Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781250005397
Minotaur Books
320 Pages
Various Prices; $7.99 Amazon
November 1, 2011
⭐⭐
Meet Suzanne Hart, owner and operator of Donut Hearts coffee shop in April Springs, North Carolina. After her divorce from Max, an out-of-work actor she's dubbed "the Great Impersonator," Suzanne decided to pursue her one true passion in life": donuts. So she cashed in her settlement and opened up shop in the heart of her beloved hometown.
But when a dead body is dumped on her doorstep like a sack of flour, Suzanne's cozy little shop becomes an all-out crime scene. Now, everyone in town is dropping by for glazed donuts and gruesome details - and they're all suspects. Soon Suzanne - who finds snooping as irresistible as donuts - is poking holes in everyone's alibis...
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Suzanne Hart divorced her husband and bought a donut shop, giving herself a new start to life. Unfortunately, one morning she sees a dead body being dumped in front of her shop. After she calls the police, she finds that the body is none other than Patrick Blaine, a regular customer of hers. When she thinks the police aren't circling in fast enough on a suspect, she decides that she'll look for the killer on her own, even if it puts her in danger of being the next victim...
I really wanted to like this book, but there were several things wrong with it, the main thing being that I couldn't find any relationship between Patrick and Suzanne. Yes, he was a customer, but so were many others. As to being friends? Customers aren't friends. They're customers. Friends are people you call, do things with, see occasionally. I couldn't find a relationship between these two. She knew nothing about his life, never had even so much as a lunch with him. So that gave me pause as to why she would be investigating his murder in the first place.
I also felt that this book could have been set anywhere in the United States, since the only mention to it being in North Carolina was the mountain view. There were no descriptions of the town, none of the area around at all. Descriptions are important. We're also given very little description of Suzanne or anyone else. Basic, but that's about all. I know that this author is a man using a pseudonym of a woman, but we do like to know details so we can create images in our minds of the people we're reading about.
Why would her friend Grace be investigating so willingly? I could see it if Grace worked for a newspaper, but she was in sales. I also felt that Suzanne left Emma alone too much. Since Suzanne closed the shop at noon, what was preventing her from investigating after that time, instead of before it? It certainly would have made more sense in the long run. Oh, well.
The mystery itself was fine, but nothing special. If the police were actually intelligent, they would have closed in on the killer themselves before Suzanne did, and it would have been obvious at some point. Everyone was clueless until the very end, including Jake, which surprised me. I know this series has gone on for quite awhile, and my only guess is because of the donut recipes. (I do make my own donuts, for those wondering if anyone does; however I also use my own recipes, and wouldn't be inclined to buy these books just for that.) Two stars for the writing, which was fine, but I still feel let down by the ending.
https://www.amazon.com/Glazed-Murder-Donut-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/1250005396/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3185015896
More on Jessica Beck's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/jessica-beck/
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