Against the Currant: A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery
	Author:	Olivia Matthews
	Published:	St. Martin’s Paperbacks
	No. of Pages:	228 January 24, 2023,
	Cover Price:	$8.99 Kindle

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Bestselling author Olivia Matthews is a veteran romance author writing under several different pen names, has created a new culinary mystery series, and the first installment is Against the Currant: A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery. This is a fun novel, and captures the ambiance of the Caribbean culture and Little Caribbean in Brooklyn, New York. Lyndsay has just opened her new bakery with her family, and on opening day, Claudio Fabrizi, who owns a bakery nearby and has a reputation of being a bully, comes in and threatens her for being competition to his bakery. When he is found murdered the next day, Lyndsay becomes the main suspect in the murder, and her family must get together to find the real murderer before Lyndsay goes to jail.

The protagonist, Lyndsay Murray, is very likeable and well-developed, and the supporting characters (except the murderer, of course) are delightful. Although having characters in their late 20s and early 30s calling their parents “mommy” and “daddy” seems a bit juvenile – maybe they refer to their parents like that in the Caribbean, it is irritating all the same. However, readers will fall in love with the characters anyway and although all readers won’t be from the Caribbean, they will enjoy the cultural aspect of this fun cozy.

Matthews does an excellent job of weaving a good plot; it is well-organized and flows, with ups and downs as well as a bit of danger for the main characters. The food references are mouthwatering, and although there are two recipes for desserts served at the bakery/café, readers will want more, especially for the main dishes.

Readers will definitely want to finish this before the second installment is released; hopefully it will also include mouthwatering recipes as this one does. Culinary mystery fans will enjoy this series.


Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.