Sinister Sprinkles - Jessica Beck

Sinister Sprinkles - Jessica Beck
I did a little research on the author of this book, which I don't normally do, but something got me interested.  I have an inquiry on my blog on whether Jessica Beck is really Joaane Fluke, author of the Hannah Swensen series.  Now, I have compared these two quite a bit in my previous posts and it got me thinking, could it be true.  I discovered that Jessica Beck really is a pen name, the books that come out from her are spaced in between Joanne Flukes books and the artwork is also very similar.  I don't know, I guess I'll just have to wait and see if it's true. 
So, this third installment of the Donut Shop Mysteries is a case of mistaken identity. At least that's what they think at first.  The murder victum in this book is the very same woman that Suzanne's ex-husband Max, cheated on her with. (That's not very good english, and Hannah Swenson would have corrected me!)  Max, goes missing and Suzanne finds herself trying to help prove he didn't do it.  She's not enthuzed about it at first, but decides to go along with it, a little to easily for my taste, but then again I guess we wouldn't have a story otherwise.  Halfway through, her boyfriend, Jake, pays her a visit, just to breakup with her and her best friend is flown out to California and offered a really good job out there. There are some awesomely awkward encounters with the local hair stylist and morning radio personality, these end a little too abrubtly for me, I was left wanting more.  The ending is pretty exciting, an awesome shoot out at the Donut Shop with an unexpected suspect turning out to be guilty.  And wouldn't you know it, Jake comes back to make-up.

There were parts of this book I liked and parts that I didn't.  I didn't like when people asked Suzanne for details on what she was investigating or what she found out, she thought for only a second and then gave some lame excuse on how she couldn't see how it could hurt.  If she wasn't going to hesitate to tell them, then why write any kind of hesitation at all, it bothered me!

This was really good light reading, and the recipes in this one were much better then the last.  I still prefer Joanne Fluke's writting, unless of course they turn out to be the same person and then I would have to say I like the work in the Hannah Swensen series better!  3.5 out of 5 for this one.  Next up is Evil Eclairs, but it's not due out until the end of April.

Fatally Frosted - Jessica Beck

Fatally Frosted by Jessica Beck

As I stated in my previous blog post, I continued to read this novel in hopes it would tie up some loose ends from the first one, Glazed Murder.  It didn't, and I was extremely disappointed.

In this book, our slightly plump heroine, Suzanne Hart, discovers a pushy local has been murdered by one of her own donuts.  In order to clear her name, she has to solve the mystery and capture the real murderer.  Once again, the similarities from the Joanne Fluke novels continue.  The relationship between Suzanne and her ex-husband, Max, is becoming more and more tense as she tries to tell him she is moving on and he should do the same.  While her new budding relationship with the police office becomes strained as she is the number #1 suspect in this most recent murder. 

The recipes embedded through out are good, however they don't have the underlying theme that the ones in the Hannah Swensen books have.  (I may be comparing these two series just a little too much, but I can't help it, they are just so similar.)  I finished this book in just one day.  It was good light reading and a nice break from the other novels that are currently on my list.

This book gets a 3.5 out of 5 for me.  It just didn't have enough meat in it to give it any more then that.

Glazed Murder - Jessica Beck

Glazed Murder by Jessica Beck

I started this book for a little light reading before I went back to the Maximum Ride series.  I have read all the Joanne Fluke novels about Hannah Swensen and the Murder She Baked series and this looked similar to those books.  I didn't know how similar they were until I started reading.

Our amateur sleuth in Glazed Murder  whose name is Suzanne Hart, owns a donut shop, Donut Hearts, in a small town in North Carolina.  A body gets dumped on her front doorstep which she witnesses and puts her and her family in danger.  She decides that the local police are not going to do everything they can to catch the murderer, so she takes it upon herself to solve the mystery in order to get herself out of danger.  She is slightly overweight, has an overbearing mother, a retired police officer helps her investigate and has a real estate broker best friend who is always there for her when she needs her. She also starts dating a State Trooper.

In this book there were so many different directions that the suspect list took Suzanne that I was struggling to keep up with plot.  I was wondering at the end if she was going to tie up loose ends in the next novel, Fatally Frosted, but i was disappointed. 

I couldn't help but notice the similarities with the Joanne Fluke novels.  I'm sure anyone who has read her books and then read the above paragraph will also notice similarities.  Joanne Fluke writes about Hannah Swenson who owns a cookie shop in a small town in Minnesota I believe.  In one of Joanne's books, Hannah is presented with some competition in the form of a southern bell from North Carolina who opens up a sweet shop down the street.  She is promptly murdered, therefore eliminating the competition.  In one of Jessica Beck's books there is an already established cookie and cake shop down the street that is threatening to make donuts as competition for Suzanne's business.  Suzanne refers to the cookies and "too bland" for her taste and quickly dismisses them as competition.

I find the references fascinating.  And to take it one step further, I will say that there are some similarities in Joanne Flukes novels to those written by Lilian Jackson Braun, or The Cat Who books.  I challenge anyone to read just one of these books by all three of the authors I've listed and not see the similarities in each.

I like Glazed Murder, but I'm not thrilled by it.  I think I like the Joanne Fluke novels better.  However I will continue to read the books by Ms. Beck just to see how the similarities progress.

I give it 4 out of 5 overall and that's mostly for the recipes.