution will surprise you. I ate it up." —CATHERINE MCKENZIE, USA Today bestselling author of Have You Seen Her
"Who knew that the one thing to make me love the Great British Bake-Off even more was to add a (fictional) dead body? Take a cozy setting like Grafton, add in a diverse cast with their own hopes and dreams and hidden agendas, and toss in a couple of hosts who are not as perfect as they'd like you to think, and you've got a foolproof recipe for a great read. If you're a fan of character-driven mysteries and delicious bakes, you absolutely have to check out The Golden Spoon" —MIA P. MANANSALA, author of the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-winning Arsenic and Adobo
"Sweet and savory turns deadly sour in this fast-paced, entertaining romp...Maxwell is off to a great start." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A fantastically fun mystery with a perfect setting. It's Knives Out meets Agatha Christie. I was delightfully surprised throughout." —SARAH LANGAN, author of Good Neighbors
#1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich
This delicious combination of Clue and The Great British Bakeoff kept me turning the pages all night!”
Library Journal - Audio
06/10/2024
Maxwell debuts with a light, traditional mystery set at Grafton Manor in rural Vermont. The mansion is home to a competitive-baking show filmed over the span of a week. The premise of the show, aptly titled Bake Week, dictates that six amateur-baker contestants live at Grafton Manor while filming, with one contestant being voted off each day until the winner is declared. In the opening scene, the manor's owner and the show's host, Betsy Martin, discovers a dead body in the show's tented kitchen. The story then flashes back to the first days of that season's filming, with behind-the-scenes sabotage, manipulative power-hungry staff, cohosts jockeying to be the star, and contestants snooping—all of which further complicate the question of whodunit. Character backstories are fleshed out and brought vibrantly to listeners through a talented ensemble of eight narrators; each gives voice to a different contestant, allowing listeners to become acquainted with their nuances and delectable secrets. VERDICT Enhanced by its grand setting, strong characters, and superb narration, this audio is a delight. With a Hulu limited series in the future, listeners won't want to pass this dish over.—Kym Goering
Library Journal
★ 12/01/2022
DEBUT A delectable tour de force of baking and mayhem, Maxwell's debut mystery is one to savor. Change is in the air for the popular TV show Bake Week, starring "America's Grandmother," Betsy Martin. For the first time in the show's history, Betsy will be joined by a cohost, fellow award-winning baker Archie Morris, whose bulldog personality contrasts with her approachable image. Betsy is livid about the change, but the show funds her sprawling estate, Grafton Manor, where the series is also filmed, so she agrees. Tensions are already high when the six contestants arrive, all ready to wow their idol with their tasty pies and perfectly formed breads. Things quickly go awry as ingredients are mislabeled and temperatures are fiddled with in the flawlessly manicured kitchens. Through unfolding narratives by each of the bakers and Betsy herself, readers come to realize that not everyone at Grafton Manor is there to compete. Past traumas and the manor itself come into play, culminating in a horror-filled evening. VERDICT With meticulous plotting and the grand backdrop of a country home, this is a thoroughly entertaining, well-crafted read. Highly recommended for all mystery collections and for those who appreciate an ensemble cast in their whodunits.—Amy Nolan
MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
Jessa Maxwell's engaging debut novel, narrated in individual sections by a talented ensemble, will especially appeal to those who love reality cooking shows. "Bake Week" is an American spin-off of "The Great British Baking Show," tent and all. The show's star, Betsy Grafton, "America's grandmother," has run the show for nine successful seasons, but the producers have hired a famously nasty male chef to co-host the tenth season. As the show is filmed at Grafton's Vermont home, listeners get the personal backstories and secret motives of all six competitors and cohosts. With behind-the-scenes insights and highly personal revelations of breakdowns, abuse, sabotage, and murder, there's never a dull moment. Exceptional performances by each narrator deliver delicious recipes and devious plots. Appetizing listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-12-14
Six contestants. A big white tent on the grounds of an aging estate. It’s a bake-off...in Vermont? And the winner might just be the one who survives.
Hannah. Gerald. Pradyumna. Lottie. Peter. Stella. These six bakers are selected to compete in the 10th season of Bake Week, a TV show filmed in the mountains of Vermont at Grafton Manor, the family estate of cookbook legend Betsy Martin. Betsy has been successfully hosting the show and judging the baked goods of amateur American bakers for 10 years; this year, however, a few things are different. First of all, the producers have insisted on appointing a co-host designed to appeal to a younger audience, a male chef known for his hard-as-nails critiques on another cooking show as well as his million-dollar smile. Second of all, at least one of the contestants is not who they say they are. Once a body is found, dripping blood into a cake—don’t worry, no one eats it—it’s clear that someone has taken the competition a little too far. There's a delightful balance of baking details and intrigue as the bakers compete through different challenges and we become privy to their secret motives and how far each is willing to go to win. The contestants hit all the character types: the beautiful ingénue, the neurotic scientist, the fluffy old woman, the bored millionaire, the anxious newbie, and the rustic craftsman. We are treated to their backstories and to some of their internal dialogue, but this is a novel that also rests comfortably, nostalgically, in its sense of formula. Despite the American setting, it’s not hard to imagine these characters creeping around the halls and grounds of a moldering British manor in the tradition of the best locked-room mysteries.
A delicious concoction: two shakes Agatha Christie and a cup of Great British Bake Off.