2.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC. I profusely apologise for getting to it so late. This was a solid 3 star book until the author completely and utterly mishandled a SA subplot. I’ll elaborate on that more later while trying to keep away from spoilers.

First, what I liked. The baking element was really interesting and I was more invested in who was going to win each round than the mystery itself to be honest. I kept wanting to read on because the chapters were so short and snappy and often left on a cliffhanger. There was a lot of drama surrounding the competition itself. I liked a couple of the characters like Lottie and Gerald.

A lot of the characters were unlikeable and uninteresting though and I think the author attempted way too many plot-lines and mysteries in one book and it felt half baked. Pun completely intended. This may be a small spoiler but I will leave out character names and as many details as I can. The way the author handled the SA plot was absolutely abysmal. A character suffers from panic attacks and blackouts after an incident in her past and then suddenly is cured after one event in the book. This was insulting and so inaccurate it hurt to read. I was hoping the author would talk about her decisions surrounding this plot line in her authors note or acknowledgements but she didn’t. It felt cheap and offensive to SA survivors like me.

If you’re new to mystery/thrillers then perhaps you would enjoy this but if you’re a more seasoned thriller reader I wouldn’t recommend this. It was released last year on 14th September.

I had a great time with this cosy mystery set behind the scenes of a baking show (verrrry clearly based on GBBO!) - although the characters were what elevated this for me from a story where the mystery was actually pretty obvious from early on. I still enjoyed the ride though, and will definitely look out for more work from this talented author!
3.75 stars

A a fan of the Great British Bake Off, I knew this would be a fun read and it really is!

A great selection of characters really tell the story, though I feel the story is told a little slowly - however it does feel like the book allows for the setting and the characters to be given their time to shine to allow for this story to really be told.

a cosy mystery, I'm very glad I got round to finally reading this!

With a host of intriguing characters, numerous unguessable plot twists, and some delectable-sounding baked goods, this cozy mystery is certainly worthy of a Hollywood handshake!

Bake off with a murder? Count me in!

I loved the premise of this book, which sounded like a sinister version of GBBO, set in America.

I didn’t completely deliver for me as it was a bit clunky and predictable, but it was a fun and sometimes lighthearted read with some really juicy and nasty characters.

Suspend your disbelief and get ready for some serious sabotage!

2.5/3 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Jessa Maxwell and Michael Joseph, Penguin for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Take the Great British Bake off and place in a swanky pad in America, Add in an eclectic selection of odd-bod bakers, mix with a dash of celebrity, then stir in some rivalry and competition. Top it all off with a sprinkling of sabotage and there you have it, The Golden Spoon, best served after a stressful day when all that is required is an escape from the everyday...

REVIEW:

Things I loved about this one:

✅ locked room mystery
✅ creepy big mansion setting
✅ inspired by Bake Off, which is one of my favourite programmes
✅ cozy mystery vibes

I'm going to set the expectations here, this isn't complex, thrilling or action packed, it is just a nice cozy, easy reading, type mystery. That's not to say I didn't like it, because I did, this really was an enjoyable read! But if you are after a thriller, this isn't it 🤷🏼‍♀️

I enjoyed the competitiveness of the contestants and the cycling POVs of all of them. It's a small cast of characters, but all of them were unique and you could tell the difference in the writing of their POVs.

There is some creepy tension filled parts, mostly built by descriptions of the location! 🏚️

If you love cozy mysteries, than this might be for you!

RATING

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

I thought that although the book premise was great, it sadly did not really deliver. The characters were one-dimentional and the plot was entertaining but not very complex. Sadly, just a ok read for me.

Perfect Sunday read while drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn. Oddly festive and cozy though it takes place in the summer. Told my mother to read it!

The Great British Bake Off meets Agatha Christie - what more could you ask for?
The Golden Spoon is just a simple, straight forward, murder mystery, told from multiple perspectives. I found the ending to be a little bit of an anti-climax, but it the characters were well developed and it was an easy read.

Six contestants descend on a remote manor in Vermont to take part in 'Bake Week', a televised competition. The Manor is owned by Betsy, America's baking grandmother, struggling to make ends meet and finding that her show is being taken over by an aggressive new co-host and an ambitious former assistant. The contestants are hand-picked to appeal to as wide a demographic as possible but it seems the competition isn't as fair as it should be and one of them has another reason to take part.
I really liked the premise of a streaming channel version of 'Bake Off' but found the crime sadly lacking. It did kick in towards the end but I was actually quite enjoying the 'me too' sub-plot which seemed to get a little lost. It's a perfectly enjoyable quick read but will not leave much of an impression with me.

The Great British Bake-Off is one of my favourite television shows so I couldn’t resist the premise of Jessa Maxwell’s debut cosy mystery novel, The Golden Spoon.

It's season 10 of ‘Bake Week’, the nation’s most popular cooking competition show hosted by grandmotherly celebrity chef Betsy Martin. Filmed in the grounds of Martin’s ancestral home, Grafton Manor, six contestants will compete in a series of day long competitions over a week, leading to a showdown between the final two bakers, one of whom will be awarded the coveted Golden Spoon. A prologue introduces the mystery with the discovery of a body in the bake-off tent in the midst of a storm. The story is then told from seven points of view revealing the actions of the hosts, crew, and contestants prior to the murder.

Learning that Betsy Martin is unhappy with the show’s new co-host, foisted upon her the production company, is the first sign not all is well behind the scenes of ‘Bake Week’. Archie Morris is a boor, but it soon becomes evident he is not Betsy’s only problem after she overhears an upsetting conversation between her PA and a cameraman. The intrigue then ramps up as the first of the contestants is eliminated due to the use of salt instead of sugar in his chocolate-custard filled horns. It could have been a simple mistake due to nerves, but as filming progresses, sabotage seems more likely.

There are plenty of suspects for both the sabotage and murder, including among the six contestants of varying backgrounds who range in age from 22 to 74, and come from all over the country. Though all of them want to win the Golden Spoon, some seem to have other motives for participating in the show. I liked how Maxwell introduced these characters and expanded upon their personalities, revealed as the narrative switches between their first person perspectives. As for the hosts, it’s hard not to visualise Mary Berry (as opposed to Prue Leith) and Paul Hollywood as Betsy and Archie.

There’s not really much in the way of suspense in The Golden Spoon, which is reflected by the measured pace. The murder doesn’t happen until quite late in the book but the resolution doesn’t feel rushed. It is a little melodramatic though, with an unexpected, and slightly odd, twist. I appreciated the happy ending though.

It’s perhaps a shame that a bonus recipe or three isn’t included, but The Golden Spoon is an entertaining cosy mystery.

Betsy Martin is famous for being America’s grandmother presenting Bake Week so when Archie Morris is bought in to co-present with her she does not like it at all add in six contestants staying in her home Grafton Manor while they compete to win the coveted golden spoon. But not everything and everyone is as they seem and not everyone is going to come out of Bake Week alive. An interesting read with a nod to Great British bake off.

A “locked room” is a literary cliche for a reason: there’s nothing like trapping a set of people together and throwing in a mystery to create compelling fiction. If you’ve ever watched The Great British Bake Off and thought the show had potential as the setting for a murder mystery, you’re in luck: Jessa Maxwell’s debut novel takes a thinly-disguised GBBO, moves the action to Vermont in the USA, and transforms the concept into a sinister yet unputdownable read which – of course – sees every single page packed with baking references like layers of jam and cream through a Victoria sponge.

We join the action as the tenth series of Bake Week begins filming, and beloved host Betsy Martin is disgruntled at being forced to share the spotlight with new co-host Archie Morris, who fronts ‘The Cutting Board’ – a macho cooking competition that couldn’t be more different from this gentle baking show. Betsy has worked hard to win her place as ‘America’s Grandmother’, and dislikes brash, opinionated Archie on principle – but the production team think the show needs shaking up, so she begrudgingly welcomes him into the team and by extension, her family home. The show is always filmed on Betsy’s ancestral estate Grafton Manor, a historic pile of a house which requires considerable upkeep – greatly helped by the generous location fees paid by the production company, who site “the tent” in the house’s beautiful grounds. The six contestants and two co-hosts live together in Grafton Manor during filming, which runs smoothly at first, as it always has. All the beloved GBBO cliches are here: we have Lottie, a retired nurse who loves traditional bakes: Gerald, a maths teacher and total perfectionist; Stella, an inexperienced baker and ex-journalist who adores Betsy; Hannah, a young prodigy who specialises in pies; Pradyuma, a tech-bro who’s sold his start-up and is here to ‘push his boundaries’ and Peter, a carpenter who loves baking for his three-year-old daughter. The book hops between heads, giving us multiple perspectives on the action as we spend time with these engaging characters.

As anyone who watches GBBO will know, even the most accomplished bakers make mistakes in the pressured environment of The Tent: but there’s a whisper of suspicion about the events which start to derail the contestants’ bakes. Salt and sugar is swapped, fridge doors are left open – and murmurs of sabotage spread through the contestants. Strange noises in the night and overheard conversations contribute to the general feeling of unease, and as we get to know more about the contestants, it becomes clear that each of them have their own set of reasons for being in the tent beyond a straightforward love of baking. As with GBBO, it’s not just about cake. If you love baking and reading murder mysteries (who doesn’t?) this is an excellent addition to a wishlist: make sure to have a slice or two of something sugary on hand while you read, or you’ll be forced to put the book down and put your apron on…

With a blurb that says this is a mix of Great British Bake Off and And Then There Were None, what's not to like? Luckily for me, I did quite enjoy this.
I was hooked straight away and the writing flows well it was such an easy read. I liked how we got multiple POV's from all the characters, this really helped the story progress and the pacing was great.
It is packed full of cosy vibes and is definitely a fun, light read.
However I must say that not a lot actually happens in the first 50%. Mostly this book is about a baking competition with a light bit of mystery and murder thrown in right near the end.
All the characters were well defined and I could tell them apart, which as there were more than 6 POVs we we're reading from, was great.
This did feel a bit anti climactic by the end, but I did have a fun time reading it.
If you are a fan of Bake Off and cosy mysteries this might be one for you.

I thought this was going to be a good murder mystery book. It started off well and then drifted into more of a "Bakeoff" type of story which got boring after awhile. It took too long to solve the murder. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This was a very unusual book from a new author a murder mystery based around a cooking show such as the American version of Master Chef. As a reader in London England I have never viewed the American TV version of Master Chef but it seems very similar to the British version with all the competing six chefs based in a large tent in the grounds of a mansion.
Every summer for the past ten years, six awe-struck bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week” but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin.

The author of numerous bestselling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, though no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. As the baking competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.

A sharp and suspenseful thriller for mystery buffs and avid bakers alike, The Golden Spoon is a brilliant puzzle filled with shocking twists and turns that will keep you reading late into the night until you turn the very last page of this incredible debut.
This was brilliant and I was totally gripped until the final page.

A group of amateur bakers arrive at Grafton Manor to take part in the television series Bake week ( think of the great British bake off ) .
The group tell their stories from their own narrative and usually I would find this type of story telling confusing but the writing style made it easy to follow and enjoyable.
Betsy Martin owns Grafton Manor and is an icon known as America’s grandmother and her co host is Archie Morris who seems a bit of an oily man to say the least .
This book contains sabotage, murder and everything in between no one is as they first seem and there are plenty of twists and turns to whet the reader’s appetite.
A different read but an enjoyable one .
Highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph , Penguin Random House.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this: “Bake Off” style scene murder, nice different characters involved & an easy read. A few twists involved. Nice, entertaining (although unrealistic!) read. #TheGoldenSpoon #JessaMaxwell

I love it when a book surprises me, and boy, did The Golden Spoon do just that. Because, while this book certainly falls under the ‘mystery’ heading, it’s anything but a stereotypical whodunnit. In fact, for the longest time it isn’t entirely clear what has been done, or to whom. All the prologue tells us is that Betsy makes a horrific discovery while there is a storm raging around her estate, where she hosts the Golden Spoon baking competition. The story then returns to a few days earlier. The six contestants in the baking competition are introduced as they arrive at the impressive location, and we subsequently follow them and their host Betsy Martin through the first few days of the competition.

Not all is well. Betsy finds herself having to work with a co-host she detests, while the competitors find themselves competing not only against each other but also against somebody unknown who appears determined to sabotage them and the competition. Add to all this mayhem that most if not all of the contestants may have ulterior motives for taking part in the competition…

You catch my drift. Much is happening between the covers of this book and quite a lot of it doesn’t become clear until very late into the story. And that could have been an issue. After all, I tend to read mysteries because I want to try and figure out whodunnit before the story reveals all. That becomes a lot harder if it is unclear who the victim is and what exactly has been done to them.

I’m very happy to report, that the set-up of this story, despite being untraditional, worked perfectly well for me. All the characters in this story are fascinating and watching their back-stories and motivations unfold kept me captivated. In fact, there were times when I all but forgot that the mystery in this story still remained a mystery itself.

While I can’t say anything specific about it, I would like to add that the resolution to this tale is somewhat untraditional as well. I’m sure there will be those who’ll end up frowning about the ending of this story but for me, it made perfect sense in the context.

To summarize: The Golden Spoon was a fascinating, well-written, and easy-to-read mystery featuring fascinating characters, an original set-up, and a captivating storyline. Colour me impressed.