A Sprinkle of Treachery

Pobyd Perfections Bakery #5

by S. Usher Evans

Election season is around the corner, and magical baker Lillie Dean is up to her eyeballs in bakery orders. Between Kemp Abora ordering dozens of cookies to bolster his chances of reelection, and the Fisherfolk council wanting her to cater their many meetings, she's busier than she knows what to do with.

So when both campaign trails become violently ill, Lillie's on the case to protect her reputation and find the real culprit. But is someone out to sabotage her, or do they have some larger prize to win?

A Sprinkle of Treachery is the fifth book in the Pobyd Perfections Bakery Series, a cozy fantasy mystery by award-winning author S. Usher Evans.

Genres: Fantasy

218 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 28, 2026

About the author

S. Usher Evans is an author, blogger, and witty banter aficionado. Born in Pensacola, Florida, she left the sleepy town behind for the fast-paced world of Washington, D.C.. There, she somehow landed jobs with BBC, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic Television before finally settling into a "real job" as an IT consultant. After a quarter life crisis at age 27, she decided consulting was for the birds and rekindled a childhood passion for writing novels. She sold everything she owned and moved back to Pensacola, where she currently resides with her two dogs, Zoe and Mr. Biscuit.

Reviews

[Mattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this installment a bit more than the previous one, but both were amazing and I read them back to back.

I really enjoy Silverkeep and its residents and I enjoy Lillie overall. I like that she is not necessarily the best “detective” but ultimately her imperfect efforts result in people truly coming together to solve a mystery.

There are two elections happening in Silverkeep and Otto Globe has hired an expensive campaign manager to try to push his preferred candidates. During some campaign events, baked goods Lillie made seem to be poisoned and everyone gets sick.

The only misgiving I have for this book is that the campaign manager Mr Globe hires is an ex of his son’s. This bugs me twofold: I’m lukewarm on the romantic parts of these books as well as the character behaves so jarringly. Evans depicted an election in the previous series, Weary Dragon Inn, and that was much more believable. In this one, the campaign manager is interjecting into a stump speech and debate and also weirdly focusing the attention on Lillie in these moments. It ends up really taking me out of the story because it reads as so manufactured. I loved the story overall though. I just didn’t resonate with the obvious trope being so obvious.

[Chels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Returning to Silverkeep is always a great time for me! Book five in this cozy fantasy series was exactly the low stakes, yet enjoyable read I was hoping for.

In this book, we reunite with Lillie as she's suckered into solving the latest town mystery. With Rey at her side and shenanigans in play during this election, there's something fishy (ha!) going on.

What I loved most:
- The cozy vibes. I loved Pigsend (from the previous series) but Silverkeep with its fisherman village vibes reminds me of home.
- We saw some serious relationship progress between some characters. I don't want to spoil anything (and I'm not just talking about romantic relationships) but I felt some real town progress being made.
- For book five, we're still taking things slow, but in a cozy world that's expected. I'm really loving the emphasis on building a town up from after a long war on magical folk.

Overall, this was the perfect addition to the series! I’d recommend this to readers who loved the Weary Dragon Inn series and those who enjoy cozy fantasy/mystery.

Disclaimer: I was gifted a copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing with my honest thoughts.

[Kimthebookishbaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lillie is back at it again, trying to find a way to be with the man she loves, keep it under wraps, and now solve another mystery impacting her business. I adore this world Evans has built. Lillie is such a fun, cute character and I love the relationships she’s created. I also love that there is some legitimate conflict where she could lose a friendship while still not making you too worried as it stays so cozy. It’s also great to see how so many conflicts are solved all around by the end of the story, while there is a great overarching story line making you want to read the next story.

[Phi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another absolutely delightful story in this series! I really really love this author's cozy books, and this one might seriously be my favorite! The narration was absolutely fantastic as well, as always.

[Cleocutie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet continuation of the series. Lillie just wants to bake. But when people she bakes for start getting sick she gets dragged into solving another mystery.

[emeraldragonlady (Maddie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

All Lillie wants to do is bake yummy treats and help those around her. And be with Jillian, but his dad is being a jerk (as usual). Well she gets lots of orders for different candidates for the local mayor election. Then all of a sudden people start getting sick, specifically magical people find that their magic is enhanced and unruly. turns out this mystery is quite the mystery and it took me a while to guess what in kings-land is happening. I love the ending it was perfect. Thank you Jess Moran for a lively narration.