Book 59, 2023

[chez_jae]

Cupcakes and Catastrophe by Sue Hollowell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished Cupcakes and Catastrophe last night. It's the first of the "Belle Harbor" cozy mystery series by Sue Hollowell. The main character is Tilly Griffin.

As soon as her divorce is finalized in Boston, Tilly hightails it to the west coast to reset her life. There, she is reunited with her Uncle Jack, and Tilly hopes to open a bakery like her grandma Luna did once upon a time. Jack clears a section of his antique shop for Tilly's bakery, but she hasn't gotten started yet when a man is found murdered in the empty store next door. It's a toss-up as to whether he was killed in conjunction with a cutthroat kite-flying competition or because of his own shady dealings. All Tilly knows is that she didn't expect to encounter a murder in such a quaint little town.

Um, yeah. This story was so lite it flirted with trite. Tilly and Jack were characterized well, but no one else was. One may expect that to change as the series progresses. The plot lacked any semblance of cohesion. It was mostly just a narrative of Tilly going about the business of opening a bakery, meeting new people, learning to ride a moped, and oh hey, there was a murder next door. There was no sleuthing at all; the police solved the crime. Actually, that was refreshing, but not what one expects when reading a cozy. The murder seemed like a subplot instead of the impetus for the main plot. Meh.

Favorite lines:
♦ My mind could go from zero to catastrophe in about two seconds.
♦ I went back to the kitchen and my happy place. Cupcakes never stole or murdered. The worst thing they did was add to my weight.

Frankly, this deserves two stars for how bland it was, but I'll put it to my...


1. Does the mc work at/as one of the following: baker/bakery/sweet shop/tea shop/coffee shop, library/librarian, antique/vintage shop, book store, fashion/boutique, bed & breakfast? Yes, she is opening a bakery.
2. Does the mc live at her (or his) place of occupation? No, she does not.
3. Is the love interest involved in law enforcement? (Police officer, sheriff, detective, PI, FBI) No! Of the two guys she finds attractive, one owns the local coffee shop and the other...is a surfer dude? I dunno.
4. Does the mc have a dog/cat as a pet? No, she doesn't have a pet
5. Is the mc's BFF either a gay guy or a ditzy/zany woman? NA
6. Did the mc find the body? No, woot!
7. Did the mc wind up in mortal danger at the end of the book? No, woo hoo!
8. Is the mc's mother either: dead, absent, far removed, ditzy and dithering, or overbearing/disapproving/meddling? Yes, her mother is absent.
9. If mother is dead/absent, does the mc have another mother-figure (grandmother, aunt, mom's friend, or an older friend)? She has her uncle, so...no.
10. Is the mc child-free? (Either no children or else grown children--i.e. no small children to look after) Yes, she's child-free


Only three 'yes' answers. Astonishing! In my estimation, that bumps the score up to three.