Baking and crime make for sweet combination
Trident Booksellers & Caf茅 was looking for a crowd-pleaser. So the Boston bookstore created 鈥淭he Great British Bake Off Murder Mystery Dinner,鈥� an event that sold tickets faster than quick yeast bread can rise. Will it do it again? 鈥淒efinitely!鈥� says store manager Courtney Flynn. Thanks to the success of 鈥淭he Great British Bake Off鈥� (known as 鈥淭he Great British Baking Show鈥� in the United States), says Ms. Flynn, baking is now 鈥渃ulturally relevant.鈥� 鈥淭he Great British Bake Off,鈥� a televised baking competition showcasing the talents of amateur British bakers, first aired in 2010. It has since sparked a baking revival in Britain and spawned copycat shows around the world.
But the successful combination of baking and crime actually predates the Trident Booksellers event. And it鈥檚 not surprising, says Joanne Fluke, whose 鈥淩aspberry Danish Murder,鈥� the 22nd book in her popular 鈥淗annah Swensen鈥� mystery series, will come out early next year. Readers who devour 鈥渃ozy鈥� mysteries (crime stories devoid of graphic violence and often set in small towns or villages) 鈥渁re looking for an escape into a calming and nostalgic world,鈥� says Ms. Fluke.
The list of dessert-themed cozy mystery book series is in the baker鈥檚 dozens. Almost all feature young women who run their own bakeries but also solve crimes. They may have specialties (Katie Lightfoot runs the Honeybee Bakery in Savannah, Ga., and relies on paranormal abilities to solve crimes in Bailey Cates鈥檚 鈥淢agical Bakery鈥� series), but all somehow combine pastry creation with criminal investigation. Ellie Alexander, who published the first book in her 鈥淏akeshop Mystery鈥� series, starring Jules Capshaw, owner of Torte bakery in Ashland, Ore., in 2014, says the sleuthing-dessert connection is no mystery to her. 鈥淚n a cozy [series], a problem is perfectly solved within the space of a book,鈥� she says. The solution is comforting and satisfying 鈥� not unlike a slice of warm cherry pie.
