TEST
Engagement and Espionage by Penny Reid is the start of a spin-off mystery series from her highly entertaining Winston Brothers series. In Beard Science, Jennifer Sylvester and Cletus Winston began their romance when Cletus helped Jenn attain her independence from her parents. It was my favorite of the Winston Brothers stories, but I’ll be honest, I’m not usually that keen on stories that take place after the HEA or HFN ending. So I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about reading this first book in the Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries but to my delight it exceeded my expectations and has convinced me that I will need to read all of the author’s upcoming books starring Jenn and Cletus. It’s best read after Beard Science and this review will contain some spoilers from that book. In terms of the timeline, this story takes place before Beard Necessities, the final Winston Brothers novel.
It’s been several weeks since Jenn’s life was turned upside down, but for the better with her involvement with Cletus. She’s still working for the Donner Bakery as her mother’s prize baker (her Banana Cake Queen moniker is well deserved) but her parents have split and her controlling and abusive father is trying to start up a business to rival her mother’s vacation lodge. Jenn gets her baking supplies from local farmers, and all of a sudden they don’t want to sell to her. While it seems obvious that her father must be involved somehow, things take a nasty turn when Farmer Badcock’s chickens turn up strangled or missing. And then Jenn’s mother gets knocked out and dragged behind a burning beehive. Is it a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or attempted murder? Jenn and Cletus have their hands full navigating the next steps in their relationship and finding out who is trying to sabotage them and why.
The obvious culprit is of course Jenn’s father, but that would make for a boring and predictable mystery and Engagement and Espionage is not that. There are a number of suspicious characters, some of whom Jenn has beaten in past local fair baking championships, and the author does a great job of providing several possible suspects for the shenanigans going on until the mystery is solved. I really liked how the plot plays out, things getting a little more complicated with every discovery so that in the end you get a satisfying whodunit. I don’t read a lot of mysteries so I don’t know how this compares for avid readers of the genre but it works for me.
With the mystery we also get the continuation of Jenn and Cletus’s romance. Everything seemed to be going great for them at the end of Beard Science, but Jenn hasn’t been able to get the free time she’d wanted from the bakery now that she’s helping her mother cope with her post-divorce problems, so she and Cletus hardly get to spend any time together. And every time they catch a few moments alone they get interrupted by another emergency, so they are both frustrated (sexually and otherwise) and this has put a strain on their relationship. Despite this, Cletus truly loves Jenn and is a real sweetheart, taking care of her house and little tasks so she can concentrate on the bakery, and then helping take care of her mother after the attack. Jenn’s mother has grown a lot since Beard Science as well, becoming a much more likable character, and in this story she and Cletus develop an actual bond. Cletus wants very much to give Jenn an engagement ring but he wants it to be one that she wants to wear, so he’s bought five of them and some of the funniest moments in the story come with him trying to figure out which one to give her.
The story is told from both Cletus and Jenn’s points of view, and getting into Cletus’s head is always an enjoyable and humorous experience. There are lots of scenes with Cletus’s family and townsfolk, and while there are a couple of more serious scenes (discussions of Cletus’s mother’s abusive marriage for example), the overall feeling of the novel is lighthearted, fun and sweet, mystery notwithstanding. And I’d be remiss not to point out that there are some pretty sexy scenes once Cletus and Jenn get some alone time together. All in all, it’s a great start to the Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries and I am eagerly awaiting the next in the series!
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Grade: A
Book Type: Mystery
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 22/07/20
Publication Date: 07/2020
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I'm a biochemist and a married mother of two. Reading has been my hobby since grade school, and I've been a fan of the romance genre since I was a teenager. Sharing my love of good books by writing reviews is a recent passion of mine, but one which is richly rewarding.
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I thought this was awful, just a plot rehash of the Sylvester family wars that I hated the first time around. And….there was nothing of Cletus’ brilliance, he was a shadow of his charismatic diabolical self. I’m not a fan of Penny Reid, but if I was I’d be pissed off at her audacity.
Oh dear! I’ve loved some of Penny Reid’s books, such as Dating-ish and Beard Science. I did not mind Jenn’s family problems in that first book, as it was just one part of a much larger story about her initial romance with Cletus. I’ve been pretty critical of her more recent books though and it’s been awhile since I’ve enjoyed one. I’ve been delaying reading this book and the more I hear from readers, the less inclined I am to pick it up. I’m still hoping very much that her new Ideal Man series out this year will be worthwhile but I know I’ll be reading lots of reviews carefully first.
I had a hard time with this one because Jenn’s mother was just so awful to her in Beard Science. It’s hard for me to have a lot of sympathy for her when she’s still pretty terrible and selfish in this one. I guess making the father even more contemptible is supposed to make us like her more in comparison?
I’ve noticed that Penny Reid gives female characters much more of a pass than the male characters and get to do awful things with little or no consequences compared to the males. At least that’s my humble opinion.
I always enjoy Cletus and Jenn but thought they had to regress in order to create conflict for this book. The cutesy way they were always cut off just as they were going to get together (I knew it wouldn’t happen until the end) reminded me of a cheesy sitcom and I found it grating.
It annoyed me after everything that Jenn was still being exploited by her greedy mother and built her entire life around the mother and her problems (some of which were entirely of her own making). Cletus becomes more martyr like than I am comfortable with. I kept reversing the genders and asking if I would enjoy it if he were the female role. I decided I wouldn’t because everyone would say that character was being exploited. I loved that he supported Jenn, but ultimately it was helping her mother most of all. The woman who never paid Jenn a dollar for working 80 hour weeks for four years straight.
I’m not sorry I read it it because I enjoy visiting the Winstons and their world and it’s fun to go back to extra stories set between books. It’s definitely a work for existing fans who have read at least one, if not more of the books. I don’t think new readers would get much out of it.
This book really put the, um, rooster, into c*ckblocking. I was sexually frustrated as hell by the end, and I was just reading about it.
I found the writing to be slightly off somehow. I’m not sure what, but Cletus and Jenn didn’t always sound like themselves. Beard Science was a 5-star read for me, but this was 4-star. But I did enjoy it and can’t wait for the next one.
My favorite part of the book was Shelly at the end. She was awesome.
I’m all for a soupçon of sexual tension but too much makes me irate. I’m not sure this would work for me!
The end, um, satisfies, but the constant interruptions were annoying.
I’d like to say I’m a patient person but it would be a lie….
I noticed a similar thing in Beach Read by Henry (a string of interruptions at just the crucial moment) which I just finished this morning. I mean, it really starts to stand out (as in threw me out of the story) by the third or fourth time. Seems really odd, given that all the characters involved are consenting adults in both novels.
Just finished it! Loved spending more time with Cletus and Jenn. Cletus is still a gem. I agree that the cover doesn’t call out to a book browser. But if it says “Penny Reid” I’m giving it a try!
I enjoyed several of the Winston books (haven’t actually read them all), but I do love Beard Science, and Cletus and Jenn. I’m so glad to hear that this sequel does them justice! I’m in.
Reid has never disappointed me, and I’m excited to try this one out!
Is it just me or is this a don’t read this book cover?
I have to say that I looked at it and thought wtf? It’s not all that attractive – and considering that many people purchase on devices which show thumbnail covers in black and white it’s a really weird choice.
And that’s weird because the covers for all of the Winston Brothers novels were so cute!
My thoughts exactly.
The Winston Brother covers all looked like cross stitches. This one is meant to resemble string art (with the picture being the area of Tennessee where the story takes place) and I suspect all the stories in this new series will use that style.
Also, this isn’t really directed at new readers and I didn’t even really notice the cover – I just knew it was a Penny Reid book that I was going to read! I suspect her many fans won’t care much about the cover either.
I think the string art to an ode to Sherlock Holmes and his murder wall with all the strings connecting to all the clues.
It all makes sense now that you said string art! I’m back to my grade school art class!
It’s not a very cute or clear cover and I don’t care for the color choices.