The Golden Spoon: A Novel

I’m reading The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell. I didn’t realize I needed to add A Novel until I looked on the internet and discovered it’s a Kdrama, too. Two of my friends are hooked on Kdramas right now. But my daughter recommended the novel to me because HH is HOOKED on the Great British Baking Show. We’ve rewatched many of the seasons. On a Friday night, it’s a warm, comforting show to watch after a busy week. He’s hooked on Somebody Feed Phil, too, for the same reason. Somehow, both food shows are uplifting. In The Golden Spoon, the author has taken the soothing elements of the show and twisted them into a story of sabotage and murder. Robyn thought I’d love it, and I do. It’s like mixing Hercule Poirot with bread and cake baking.

My only problem is that Robyn bought The Guest List for me, and I read that as soon as it arrived on my door. And it was a good book. A suspense novel with each chapter told in a different POV to add tension. Now, I try to never read the same type of novel back-to-back. I’m not a binge reader. If I find an author I love, I read his/her books between other types of novels, or I burn out really fast. For some reason, the title The Golden Spoon made me think this mystery would be more like an Agatha Christie, more of a cozy than suspense. But the two books’ formats are almost exactly the same.

Both start with a dark and stormy night and a murder. Actually, the beginnings were so much alike, it amused me. And both books are told in multiple POVs. I’m really enjoying The Golden Spoon, but I can’t help noticing the similarities between the two books. One of the contestant’s mother used to work at the grand house where the cooking event takes place. She disappeared, and a stairway that led to the top floor servants’ quarters has been hidden inside a wardrobe. In The Guest List, a young student at the boys’ school that the groom and his close friends attended had a terrible accident and died. Past sins are playing a part in both books.

When I think about it, though, many suspense novels are set up this way. And it works. Readers expect different things from different types of mysteries. Cozies are more personal, no cussing, no sex, and no gruesome details. Thrillers often pit a main character against an antagonist where the stakes are high and there’s a ticking clock. Spy novels involve high stakes, too, trying to stop a villain from committing some deed that will influence entire countries. Then there are the serial killers, the police procedurals, and the medical thrillers. Traditional mysteries are focused on solving a crime. Women’s suspense often pits an innocent woman against an adversary who wishes her harm. Then there are P.I. and noir mysteries. Historical mysteries that give us a sense of a particular period of time. And each TYPE of mystery has a different feel, a different expectation. I love almost all of them, but I try not to read any one type back-to-back. So I like to read a cozy, then maybe a Louis Kincaid, then a historical (a Lady Darby by Anna Lee Huber or Nell Sweeney by P.B. Ryan, etc.) and then maybe something with fantasy like Ilona Andrews. I like to mix it up, or the patterns become too predictable for me.

Whatever and however you read, I hope you’re finding lots of books that you love. Happy Reading!