I like a good donut once in a while. Mostly, I prefer Dunkin' Donuts -- the apple spice donut in particular. (Want background on the Dunkin' Donuts thing? Try here.) Anyway, I like a Tim Horton's timbit when I am above the 49th -- especially at the rare moments when there are chocolate timbits covered in powdered sugar. (For a book that equates timbits with Canada, as I do, ignoring the fact they are available in Geneva, click here. No, I have not read it. Maybe eventually. But, still, great title.) Anyway, donuts. Or doughnuts. MMMMMMM.
So: I was in deep need of a junk hit -- and not only junk food, junk reading, which for me is all those wonderful murder mysteries that follow the formula -- food plus murder plus amateur detective equals . . . . smiles. Comfort reading rather than comfort food. Here, in this case, junk is not a bad thing -- it is a good thing. Formula fiction of just the right sort.
So: tonight I had a junk hit. I read Glazed Murder by Jessica Beck (who, according to the official donut shop site noted below, is a pseudonym for an Agatha Award winning mystery writer), a "donut shop mystery." Yep it features a (recently divorced) woman who runs a donut shop and [POTENTIAL SPOILER] when a body of an acquaintance/friend is dumped outside the door of her shop late one night (or, for her at least, early one morning) when she is getting ready to make donuts. Built a bit on cliches -- including a mother with whom she lives post-divorce, an annoying ex-husband, a new love interest, and recipes at the end of chapters, the book is just what you expect in formula fiction. Comforting in the ways it fits the formula -- just like a franchise donut! Indeed, this one has just the right soupcon of irritating features -- like the main character's self-recriminations for her weight -- to serve exactly the right sinful but regretful role of . . . junk food. (I ought not support . . . . well, female negativity alogside agency alongside heteosexism alongside. . . donuts! But, to be honest, I enjoyed the read.)
And it is evidently the first in Beck's series since inside the front flap (dated 2010, of course) is a list of more to come: Fatally Frosted and Sinister Sprinkles. (What does that mean that there are 2 to come when this is her first? Did she have 3 written when she approached the publisher? I have no idea. Puzzles inside puzzles.)
As you can see, the series focuses on doughnuts. And, as one learns from the first in the series, these might be yeast donuts, fried donuts, banana cream filled chocolate iced (yuck) donuts. And, unlike places like the franchises listed above (and below), if you have a local donut shoppe that makes them from scratch, do order ahead. They take a while to make! For the wikipedia entry on donuts/doughnuts, click here. It's pretty interesting even if it would make a lousy footnote. For more, try here . . . or, go out and buy a donut. (NO, I am not a Krispy Kreme fan. Are you?)
For goodreads reviews of Glazed Murder, click here.
More importantly, for the donut shop official site, try here. Fatally Frosted is due out in August. Wonder if there's a way to . . . get a free donut?