Brownies and Broomsticks: A Magical Bakery Mystery by Bailey Cates

               Here I go again, trying out a bunch of new mystery series.  This time it’s a magical bakery.  When I saw that premise, I knew I had to give this series a try.

                Katie Lightfoot has moved to Savannah, Georgia to open a bakery with her aunt and uncle.  A trained baker, Katie is thrilled for this new opportunity.  Not only is this something she has dreamed about, but she will be leaving behind a bad work situation as well as a broken engagement.  This move from Ohio to Savannah is just the change Katie needs.

                What Katie finds, however, is much more change than she ever expected.  That’s because Katie discovers she is a witch.  She also learns that she’s not the only witch in the family.  Her Aunt Lucy and her parents are witches too.  In fact, like her relations, Katie has been a witch her entire life, something her parents never told her.  That is why it comes as such a shock to Katie when her Aunt Lucy tells her the truth.

                Of course, at first Katie is reluctant to believe anything her aunt is telling her.  How in the world could she be a witch without her ever knowing it?  Then, as Katie learns more about witchcraft, events and occurrences from her life begin to fall into place.  Suddenly, things she has always wondered about begin to make sense, and she starts to believe.

                It’s a good thing Katie does start to believe because her skills are badly needed.  An unfriendly customer who tried to stiff the bakery for their services is found dead, obviously murdered, and Katie’s Uncle Ben is the prime suspect!  It will take all of Katie’s, Aunt Lucy’s, and Aunt Lucy’s book club’s (aka coven) power to find the true murderer and clear Uncle Ben’s name.

                This was a fun book with a lot of great characters.  Everyone had their own quirks, but there wasn’t anyone truly unlikeable.  I find the uses and meanings behind different herbs absolutely fascinating, and I hope those explanations continue in the following books.  Something else to follow is the love relationships Katie is dealing with.  Right now Katie is caught between Declan the firefighter and Steve the journalist.  Because of her broken engagement, Katie isn’t interested in dating at the moment, but I know who I hope wins out once she is.  When that will be, I don’t know, but I hope Katie figures out her new life as a witch first.  This is a huge new part of herself that Katie has just discovered, and I would hate to see her lose it because someone else doesn’t understand.