The Golden Spoon: a Novel

Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Prologue: Betsy Two Weeks Ago Four Days Earlier 1. Gerald 2. Hannah 3. Peter 4. Stella 5. Lottie Day One: Bread 6. Betsy 7. Hannah 8. Pradyumna 9. Lottie 10. Stella 11. Gerald 12. Hannah 13. Peter 14. Betsy 15. Stella 16. Hannah 17. Pradyumna Day Two: Pie 18. Betsy 19. Stella 20. Lottie 21. Pradyumna 22. Gerald 23. Hannah 24. Betsy 25. Stella 26. Pradyumna 27. Lottie 28. Hannah 29. Pradyumna 30. Lottie 31. Stella Day Three: Cake 32. Gerald 33. Betsy 34. Pradyumna 35. Stella 36. Gerald 37. Lottie 38. Hannah 39. Betsy 40. Pradyumna 41. Lottie 42. Hannah 43. Gerald 44. Stella 45. Pradyumna 46. Hannah 47. Stella 48. Betsy 49. Lottie 50. Pradyumna 51. Stella 52. Lottie 53. Pradyumna 54. Hannah 55. Lottie 56. Betsy One Year Later 57. Stella 58. Lottie 59. Gerald 60. Hannah 61. Pradyumna Epilogue: Betsy Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright Guide Cover Start of Content Title Page Dedication Prologue Epilogue Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright I II III V VI VII VIII 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 
 
 “This delicious combination of Clue and The Great British Bake Off kept me turning the pages all night!” —Janet Evanovich
 The Golden Spoon
 A Novel
 Jessa Maxwell
 
 
 
 
 
 To Tim, the icing and the cake
 
 
 Prologue BETSY
 Betsy presses her cell phone to her ear, trying to hear. The wind and rain howl at the windows, rattling the glass. “We’re stuck out here. We won’t be able to come back for a while,” Melanie’s voice crackles with static. “This weather has taken down a bunch of trees. We’re waiting for emergency services to get them out of the road, but there’s no sign of them yet. We won’t be—”
 “You’re cut off from Grafton?” Betsy can feel the panic rising in her chest. The whole crew has already left for the day, packing up quickly and going into town to avoid driving in the storm, and now it’s just her and Archie and the contestants alone in the manor. The thought fills her with dread. She shudders and pulls her thin cashmere sweater closer around her.
 “What? The line keeps cutting out. Someone is going to have to go check on the tent. There’s a ton of camera equipment out there. I know the tech stuff isn’t your domain, but could you just go outside and make sure the flaps are sealed? I am just praying that tent is sturdy enough to make it through the storm. They’re saying it’s going to get worse tonight before it gets better. I’m sorry to ask you but there’s no one else. I tried calling Archie, but he didn’t pick up. Maybe you could—”
 “I’ll do it,” Betsy snaps. There is no way she is going to ask anything of that man after what he’s done. “But this is really… unacceptable.” She feels a surge of anger as she hangs up. In the ten years she has been the host of Bake Week, she has never had to do any of the grunt work. Checking on the tent in the dark in the middle of a torrential downpour is not in her job description. She takes a deep breath. It was partly her fault, she realizes, for making the crew stay in town. She could never bear the thought of them traipsing through Grafton Manor with all their equipment and dirty shoes.
 There’s a flash of lightning at the window followed by a violent bang of thunder. Betsy goes into her walk-in closet and reaches for her father’s heavy yellow rain jacket. As she slides her arms into it, she is disappointed to find it no longer smells of his cigars, only of the slightly mildewy musk that comes with neglect. It’s a smell and a state she is constantly battling at Grafton Manor. She feels a pang of guilt. Richard Grafton would be devastated to see this place so down at the heels. He was always devoted to the manor. He’d have found a way to keep it going, no matter the cost. She sighs, stretching to get an old metal flashlight off the shelf.
 Betsy makes her way through the corridor and out into the main stairwell. Rain taps frantically on the two floor to ceiling windows