I love this series, even though the characters are a bit....crazy at times. I was at a loss as to whodunit until the very end. It's a quick, fun read. ( )

These last two books in the series finished abruptly. Also, Suzanne Hart correctly eliminated the innocent people and was left with a small group of suspects, among whom the criminal was present. There is slightly more silliness here than in other books. People behaving randomly, with stop start natures that lead to no denouement worth the name. The most unbelievable fact was the very act of the murder. It was committed in a public, open space, in broad daylight, and nobody saw anything. What are the chances? Via his fictional book club, which Jessica Beck uses as his mouthpiece, the latter let us know that the more sequels are in a series, the greater the permutations of creativity available to the author. If so, then why do I feel that the latter is running out of good ideas? ( )

A classic murder-mystery with amateur sleuths solving the crime at the end of the book.

This is Ms. Beck's 9th foray into the Donut Shop Mystery series. I have not read myteries 1-8 so this was my first experience with protagonist Suzanne Hart and her best friend Grace.

There were no surprises here. Standard murder mystery fare with protagonist getting involved in a murder, deciding to solve said murder, solving the murder.

Perhaps because this is the 9th book, I found the characters as well as the plot, to be flat. There's only so much you can do with this story-line. The addition of the various donut recipes was different but I skipped over them until I finished the book. I didn't see how it pertained to the story other than to tie-in to Suzanne's career as a donut maker.

With series like this, I find myself wondering why the character never finally says to her/himself that they should leave their present careers and join the police force. ( )