Customer Reviews

Fatally Frosted (Donut Shop Mysteries, No. 2)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In April Springs, North Carolina (population 5001), Suzanne Hart owns the popular Donut Hearts donut shop. She is a reasonably contented person who loves her vocation especially being her own boss doing what she enjoys. Suzanne has a nice boyfriend, State Police Inspector Jake Bishop and several close friends. For the September Kitchens Extraordinaire, her buddy Marge asks Suzanne to demonstrate how to make donuts in her remodeled kitchen. Suzanne leaps at the chance to make beignets for the gala.

On the first day of the festival, Suzanne demonstrates to a large crowd how to make beignets when someone screams: "she's dead." Kitchen tour organizer Peg Masterson has been murdered with the weapon being Suzanne's lemon-filled pastry which the victim was addicted to and everyone in town knew it. Suzanne is at the top of Police Chief Martin's suspect list with Jake investigating though he rejects the notion that his girlfriend poisoned Peg. Distrusting the professional law enforcement officials including her Jake to do their jobs, Suzanne and her sweet tooth posse conduct an inquiry.

Suzanne in her second amateur sleuth (see Glazed Murder) knows that Peg was a nasty sort so had several enemies with strong motives of whom the donut maker places on her list. Fatally Frosted is a sugary concoction that provides readers a glimpse through the donut hole of living in a small town. Although one must wonder why she does not trust Jake to do the job and still see her, the story line retains a sense of realism due to the recipe like method employed by the amateur sleuth to uncover who were the strongest motivated and who had the means.

Harriet Klausner

When Suzanne Hart agreed to help out her friend in a showcasing extraordinarily kitchens tour in North Carolina, she doesn't imagine that the day will end in murder. However, just as the tour kicks off and she's showcasing her own donut making skills, the chair of the event dies in the backyard of her host.

Next to the body rests a lemon jelly donut - from Suzanne's own shop. It appears to have poison mixed with the frosting. It's no secret Suzanne didn't like Peg, but she didn't kill her. Still, the police are investigating her and everyone knows they've torn apart her shop looking for evidence.

How will she be able to keep her store going if people think the donuts are poisoned? Suzanne knows for the sake of her store, she must launch her own investigation.

Not many people liked the prickly Peg and the list of suspects grows longer every day. Can Suzanne and her best friend Grace uncover vital information that will lead them to the killer without leading the killer to them?

I love this series - for the fresh donut twist (which always makes me CRAVE donuts), the insider's look on how to make donuts, the romance between Suzanne and an officer, and Suzanne's relationships with those closest to her.

I have been a fan from the start of this series. The books keep getting better and better. I always look forward to the next one in this series. I love the strong headed main character and the people in her town really give you the impression you would get of small town people. Oh and the recipes? Wow! Awesome!

I love this new read for me. It is well organized, intriguing and fun...recipes included a bonus!
Thanks

This book (2nd in the series), as well as the 1st book of the series ("Glazed Murder") is what I call comfort books. They are cozy and comfortable. Some people call them fluff. I don't think they are totally fluff because, to me, there is substance. But I do love fluff and comfort.

This series is about Suzanne who owns a donut shop in small town North Carolina. How more comforting can that be? She lives in a cozy, homy, small town. She gets up early every morning to fry donuts. I get all fuzzy and warm just thinking about that cozy town.

Emma is Suzanne's young assistant who helps her at the donut shop. Grace is Suzanne's best friend - I love Grace. Dorothy is Suzanne's mother. I absolutely love Dorothy. She is the best mother in the world. She loves and protects her daughter unconditionally. She is a homy, cozy, loving mother.

In this particular book, someone (I will not say who - you have to read the book to find out who) is murdered while eating a lemon-filled donut from Suzanne's shop. Suzanne needs to clear her name and find out who fed her/him the bad donut, and who tainted it, and why.

While we are going on the adventures in this book, we visit our favorite donut shop. How cozy is that?

If you like the really cozy, homy, fluffy, warm books, then this cozy mystery is for you.

As a fan of culinary mysteries I'm always looking for new books and this one was great. I'm hoping to see more from this author in this series or anything similar.

This is the first of Jessica Beck's that I have read. I've read all of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson books and this book seems like a duplicate of those books. The town, the boyfriend, the townspeople, the baking, etc - all the same. Very un-original!

I was excited when buying this book. I mean, a donut shop mystery? It sounded great! However, when I finished reading it, I was disappointed.
The way Suzanne eventually solves the crime seems, well rather stupid. It was more like dumb luck she discovered the criminal than sleuthing. This book wasn't horrible but I don't think I will be buying more from this series.

This book is a good read but not one of those "Don't Miss" stories. The story was interesting but Suzanne is not one of my favorite characters. She has issues with most everyone and she certainly should trust her boyfriend Jake more. She doesn't seem to have much faith in his job skills.

Small town donut shop owner feels compelled to figure out who killed the chairwoman of a local food festival.

The plot is unoriginal. The characters are uninteresting busy bodies. I'm done with this series.