Against the Currant: A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery
by Olivia Matthews
I needed a nice light read and the cover of this, plus the
title, appealed perfectly. It doesn’t hurt that two of my favorite cozy mystery
authors, Mia P. Manansala and Raquel V. Reyes, wrote endorsements.
Lyndsay Murray is holding the soft opening of her
family-owned Spice Isle Bakery in Brooklyn, which serves West Indian pastries
and main course food when a local baker and businessman, Claudio, shows up to
try to intimidate them into closing. Lyndsay and her elegant grandmother are
minding the front of the store while her parents and her brother handle the
baking. Lyndsay assertively tells Claudio to go tend to his own business.
Unfortunately, Claudio soon turns up murdered and Lyndsay’s
bracelet is at the scene. The police seem to think that Lyndsay is their
absolute best suspect. She is distraught, certain that if she doesn’t figure
out who did this she will end up on trial and her bakery dream will go up in
flames, crucified in the court of public opinion.
Things I loved about the story – there was lots of flavor
and color through the descriptions of food and clothing. Lyndsay’s grandmother,
who also works in the bakery, always seems to have a beautiful outfit put
together. Her mother and father are also there, though mostly shown through
their fears for their daughter and about how fast everything is moving. They
aren’t comfortable with her applying for a festival, though her grandmother and
brother, Dev, are all for it.
A humorous thread running through the story is that while
Lyndsay is a good cook, providing main dishes like curried chicken, she’s not a
very good baker. However, her grandmother is giving her lessons and she does
improve through the book.
Another neat thread is Lyndsay’s kickboxing. She’s mainly in
it for exercise but it serves her in self-defense and confidence, but she’s not
too sure when a former classmate encourages her to enter a competition.
Because this is a new series, there’s a lot of time spent
introducing us to the characters and neighborhood, so the story moves
relatively slow. But that impression could also have been influenced by how I
was reading it over the Thanksgiving holiday. It might have gone faster if I
had bigger chunks of time to devote to it.
I also enjoyed the cast of characters but at the same time kept
confusing two of them. There were so many people coming into the bakery to buy
baked goods and meals. Again, that may have just been my brain and the
disjointed way I was reading the book.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely
pick up another to read. I’d love to hear a version on audio.
