The Crime Brûlée Bake Off

Romance author Connolly (the Agents of the Convent series) combines a genteel love story with a middle-of-the-road murder plot in this sturdy if unremarkable series launch. Bored with teaching history to disinterested teenagers, Claire Walker decides to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a baker and applies to the 12th season of Britain’s Battle of the Bakers. She’s swiftly accepted and summoned to historic Blackfirth Park—home of the wealthy and charming viscount Jonathan Ainsley—where the show is set to tape. Claire is immediately smitten with Ainsley, who, in turn, is charmed by her knowledge of history. The pair’s mutual infatuation gets put on pause when one of the show’s contestants is murdered in a manner that echoes the killing of one of Ainsley’s ancestors. Producers call in the police, who tap the trustworthy Claire to gather intel on her fellow bakers. She ropes Ainsley into her investigation, putting their budding romance to the test as they try to keep more bodies from piling up. Connolly’s leads have sufficient chemistry, and she dutifully hits cozy mystery beats, but an abrupt ending and workmanlike plotting prevent this from breaking out of the pack. It’s a literary soufflé: tasty, airy, and insubstantial. (Feb.)