Devil's food : a Corinna Chapman mystery

Format:

Book

Title:

Devil's food : a Corinna Chapman mystery

Author:

Greenwood, Kerry.

ISBN:

9781590584286

9781590586747

Edition:

1st U.S. ed.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

238 pages ; 23 cm

Series title(s):

Corinna Chapman mysteries ;

Number in series:

General Note:

Originally published: Crows Nest, NSW, Australia : Allen & Unwin, 2006.

Summary:

Corinna Chapman, baker extraordinaire and amateur sleuth, returns in her third delicious mystery set in present-day Melbourne.

If there's one thing that Corinna Chapman, baker extraordinaire and proprietor of the Earthly Delights Bakery, can't abide, it's people not eating well--so when a strange cult which denies the flesh and eats only famine bread turns up, along with a body which is found in a park, dead of malnutrition, Corinna is very disturbed indeed.

Subject(s):

Women detectives -- Australia -- Fiction.

Bakeries -- Fiction.

Bakers -- Fiction.

Mothers and daughters -- Fiction.

Melbourne (Vic.) -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Melbourne (Vic.) -- Fiction.

Australia.

Victoria -- Melbourne.

Genre:

Detective and mystery stories.

Detective and mystery fiction.

Fiction.

Mystery fiction.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	MYSTERY Greenwood, K.	Searching... Unknown
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	Greenwood, K.	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Monmouth Public Library	Fic (m) Greenwood, K. 2009	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

If there's one thing that Corinna Chapman, baker extraordinaire and proprietor of the Earthly Delights Bakery, can't abide, it's people not eating well, particularly when there are delights like her very own, just-baked, freshly buttered sourdough bread to enjoy. So when a strange cult which denies the flesh and eats only famine bread turns up, along with a malnourished body, Corinna is very disturbed indeed.

On top of that, her hippie mother, Starshine, has turned up out of the blue, hysterical that Sunlight, Corinna's father, has absconded to Melbourne with all their money and a desire for a new young lover. Someone is poisoning people with weight loss herbal teas, and then odd things are happening at the nearby Cafe Vlad Tepes, which attracts a very strange clientele indeed. It's a delicious recipe for murder, mayhem, and mystery.

Author Notes

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray where she now lives and writes. She has degrees in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession in 1982. Kerry has written more than twenty novels, a number of plays, is an award-winning children's writer, has edited and contributed to several anthologies, and is the creator of the Phryne Fisher series. In 2003, Kerry won the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Crime Writer's Association of Australia. Her newest series features the irrepressible baker-cum-sleuth Corinna Chapman.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

A missing parent, a lethal herbal tea and a sinister cult are a few of the mysterious ingredients in Greenwood's lively third cozy to feature cheerfully fat baker Corinna Chapman (after 2008's Heavenly Pleasures). Chapman's estranged hippie mother, who organizes her time by the phases of the moon, arrives on the doorstep of Melbourne's Earthly Delights Bakery to announce her spouse's disappearance during an apparent midlife crisis. Further complications for Chapman include a toxic tea imbibed by two of her employees and a strange group of monks. To assist in finding the tea's supplier, locating her wandering father and determining the monks' activities, Chapman has a devoted, if eccentric, cohort-a sexy PI lover, a weaver, a follower of Wicca, a grand dame, a dominatrix, a retired classics professor and a nun or two. While a glossary of Australian terms would've helped the American reader, this doesn't detract from the warmhearted message that it takes a village to solve a mystery. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Originally published in 2006 and making its first U.S. appearance, the third Corinna Chapman mystery finds the Australian baker and amateur sleuth trying to determine who's been distributing poison-tainted herbal teas and why. As usual, there are complications on the home front: Corinna's hippie mother, Starshine, has unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere after her husband, Sunlight, has left her for a younger woman. The Chapman novels take the best elements of the author's more popular 1920s-era Phryne Fisher series strong female protagonist, solid mystery, offbeat humor and transport them to the present day. Greenwood has a definite knack for character and story, and, while the Chapman series is a mere toddler compared to the longer-running Fisher novels, Corinna shows every indication of sticking around for a good long time.--Pitt, David Copyright 2009 Booklist