Review: Cupcakes and Conspiracy (The Cupcake Capers #0.5)

Cupcakes and Conspiracy, Book 0.5 in The Cupcake Capers Series by Polly Holmes

Published By: Self-Published
Publication Date: February 12, 2020
Date Read: February 10, 2025
Genre: Adult – Mystery
Source: Bought
Format: E-Book
Pages: 63

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A cozy mystery prequel about family ties, friendship and juicy town gossip. Who will attempt murder to protect their idyllic way of life?

Armed with an over-zealous love for her town and unlimited tenacity, Betty Brookson takes no prisoners when she openly challenges a construction tycoon at an emergency town meeting. No-one wants to see the nursing home turned into high-rise apartments in the name of progress, least of all Betty.The arrival of her broken-hearted granddaughter peps her up. Charlotte McCorrson, an award-winning baker and passionate soul was just like her grandmother. But she arrives amid the cops questioning her grandmother. And she doesn’t like what they were saying. Derek Pantell is found floating unconscious in the nursing home pool with a horrific head injury, all evidence points to Betty.She soon becomes the number one suspect. Betty’s stellar reputation is on the line and with the help of her trustworthy granddaughter, they set out to uncover the truth. Will they find the person responsible, or will they become the next victims in their master plan?

Cupcakes and Conspiracy is the exciting prequel to The Cupcake Capers Series by Polly Holmes.

The Cupcake Capers series isn’t one that I’ve been aware of for very long. I discovered Polly Holmes after researching the authors that are attending RARE London in July 2025 and came across her series. Dubbed as a cosy mystery, I decided to give her a go. Cupcakes and Conspiracy is a very short prequel novella, sitting at 63 pages. I did enjoy it but I felt like it was too short for me to have any kind of connection to the characters.

Cupcakes and Conspiracies follows old age pensioner Betty, who is outraged at the city bigwig who has bought the land that her town’s nursing home is on, with a plan to knock is down and build some apartments. After a tense council meeting, the city bigwig is found unconscious after being badly beaten… and Betty is number one suspect. Can she find who the read attacker is before she goes down for something she did not do?

I thought the plot was very cute and fun, but at only 63 pages, it felt very fast with not a lot of development. I am not going to be judging the whole series on this one prequel. It was fun to see the small town where this is going to be set, and I am looking forward to reading further in this series and giving it a good go. I’m hoping the ‘cupcakes’ element will make sense in the next book as currently I have no clue why there’s cupcakes in the title of this book. I will read Cupcakes and Cyanide and see where we go from there.