Piece of Cake

Piece of Cake is the fourth Widdershins book. It continues the Deadly Sins arc with Gluttony as the main antagonist. It introduces a new protagonist Alexa King and breaks from the formula of the other books by beginning in modern day 2013 and featuring characters from a range of time periods through time travel magic.

Blurb
The formerly prestigious Hotel Gula in Widdershins is this year's host for the National Bakeoff competition, and gifted young baker Alexa King has every intention of winning. But unfortunately for her, the prize is not quite what she expected...

Flung into the past and faced with a foe with an endless appetite for the finer things in life, it's down to her and a mismatched kitchen staff of maids, criminals, housewives and more to figure out how to escape the never-ending buffet.

Can Alexa uncover the Hotel's mysteries before she and her fellow cooks end up on the menu?

Plot Summary
In 2013, young baker Alexa King travels to Widdershins for the National Bakeoff finals held at the historic Hotel Gula. Her rival Lucas trips and falls, destroying his cake, and Alexa is confident she’s made the best cake ever. Just as she finishes, the ceiling grows a mouth and eats her, knocking her out.

Alexa wakes up in an unfamiliar bedroom dressed in a pink nightgown. Nora Fenton, one of the maids at the Hotel Gula comes to bring her to the kitchens, where she meets some other inhabitants of Hotel Gula: Rosie Bell, a 50s housewife, twin flapper mixologists Gladys and Edie Shaw, and 2030s chef Ethan Booth. They explain the hotel is infested with a spirit of Gluttony that snatches up the best chefs who visit from different times and forces them to make a feast every day. Alexa runs for the doors but finds them blocked by a magic circle barrier. She’s then confronted by Mrs Sykes, the housekeeper, and The Butler, who keep all the kitchen workers in line.

The next morning, Alexa meets Samuel, the baker, and starts her first gruelling day in the kitchen. She discovers the dumbwaiter that brings the food and drinks to the dining room. Gladys and Edie tell her nobody’s ever tried to hide in there in case they get eaten, and also it’s locked after hours, but they could get around that. They reveal they were criminals with skills in lockpicking and drugging, who got taken by Gluttony when a job in the Hotel Gula went wrong.

That night, Alexa bakes some extra brownies for Nora and gets talking with her to find out more about the hotel. She explains the hotel and the staff are from 1834. The hotel was once prosperous, under the leadership of Mr Cartwright Senior, but when he died and his son took over, the hotel declined and was set to be closed. Mr Cartwright Junior decided to throw a final feast for high society investors as a final gamble to save the hotel, and became obsessed with the food being perfect. He locked himself in his office for a week before the event, then welcomed the guests inside and locked them all into the dining room. Mrs Sykes kept telling everyone to keep working like normal, but the doors and windows were magically barred and the chefs kept arriving. Only one of the chefs, Mr Rousseau, has been ‘sent home’ into the dining hall, but every few weeks one of the staff is ‘sent home’ too. Once they go into the dining hall they’re not seen again. Alexa is determined to get to the bottom of everything and get everyone home.

The next day, while discussing escape plans, Rosie reveals she’s a hobbyist wizard, but they are interrupted by Mrs Sykes before more can be done. Nora comes to Alexa to tell her Mrs Sykes is ‘sending home’ Sarah, one of the maids. Alexa gets Gladys to pick the lock on the dumbwaiter so her and Nora can go up and see what’s happening in the main hall. They find everyone at the feast unconscious and looking starving. Mrs Sykes offers Sarah some food, which Nora tries to stop by shouting, alerting Mrs Sykes to their presence. They escape just in time, but Mrs Sykes sees Nora leaving the kitchens and becomes suspicious.

Alexa explains to everyone what she has found out, but everyone except Gladys and Edie is reluctant to actually do anything. It’s up to Alexa to convince the rest. First she talks to Sam and convinces him to join. Next she talks to Ethan, who wants no part of her schemes. She correctly guesses he had a fight with his spouse before being taken by the hotel. Ethan explains his husband Ryan tried to persuade him not to take a more intense chef job at the Hotel Gula, but he did it anyway, and it was during the interview that Gluttony took him. Alexa realises Ethan doesn’t even want to escape because he’s not sure if Ryan will still be waiting for him. Ethan says he’ll think about helping her. Finally, Alexa talks to Rosie, who is eager to help but doubtful in her own ability. When she mentions she’s trying to publish a cookbook, Alexa realises she’s the author of The ABCs of Home Bakery, the cookbook that’s been passed down her family and taught her to cook. Realising the impact she’s able to have, Rosie agrees to help.

Everyone is ready to pull off the plan, but suddenly another maid shows up and says Nora is being ‘sent home’ by Mrs Sykes. Ethan interrupts her and says Alexa is brewing a rebellion and he’ll show her if he’s let go afterwards. The Butler follows him while Mrs Sykes continues taking Nora into the dining hall. Inside, the diners are asleep early, having been drugged by Edie and Gladys. With the door locked, Alexa uses a bag of flour and the spark from her phone to blow the doors open.

Meanwhile, Ethan leads the Butler to the pantry, where Sam is waiting to attack him, eventually knocking him out.

In the dining hall, Mrs Sykes tries to tempt Nora and Alexa with the delicious cake she’s made, but then Nora notices the real Mrs Sykes asleep at one of the tables. They realise the Mrs Sykes they’ve been interacting with is actually Gluttony itself. It reveals its true form and goes to attack Nora and Alexa, but Nora is pulled into the dumbwaiter by Gladys just in time. She’s taken to the kitchen where Rosie uses her to summon Courage to fight Gluttony and protect Alexa.

The fight and stopping the feast weakens Gluttony and Gladys throws a glass to break the circle. Gluttony is released and everyone is free to go home. Alexa meets Philippe Rousseau, the baker before her, and realises he’s a very famous patisserie from around her time. Everyone says their goodbyes and steps out of the circle to be returned to their own times. Before she goes, Alexa realises that Nora is related to Harriet Barber and gives her the phone, knowing it’ll come in useful somehow.

Back in 2030, Ethan decides not to take the job and returns to his husband, suggesting a romantic trip to Venice instead. In the 1920s, Gladys and Edie avoid the man hunting them and get away with the money. In the 1950s, Rosie now has the courage to stand up to Margey White, a mean member of her magic society. And it is revealed Sam is not from the past, as everyone believed, but actually from the future and was sent back specifically to investigate the Gluttony incident.

In 2013, Alexa is returned to a few moments before she was taken and is able to save her rival Lucas’ cake, knowing that hers is still better. Philippe compliments her, revealed to be one of the judges for the National Bakeoff. On the train home with her trophy, Alexa emails her family to let them know she won and Philippe has offered her a job, and she’ll help her little brother with his bully problem. She then looks up about Nora and discovers she had a quiet and happy life, though not much is known about her, and feels satisfied with that.

Characters

 * Alexa King
 * Nora Fenton
 * Gladys Shaw
 * Rosie Bell
 * Edie Shaw
 * Ethan Booth
 * Mrs Sykes
 * The Butler / Mr Gula
 * Samuel
 * Gluttony

Cameos/Minor Characters

 * Alexa's mum
 * Alexa's dad
 * Lucas (competition rival)
 * Mr Cartwright Senior (previous owner of the hotel)
 * Mr Cartwright Junior (current owner of the hotel)
 * Mayor Robert Hackett
 * Sarah (cleaner at the hotel)
 * Ryan (Ethan's husband)
 * Courage (spirit)
 * Philippe Rousseau
 * Margey White (member of Rosie's magic club)

Locations

 * Hotel Gula
 * Ruby Tuesdays (restuarant in 2013 Widdershins)

Website
The post book bonus content on the website was 4 pages of character Q&As.

Book
The PDF and print versions of the book include 5 pages of character development sketches.

Release




Piece of Cake ran on a mostly Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule from July 3rd 2013 to March 14th 2014.

The Kickstarter campaign ran from July 28th 2014 - August 27th 2014 and 467 backers pledged £10,565. The unique rewards for this campaign were a sticker sheet and a metal keyring with Alexa's skull/cupcake design. The stretch goals were A6 character themed recipe cards. The funding goals were reached for Alexa, Rosie, Ethan, and Gladys & Edie's cards, but not Sam's.

Easter Eggs / Trivia

 * The train Alexa gets to Widdershins passes a billboard for a movie called 'Dead Winter' - this is actually a webcomic.
 * A woman on the train reads a magazine with an advert for a game called 'Derelict' which is actually another webcomic (now discontinued it appears).
 * Alexa passes a bookstore advertising three comics which are actually real webcomics: Curia Regis, Cucumber Quest, and Gunnerkrigg Court.
 * An adult Alexa is visible at the bar in Ruby Tuesdays, the restuarant where Ethan and Ryan have their conversation.
 * The chalkboard menu at Ruby Tuesdays lists 'Green Eyed Monster' (the title of the next book) as one of the guest ales.
 * In Find the Lady, Nora identifies the date she was taken from / returned to as January 30th 1834.
 * One of the websites Alexa looks up about Nora on is widdershinswiki.com. Unfortunately this wiki has a different address but it's fun there now really is a wiki!
 * Alexa's tumblr url is alexa-rah.