It takes a peculiar mind to be able to appreciate Fatally Frosted. I mean, most of the fans of the series are normal, but it takes someone with a different set of priorities and limitations to really not only overlook but turn the stilted aspect of Fatally Frosted into a success story. I like that there were no impenetrable word play. I loved the slightly boring signature of Jessica Beck. I knew 'her' as Chris Cavender in the Pizza Lover Mysteries. He brings the same welcome additions to the table in this book.

I always lack in analysis when trying to review a book that's more than the sum of its parts. I think I am like cinephiles who only appreciate films from the 30's and 40's. We share a common strain. The artifice of the book freezes the puzzling whodunit in a fairy tale-like pastiche. With the only exciting nugget of the book being the murder, the sentences that describe the days of the protagonist, dull as they may seem, inherit a delightful quirk from the said murder. All of a sudden, the entire book is one big wait. But since the book is about someone's life, the dullness becomes vibrant, full of color and life. That's as close I can get in explaining why I'm rating this book so highly.

I rated the first book one star. I have completely forgotten its blurb, let alone its contents. But something tells me, put it down to experience, that if I re read it, it would not score any higher. The good things about this second book repeat themselves. Things like a lack of annoying humans or pets, paucity of too much liberal leaning, nods to beloved influences (Ellery Queen magazine and Roger Ackroyd), all contribute to the polished niceness of this book. It's, after all, a cozy mystery. And doesn't it know it.

It's been a while since I read the first book and it took me a while to get the characters and relationships sorted out, but after that it was good. I was a little disappointed with Jake and their relationship; I understand that as a cop he needs to have a certain work-life separation but he was not a very good boyfriend during this book. I thought it was Burt because of his drastic change in personality from the beginning of the book to the rest of the story, especially when he suggested a spur of the moment honeymoon after a surprise wedding. However, it being Heather, the niece, was a good choice. I enjoyed this book and will be reading more in this series.

I don't want to knock this book too bad because it's not meant to be that serious. It's not that great as far as plausibility is concerned. Suzanne has all the grace of a bull in a china shop in investigating the murder and it elicited several eye rolls while reading. Additionally, the rabbit trail on two of the suspects wasn't resolved. If they didn't do it, which is fine, what explains their shady behavior? This is pretty much mindless entertainment so if that's what you're looking for, this series is good.

Fatally Frosted by Jessica Beck is another book in the Donut Shop series that I can’t even believe I am reading because I really do not like donuts :) but the series is great. Maybe that actually says how good it is, you don’t even have to enjoy the theme to read it.

In this outing in the series, Suzanne is cooking donuts at one of the houses being exhibited for a home tour and of course a dead body, of the local busybody, turns up right where Suzanne is cooking. The murder weapon appears to be one of Suzanne’s donuts which immediately puts her on the police radar. Desperate to clear her name and none to sure that the police will do that, Suzanne elicits the help of her sidekicks, Grace and George to investigate.

Grace is a good character but George really shines as the sidekick The plot line sends Suzanne off investigating all kinds of angles and secrets. Her boyfriend, Jake, makes some appearances, more to chastise her for investigating than to be helpful. In the end, nothing was really as it seemed, about the victim, or the killer. The last chapter in the book is quite exciting when Suzanne finds herself fighting for her life.

Fun series with a strong independent female protagonist and a sidekick that stands well on his own.

I felt the series started to gel a little more in this title. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Well, this book kind of sucked. From the start of the book Suzanne comes across as rude and judgemental, but frankly I find a lot of protagonists in this genre are hyper-critical of other female characters so I let it slide. But she doesn't get better. She harasses people then acts surprised when they don't like her or want to talk to her. She has absolutely no business investigating, since the police seem to be doing a perfectly fine job.

At the end the police have already narrowed it down to the same two people Suzanne has. Both are planning to leave town, but given that they're the prime suspects it seems unlikely the police would just shrug their shoulders and say "oh well" and give up on their suspects like that.

Suzanne seems to think she needs to meddle because the chief of police is stupid and she is a suspect, despite the fact that he appears no dimmer than Suzanne (to be fair that is pretty dim) and makes no serious attempt to investigate her. There's all sorts of random crap that adds nothing to the story. What was the point of those random birdwatchers? The mysterious stranger? Why did I need to hear about Suzanne's mother's favourite television programme?

This is the only one in the series I've read, so maybe if I'd read the first one I'd find Suzanne less of an obnoxious, judgemental idiot. On the other hand, maybe the whole series is poorly-written with flimsy, one-dimensional characters and stilted, unnatural dialogue. Who knows.

Also this book contains a recipe for deep-fried cake. I already dislike random recipes in novels, the authors could at least include ones that aren't incredibly disgusting. Gosh.

On a random note, this is my 200th book read on Goodreads, and I read it in a day! And it was such an easy, quick read.

I've said before that, by far, this is my favorite cozy mystery series. I have read many new to me series, but they haven't had the charm that Donut Hearts produces. Suzanne is a pretty solid female lead, and she really can hold her own when it comes to daily meddling in police affairs. Sure, she calls her boyfriend and police when needed, but I think that is just showing her common sense of when to call in the big guns.

Definitely not on the same level of the first and third book in the beginning, though. Some of the characters, right at the end of the murder, we're not acting in a normal manner and jumped to conclusions that seemed too scripted to be believeable. Once we got through some of the awkwardness, it improved greatly.

Another cute cozy involving donut-maker Suzanne Hart, who got involved in the murder mystery when a local busy body dropped dead after eating one of her donuts. In order to clear her name, she embarked on amateur sleuthing in her small town of April Springs. Added bonus, of course, is that I always want to have coffee and donuts after reading these stories.

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 was a good mystery with good hummor.

I struggled with the first in this series and this one just didn't do it for me either. I found the dialog to be stilted and un-natural, although there were some hints of humor, and I just didn't care about the characters. I did love how the main character didn't hold back and stood up for herself, though. Something that should happen a bit more often in cozy mysteries. :)