The April Springs Winter Festival is off to a great start, until a body is discovered, an ornamental candy cane sticking out of her chest. Suzanne Hart, owner of Donut Hearts, has every intention of staying out of the investigation, until the victim is identified as Darlene Higgins. Darlene is the woman Suzanne caught in bed with her husband Max, resulting in their divorce.

Because of their history, both Suzanne and Max are at the top of Chief Martin's suspect list, and things don't look good for Max when he disappears. Max may be many things, but Suzanne knows he isn't a cold-blooded killer, so to clear both their names she finds herself doing some investigating of her own, aided by friends George, Grace and Emma. Her focus isn't just on the investigation, though, as things begin to unravel in her relationship with Jake Bishop, and her best friend Grace may take a job across country. With all the personal distractions, Suzanne doesn't put the clues together until it's almost too late and the killer comes after her.

Jessica Beck's SINISTER SPRINKLES is the third of the Donut Shop mysteries, and it lives up to the standard set by the first two in the series. The reader is given a deeper insight into Suzanne's personal life in this installment, which I felt gave the story even greater depth. The quirky residents of April Springs and the cleverly plotted mystery make Donut Hearts donut shop a place I look forward to visiting again.