Potions and Pastries: A Magical Bakery Mystery by Bailey Cates

               I am happy to say, Declan has greatly improved.  He’s not perfect, but his behavior is far better in this book than it has been in the last few.  With Declan going back to his old ways, I can once again see how he would be a good match for Katie.   

                Two years ago, baker Katie Lightfoot came to Savannah to open the Honeybee Bakery with her aunt and uncle.  It is this anniversary that has Katie, her fiancé Declan, her uncle Ben, and her aunt Lucy out celebrating.  They walk along the waterfront where people have set up booths and shops, expecting a pleasant evening.  Instead, they come across an altercation.

                Orla is a fortune teller, and one of her customers is not happy with the reading she has received.  While the confrontation between Orla and the customer is not a good scene, it may not have gotten so bad had Orla’s family not arrived to make everything worse.  Since Lucy knows Orla, she is both curious and concerned about what is going on.  The group decides to stick around until the situation is settled.  They do not expect Orla to suddenly do a reading for Katie, in which she informs Katie about sacrifice.

                With her reading abruptly cut short by Orla herself, Katie is curious about what Orla could possibly mean.  The only sacrifice Katie can think about going on in her life is her plan to give up her home.  It is a house she loves, but it is not big enough for two, forcing Katie and Declan to search for a new one. 

                Looking for some clarity on the reading, Katie seeks Orla out the next day.  Before she can get any answers, though, Orla walks into the street and is struck by a car.  She is killed, leaving so many questions in the air.

                While Katie was distracted by her familiar, Mungo, and did not see exactly what happened, Lucy did.  She saw that something was not right with Orla when she crossed the street.  Orla did not at all seem like herself.  It could be that Orla was hypnotized.  Which is exactly the type of theory homicide detective Peter Quinn does not want to listen to.  Orla’s death was declared an accident, and he’s sticking with it.  With that being the case, it is up to Katie and the Spellbook Club to figure out what really happened to Orla.

                This would probably be a much easier task if Orla’s family wasn’t so secretive.  They don’t associate with much of anyone beyond themselves, and they certainly don’t appreciate Katie coming around and asking questions.  It is after one of these unwelcome visits that Katie finds herself in a trance.  The trance leads Katie to almost kill herself.  It is then that Katie knows someone in Orla’s family is to blame for her death.  The question is, which person is it?

                As happy as I was to see Declan return to being the loving and supportive man he was in the beginning of the series, I was disappointed at how poor of a friend Cookie, a member of the Spellbook Club, became.  No matter what was going on, all that mattered to Cookie was that she was able to show Katie and Declan houses in her newest career as a realtor.  Selling them a house was more important than anything, except maybe getting Katie’s house as a listing too.  Even after Katie saw Orla get killed, she cared more about a house showing than her friend’s mindset.  She also didn’t care about how difficult it was for Katie to put her house up for sale.  Instead, Cookie pushed and pushed at Katie, caring about her commission far over her friend’s feelings.  I’m really glad that as Katie was dealing with Cookie, she had Declan and others who cared about her around for support.  Katie went through some terrifying things in this book, it probably would have been nice to have Cookie support her as well.