This book is the latest installment of the Donut Shop Mystery
series starring Suzanne Hart, who owns the Donut Hearts shop
in April Springs, North Carolina. As she's going to bed in
the early evening (her hours as a donut shop owner have her
going to bed around 7:00 p.m. and waking up at 1:00 a.m.!),
she hears a local radio station editorial by Lester
Moorefield discussing the detriments of her donuts. He says
that her product is nothing but a "toxic, deadly dough," and
he proposes a seven-day boycott of her shop. She decides
to forgo sleep and drives to the radio station to confront
him. Her parting shot to him (as he gets called back to the
business by his producer) is, "This isn't over."
Unfortunately, the next day his body is found with one of
Suzanne's éclairs stuffed in his mouth. As is common in
small towns, many people are already aware of the feud
between Suzanne and Lester. Soon, Suzanne is the main
suspect in Lester's murder, and she's scrambling to save
both her reputation and her donut shop. Sales have been
down since the broadcast and subsequent murder, and some
people are reluctant to be seen talking to Suzanne as she
tries to investigate the murder.
Soon, Suzanne, who is aided by her best friend Grace, has a
suspect list that seems to grow exponentially by the hour!
Lester made enemies nearly every time he took to the
airwaves, and he also had a few skeletons in the proverbial
closet. To make things worse, her boyfriend Jake, a state
police inspector gets assigned to this case, which casts a
pall over their budding relationship.
This cosy had everything a great cosy should have - an
off-site murder, an amateur sleuth, an official police
presence none too pleased with the amateur's attempts, a
healthy dose of humor, and enough clues to help the reader
solve the crime (but not so many that the reader solved it
ahead of Suzanne).
This was the first book I had read in the series, but I
didn't feel lost as to who the various characters were or
how they related to each other, which I think is always a
plus when someone picks up a book in the middle of a series.
I definitely want to go back and read the previous
books, and I'll be looking forward to the rest of the series!
Donut Shop owner Suzanne Hart admits her sweet treats
don't exactly qualify as health food. But does she really
deserve to be labeled a "killer" by local radio jockey
Lester Moorefield? The annoying host is urging citizens to
boycott Suzanne's "deadly dough" factory - until he's
found dead himself, stuffed with one of Suzanne's eclairs.
Everyone in April Springs knows about the feud between
Lester and Suzanne, which makes her the number-one
suspect. She tries to use the donut defense - don't don't
kill people, people kill people - but the cream-filled
eclair at the scene of the crime has the whole town filled
with suspicion. If Suzanne can't figure out who killed the
radio star, she'll soon be filling a prison cell instead
of a pastry.
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