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A review by ppcfransen
Bumped Off at the Bake Sale by Nancy Stewart, Nancy Stewart
2.0
This is a charming series. Even though I have issues with it.
Dahlia is finding her footing both as a guarding to her niece and as an inn-keeper. She wants to get more involved with her niece’s school and considers participating in the school’s bake sale. Someone suggests that she should organize the bake sale, and then uses mesmer or something for Dahlia to take on these duties. The woman’s tactic is to make a suggestion and then keep quiet and let the other person talk themselves into it. I don’t really believe Dahlia would be susceptible to this trick. She would say: “I didn’t think about organizing.” And then wait for the other person to speak again and wonder if she was supposed to say anything more if the other woman didn’t speak. I suppose this set-up is needed to introduce Dahlia to the future victim.
There’s more actual sleuthing than in the previous book, but some of it is kinda of convoluted. Dahlia lies to get access to Mrs Withers classroom to look for the reports of previous bake sales. She’s taken over the organization of the bake sale for this year. She probably could have just asked for those reports. Later, when doing laundry A thing like that can’t be waved away with a ‘I never liked being in this room so I never really looked’. At the very least that requires an explanation why you are looking now. Better yet, storywise, if she had made this discovery before any of the other events in the story take place. It would explain her interest in local crime history a lot better than something her gardner mentioned.
A few other times, Dahlia doesn’t seem to be particularly bright. Angus tells her he thinks he killed Mrs Withers. Rather than immediately poke holes in Angus’ story (and ease the mind of the friendly janitor), Dahlia thinks she’s gotten a confession. Also, it’s quite a leap from a historic crime group (that may or may nor be active anymore) to the murder of a school teacher.
Owen is too reliant on Dahlia’s input for his investigation. To the point that he doesn’t even check a possible witness statement with the witness, but rather acts on Dahlia’s report of it.
The reveal of the murderer is very unsatisfactory. Dahlia barely spoke to this person, let alone that there was a confrontation. But more importantly, a lot of character actions/motivations did not ring true with what had been previously established about the character. Mrs Withers was introduced as someone that was a stickler for having things done her way. She would not wait ten years to confront someone about missing proceeds. The reason given for stealing the proceeds didn’t make much sense either. And mostly, Diantha’s reaction to Caleb’s confession was very 'okay, I don't mind, really' while what he did had really, really hurt her.
I read an ARC through NetGalley.
Dahlia is finding her footing both as a guarding to her niece and as an inn-keeper. She wants to get more involved with her niece’s school and considers participating in the school’s bake sale. Someone suggests that she should organize the bake sale, and then uses mesmer or something for Dahlia to take on these duties. The woman’s tactic is to make a suggestion and then keep quiet and let the other person talk themselves into it. I don’t really believe Dahlia would be susceptible to this trick. She would say: “I didn’t think about organizing.” And then wait for the other person to speak again and wonder if she was supposed to say anything more if the other woman didn’t speak. I suppose this set-up is needed to introduce Dahlia to the future victim.
There’s more actual sleuthing than in the previous book, but some of it is kinda of convoluted. Dahlia lies to get access to Mrs Withers classroom to look for the reports of previous bake sales. She’s taken over the organization of the bake sale for this year. She probably could have just asked for those reports. Later, when doing laundry
Spoiler
she finds a hidden door in the basement.A few other times, Dahlia doesn’t seem to be particularly bright. Angus tells her he thinks he killed Mrs Withers. Rather than immediately poke holes in Angus’ story (and ease the mind of the friendly janitor), Dahlia thinks she’s gotten a confession. Also, it’s quite a leap from a historic crime group (that may or may nor be active anymore) to the murder of a school teacher.
Owen is too reliant on Dahlia’s input for his investigation. To the point that he doesn’t even check a possible witness statement with the witness, but rather acts on Dahlia’s report of it.
The reveal of the murderer is very unsatisfactory. Dahlia barely spoke to this person, let alone that there was a confrontation. But more importantly, a lot of character actions/motivations did not ring true with what had been previously established about the character. Mrs Withers was introduced as someone that was a stickler for having things done her way. She would not wait ten years to confront someone about missing proceeds. The reason given for stealing the proceeds didn’t make much sense either.
Spoiler
If you’re making an exorbitant profit selling properties, would you really bother about a few hundred made at a bake sale?I read an ARC through NetGalley.