Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780312541095
Minotaur Books
290 Pages
[Various Prices]; $7.99 Amazon
January 1, 2011
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Donut shop owner Suzanne Hart sees customers come and go all day long. But when one of them up-and-disappears, the police start asking questions. It seems Suzanne is the last person to have seen Emily Hargraves, who runs the local newsstand. Suzanne has nothing to report about their encounter. But when Emily doesn't turn up, no news is bad news,,,
Suzanne has to admit that Emily's last request was a little odd -- a blueberry donut made to order, with chocolate icing, sprinkles, stars, and a chewy sour gummy worm coiled on top. Odder still, Suzanne's ex-husband Max also appears to be missing. But what really takes the cake? The corpse Suzanne finds hanging from a tree in the park. Who knew donut-making could turn out to be such a dangerous business...
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Suzanne Hart owns Donut Hearts, a donut shop in small-town April Springs, North Carolina. One morning she's visited by Chief Martin, who's been contacted by Emily Hargraves' mother, who's worried because Emily is missing, and Suzanne was the last person to see her. So after he leaves, she calls her best friend Grace to help her locate Emily, knowing she'd never just disappear without a word and leave her shop unlocked.
But later while Grace and Suzanne are walking through the park toward Suzanne's home, they find something they'd rather not: Tim Leander hanging from Patriot's Tree. After the police arrive and they've been questioned, they think that's the end of it. But Suzanne has been asked to help find out who killed Tim, and she feels an obligation to do so.
Complicating matters are the fact that her boyfriend Jake has arrived since he has a few days off work and wants to spend the time with her; being a state investigator doesn't give him a lot of free time; and someone has stolen her beloved recipe book, without which she can only create the donuts she's memorized by heart. So Suzanne decides that now it's been made personal, and she's more than ever determined to find the killer, even if it puts her own life in danger...
This is the fifth book in the series, and probably my favorite one. The plot was decent, and there were enough suspects and enough red herrings to keep me reading throughout without getting bored. I like Suzanne and the fact that she doesn't knowingly do things that might put her into danger, nor does she do stupid things like breaking and entering. It helps that she's smart enough to merely ask questions, even if those questions are a tad invasive. After all, how does one get answers otherwise?
This time out, she has managed to finagle Jake into working with her, sort of like a tag team. She and Grace will ask the questions of the women, and Jake and her friend George Morris will tackle the men (not that it's sexist, but it makes more sense that way). In doing so, they hope to ferret out a killer.
Also on the sidelines is her mother Dorothy, who is trying out dating again after being a widow for many years. The man she's seeing is none other than police chief Philip Martin, who's had a crush on her forever and is mellowing in his desire to please her. But unfortunately, some of his efforts have gone awry, and now Dorothy is still on the fence, which worries Suzanne.
But in the end, the killer will be found, as we know it must be, and the reasons for the murder seem rather twisted and delusional, giving us no sympathy at all for them. All in all, it was a satisfactory ending and I will continue with the series. Recommended.
More on Jessica Beck's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/jessica-beck/
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