Bailey Cates Books In Order

Publication Order of Home Crafting Mystery Books

Publication Order of Magical Bakery Mystery Books

Publication Order of Enchanted Garden Mystery Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Born and raised in the western side of the U.S. Bailey Cates earned her degrees in English and Philosophy while attending the Colorado State University. Shortly after which she wrote the series of mystery novels ‘the Home Crafting Mysteries’. She had moved to the Pacific Northwest and it was there she got the inspiration for the mystery novels. She lived it that area for about 20 years. Apart from writing novels Cates has also tried her hand at being a driver’s license examiner and a newspaper ad manager. None of these jobs ever seem to be the right fit for her so she moved on.

She was the localization program manager for Microsoft and that made her travel a lot. She came back to Colorado and started her full time career as an author. She started her career with the books Magical Bakery Mysteries and the Enchanted Garden Mysteries. The only stand-alone novel that she has done is the western mystery Shotgun Moon. The author lives at home with her guy and two cats.

Bailey Cates is a believer in magic. She believes that if we truly look for the magic in our daily lives we are bound to see it. Cates spend a lot of time concocting teas and tinctures for friends and family. There are always a vast and diverse number of herbs in the corner cabinet oh her office. Cates was once the owner and operator of a soap making company. She was responsible for product design; marketing and manufacturing, aromatherapy has played a significant role in that part of the business. Bailey has a collection of essential oils stashed next to her herb collection. She said she does not distill her own oils but it is in the making. Cates is a normal woman, she loves to cook, garden and read when she is not writing. She also likes going biking and hiking and also she has had a go at golf.

One of the earliest novels written by Cates is the Magical bakery Mysteries. This novel revolves around a Katie Light-foot whose aunt and uncle opens a bakery. The story truly begins when it comes to Katie’s attention that her aunt is a witch that prepares more than just pastries for their customers. The ladies of the novel along with a journalist and firefighter stir up more than their fair share of trouble tracking down killers, solving crimes and introducing a bit of magic to the people of the world. This book was described as being savory and suspenseful.

Another of Cates’s work is a novel entitled Enchanted Garden Mysteries. This series is due for release in the early months of 2016. This book tells the story of Elliana Allbright, her enchanted garden at the back of her perfume shop and a deceiving killer. Elli’s perfume shop is a main attraction with its fragrant flowers and lush green scenery but when there is a murder she has to snoop out the killer.

Home crafting Mysteries, another of Bailey Cates’s novels tell the story of Sophie Mae as she juggles running a Winding Road Bath Production, spinning, preserving food making cheese and learning the art of mead making and a murder investigation. The character of Meghan Bly her young daughter and Barr Ambrose will all join in and provide support to Sophie as she carries all kinds of killers to justice in Cadyville a small town in Washington.

Shotgun Moon is a story about an ex-convict Merry McCoy who was convicted for killing the guy who raped her four years before. McCoy returns to her family ranch in Montana after serving her time, her intentions are to keep as clear away from the law as she possible can. This is not to be as her cousin Lauri is accused of killing her boyfriend. Despite her plans Merry can’t stand by and watch her cousin be treated the same way she was.

When asked about how she decides to start a novel, she answered saying that she starts each novel with a plot idea which normally comes from some circumstances. She then adds her characters and play with what might happen. It is from there she narrows down who is the perfect choice to be the victim and who will be the best choice for the villain. In some cases the villain is found before she figures out who would best fit as the victim.

Another question was posed to the author in an interview about outlining her novels and her reply was that she never used to but now she does. Cates said that she normally just jumps into her writing as soon as she knew the beginning and the end and this often means going back and fixing things and making them more consistent throughout. She further explained she taught if she outlined too much it would take the edge of her writing significantly. She gave it a try and was surprise to see it was not so as it helped in the problem solving of the outline process and the actual writing of the story. She now does outline for all her books but not an in-depth scene-by-scene outline but she does write for about five minutes on a scene before she starts to actually wright the scene. That way she already has the flow, goals and emotions of the scene and is ready to write.

Bailey Cates is a fan of paranormal mysteries and he take on them were simply that they are here to stay. She says they are an excellent mix of two very awesome and popular genres and a lot of people love reading them including her. The appeal that magic has on people complimented with whatever mystery is just a good blend especially if it is with a lighter mystery.

The books written by this author are phenomenal and they will draw your attention easily if you are a fan of magic or mystery. If you are a fan of both genres then novels by this author will definitely be books worth reading.

Brownies and Broomsticks

In this book we are introduced to one, Kate Lightfoot who has just moved to Savannah where she can be able to put her culinary skills into use at her aunt’s and uncle’s bakery. Her aunt and uncle together a few friends are putting final touches on the bakery which is only a week away from opening. Mavis who works for the Downtown Business Association stops at the bakery to see as to whether the bakery will be able to manage the business brunch for a few weeks. Her aunt Lucy meets with Mavis and agrees to his proposal. A price and a menu are agreed upon. The day approaches and the brunch arrives only to find out that the hotel’s staff is on pins and needles. A high majority of them appears to be enjoying the brunch. They then sit down for the meeting.

Once the meeting ends, Ms. Templeton hands out a check to Ben for the brunch. The check that he has been given is way less than the amount that they had agreed upon. They begin to have a heated argument about the check because it is not what they had initially agreed upon. Mavis decides to head out towards her car which has just been parked right outside the bakery while Ben heads out right off to the corner to cool down. Within a few minutes, reports surfaces that a woman was slumped over by a car right after being shot. The woman who had been shot in Marvis. This in turn makes Ben the prime suspect. Later on Katie learns that the ladies who had been assisting her aunt in preparing the bakery are good witches.

Apart from that Katie also learns that she has all the qualities of a good witch and with the assistance from her aunt, she can be able to hone her new found skills. Once the news was out, two men a news reporter by the name, Steve and a fireman, Declan are more than curious to assist Katie with her investigation as she tries to figure out who shot Templeton. But, despite of all the good intentions, Declan and Steve cannot stand the sight of each other. But later on, things cool off and things are back to normal as the three characters try to figure out who shot Middleton. With that being said, this is unquestionably highly entertaining debut which sets the pace for an exceedingly wonderful series.

Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti

Bewitched begins right where the first installment left off. Katie is now getting accustomed to the fact that she is now the part owner of her bakery, the Honeybee. Apart from that she has now began settling in after moving to a new state to launch the bakery with her aunt and uncle. In addition, she is also trying to digest the fact that she is also a witch. Her aunt is a witch, both her parents were witches and the local book club that her aunt is now part of is also made up of witches. At this point in her life, Katie is also facing problems. One of the problem is that two men are after her affection, but both of these men are sworn enemies who cannot stand one another. While out on a picnic with Declan, she finds a strange looking man’s body with tattoos all over his body. Katie becomes confused and does not know what to do. But after sometime she decides to leave the body and the case to the police since she has no connections with the man. But while narrating the ordeal with the book club, she becomes more curious as to what really happened.

The mystery and the action started right off from the beginning. There was more magic in this book than the first one, both good and bad magic. The plot was great and flowed extremely well. Furthermore, this book was full of twists and turns which makes it a perfect read.

Charms and Chocolate Chips

Charms and chocolate chips is the third installment in the Magical Bakery Mystery series. Like all the other books, McCrae using her pseudonym name Kate, has managed to tease the taste buds of the reader and also takes the reader to a magical adventure. The paranormal elements in this installment are very light and have been centered on ancient tales of the green witches who used the elements of the earth to assist their families. Despite the fact that there are several magical cozies in the market, the author’s approach to magic is slightly different and unique. She achieves this by taking the ancient earth magic together with the crafts of the kitchen and brings them to a modern setting.

Since this is the third book, Cate has finally accepted who she is and is coming into terms with herself. Cate has now learned to use magic more efficiently. Furthermore, the author also did an excellent job of adding all the magical elements and then making them part of her story. This book is an excellent read and should be a must read for all the fans. If you are a fan of magical cozies, then you should definitely try out reading this series

One Response to “Bailey Cates”

1. S T Simmonds: 2 years ago

   Love the Magical Bakery Mystery as the characters seem like neighborhood friends.

   Reply