A Half-Baked Murder

Starred review from November 1, 2022

DEBUT This fun and fact-filled thematic entry into the cozy mystery genre has it all: a twisty murder investigation, a charming small town, a potential romance with the single guy next door, and recipes. At 28, Chloe Barnes has returned home, which wasn't her plan. Her original plan was to stay in Paris, marry a handsome head chef, and bake amazing pastries in the best restaurants. But when her fianc� cheats on her and she receives a bad review from a critic, she decides it's time to come home and care for her grandmother who's been diagnosed with cancer. After baking some cannabis-laced treats for Grandma Rose to help ease her pain, Chloe decides to open a cannabis caf� in the quaint coastal California town. She is also compelled to investigate the murder of the town bully, after her aunt/business partner becomes the prime suspect. VERDICT With increasing acceptance of cannabis as a supplement to medical care, this series starter helps normalize its use and promotes safe consumption, complete with designated drivers. Highly recommended.--Sarah Sullivan

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 23, 2023
This winning series launch from the pseudonymous George finds the 28-year-old Paris-trained pastry chef Chloe Barnes returning home to her idyllic beachside hometown of Azalea Bay, Calif., following a humiliating breakup with her cheating fiancé. When her much loved grandmother falls ill with cancer, Chloe puts her five-star baking skills to work making cannabis brownies to help Grandma Rose cope with pain. The brownies are such a hit with Grandma Rose and her friends that Chloe’s Aunt Dawn proposes the two of them go into business and open a shop selling THC-infused baked goods. Chloe is intrigued, but before she can get Baked by Chloe off the ground, a former high school classmate, Brendan Chalmers, with whom she recently had a frightening run-in, is found stabbed to death. Since the knife has Aunt Dawn’s initials on it, she becomes the prime suspect. George checks off all the requisite boxes, including an appealing small-town setting, cute dog, close family, and the possibility of romance on the horizon. Cannabis-infused recipes round out the volume. Cozy fans will eagerly await the next Cannabis Café mystery. Agent: Jill Marshal, Marsal Lyon Literary.

February 15, 2023
A Paris-trained pastry chef gives a modern twist to baked goods, California-style. Like so many disappointed young women, Chloe Barnes returns to the place where she grew up with a keen sense of failure and a wealth of family support. But Chloe has a little something extra in her toolbox: Thanks to California's newly relaxed recreational-use marijuana laws, she finds an innovative way to reinvent herself. Food critics in France may have panned her raspberry and chocolate mousse cake, but folks in Azalea Bay love her special brownies, the ones she first made to help her Grandma Rose cope with the debilitating effects of chemotherapy. Chloe now has extensive experience with cannabis cookery. She knows how to temper the herb's funky notes and balance its pungency with salty, sweet, and acidic flavors. In partnership with her ever supportive Aunt Dawn, she secures a space with both dine-in and retail potential. Now all they need is a license from the state. But their plans are jeopardized when town bully Brendan Chalmers is found dead in the park. Surveillance footage shows Dawn entering the park the evening before Chalmers died, and she's soon the chief suspect in the police investigation. Chloe's pretty sure the state won't grant a dispensing license to someone convicted of murder, which is still a crime even in California. Her only hope is to unmask the real killer. Far from half-baked--George's series debut is cooking with gas.

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