Glazed Murder: A Donut Shop Mystery
By Jessica Beck
3.5/5
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About this ebook
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. The retired sheriff warns her to be careful—and they're all suspects. Soon Suzanne—who finds snooping as irresistible as donuts—is poking holes in everyone's alibis…
Jessica Beck
Jessica Beck loves donuts, and has the figure to prove it. It's amazing what people can convince themselves is all in the name of research! For each recipe featured in the donut shop mysteries, a dozen more are tried and tested. Jessica Beck is the penname of an author who has been nominated for the Agatha Award and named an Independent Mystery Booksellers Association national bestseller nearly a dozen times. When not concocting delicious treats, Beck enjoys the rare snowfalls near her home in the foothills of North Carolina.
Read more from Jessica Beck
The Donut Mysteries Cookbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for Glazed Murder
110 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book starts out slow. The characters are a bit flat. A body is dumped in front of the donut shop just as Suzanne is turning on her lights. She realizes the body is that of a friend and customer and feels the need to investigate.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Suzanne 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.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5What can I say? This book was really quite silly. The heroine's motivation for investigating this murder can best be summed up as "because." She makes doughnuts and in the first five chapters the reader is introduced to a cast of townsfolk - the grizzled ex-cop, the sassy best friend, the gossipy neighbor. Very unoriginal. After five chapters I skipped ahead to the end and wasn't particularly surprised by who the killer was.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In the wee hours of the morning, donut shop owner Suzanne Hart is surprised to see a body dumped on the road in front of her shop just as she is arriving to start making the donuts. The murdered man, banker Patrick Blaine, is a regular customer. Although Suzanne didn't see enough to identify the murderer, the killer may not know that. When it seems the police aren't acting quickly enough, Suzanne launches her own investigation with the help of retired cop George and her best friend, Grace. One possibility is that Blaine was murdered by a dirty cop, so state policeman Jake Bishop is there to both assist with the investigation and to keep an eye on the local police. It's soon clear that his interest in Suzanne is more than professional. Suzanne's ex-husband, Max, is hanging around too much for Suzanne's comfort. Is he just jealous, or could he have been involved in Blaine's murder?I enjoyed the characters and the setting in small town North Carolina. The mystery plot had several holes. It's surprising how many people Suzanne doesn't know and vice versa in a small town where she's lived all 30-something years of her life. Some of the awkwardness may be because this is the first book in a series and the characters haven't quite gelled. I liked it well enough to try the next couple of books in the series to see if it starts to click.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I'm not sure I'd read any more in this series - the writing felt very stiff and earnest, even though I could see that she was trying to write characters that weren't. The only time the writing felt natural to me was in the dialog between her and her mother - I really liked seeing the mother/daughter relationship portrayed with mutual affection and equal sniping. :) Her reasons for 'investigating' felt forced though and in the end it was a book I had to labor through.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The magic that Jessica Beck worked under the name of Chris Cavender is missing from this book. There were all the usual suspects here...there was the heroine mistaking someone for another on the phone, there was the entire early rising hard worker schtick, there was the answering machine stuff, the shabbiness and struggling-money wise of Suzanne. There was even the faint trace of a love triangle! What cozy mysteries need are less love triangles and more sleuthing. Except that instead of a Holmes/Watson partnership there can and must be a Watson/Watson duo. One Watson, the heroine, and a poor man's Watson. A two strong team of crazy like a fox, and stupider like a fox.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Glazed Murder by Jessica Black was a tasty cozy. Suzanne Hart divorced her unfaithful husband, Max and used the money from her settlement to set up a doughnut shop in April Springs, Colorado.We are invited into the little shop to get up very early in the morning to start the dough, working hard until break time and then barely making a profit but lots of good friends of the customers and other shop owners. When Suzanne is working by herself before her one employee comes in a dead body is plopped off at her shop door. She can see what is happening but can’t make out who dropped off the body. It turns out that the dead body was one of her regular customers. She doesn’t think that the sheriff is really investigating the case so she by herself and later with a friend investigates the crime because the victim was her friend. They do so in true Nancy Drew style, by using their brains to get more information but hopefully not attracting danger. The story does get a little amateurish when disguises are worn but other factors made this book a winner. She had a romance is sweet with her angry ex behaving foolishly. The book has a recipe after each chapter instead of a few at the end of the book. This book won’t challenge your intellect is it just comfort food pure and simple like donuts.This was a good cozy partly because of the way that the author describing the love and care that went into the donuts.Don’t choose this one if you want to be challenges. Choose it because you crave donuts and want some low calorie soothing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In this promising first installment, Suzanne Hart, proprietress of a donut shop, sees a body being pushed out of a moving vehicle in front of her store when she arrives at 2 a.m. While much of the book is spent introducing the cast of characters and seeing how each is a part of Suzanne's life, there is plenty of action as Suzanne begins investigating on her own even though she should be leaving the case to the local and state police. There's an annoying ex-husband in the picture as well as a budding romance with a state police officer. There are a couple of comical moments in the book. I'm looking forward to reading future installments in the series, but I think I'll need a few fresh doughnuts on hand to get me through the cravings!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I thought the book was a good read. The plot was acceptable and the main character was someone most could relate to. I will probably read the others in the series.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Can donuts really help you catch a murderer?*** Author Jessica Beck’s new “A Donut Shop Mystery” series introduces Suzanne Hart, owner of Donut Hearts Coffee Shop, her mother, town gossip Gabby, ex-husband Max, along with several other characters who work and play in the small town of April Springs, North Carolina. The book was mostly slow paced and easy to follow. It was hard to believe that the police chief and state police inspector would stand idle while Suzanne indiscreetly conducts her investigation. The action picked up noticeably in the last chapter which shows promise for future books in this “recipe” enriched mystery.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the first book in the Donut Mysteries and I have to admit, the recipes that are included made me have to go out and get some donuts! Suzanne Hart takes her divorce settlement and buys a donut shop. She rises each morning shortly after Midnight so that she can make the donuts and have them ready when the shop opens at 6AM. One morning shortly after arriving at the shop and before she has time to start donuts, she sees a body dumped on the street in front of her door. Since she doesn't feel that the local police force are taking her safety into consideration, she decides that in her own best interests she has to solve the murder. Her screwy hours bring a fun POV to the story.The characters are delightful and entertaining, and the budding romance with a state policeman to the annoyance of her ex add a light touch to this cozy. Definitely makes for a fine beach read.