Glazed Murder
A Donut Shop Mystery
Jessica Beck
Minotaur Books 2010
320 pages

The glaze in Glazed Murder, a Donut Shop Mystery may come from the film covering the reader’s eyes as she ploughs her way through this cozy mystery novel. There is nothing wrong with a formulaic whodunit unless you care little about the main character, feel even less interest in the murder central to the story, and do not for a minute buy the reason why the main character is doing an impersonation of Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher. This is the case for this first book in the Donut Shop Mystery series by Jessica Beck.

Suzanne Hart is a small town divorcee living with her mother and recently in business for herself running Donut Hearts, the local donut shop. Somebody dumps a body in front of her restaurant one morning and Suzanne thinks it is her mission to investigate even if she has no such skills. The glacial, pun intended, pace of her investigation more than proves her inexperience.

Her motive is that whoever killed Patrick Blaine may come back for her as a witness unless she solves the murder first. This is repeated at least once in the first half dozen chapters, just in case the reader was wondering. Later on, her motive is Blaine was her friend but it is apparent he was just a regular.

The growing love interest in the detective on the case and a BFF more than willing to help out is one of the usual cozy recipes.

Chapters of Glazed Murder, A Donut Shop Mystery end with a recipe, usually a donut recipe. Cute. Unfortunately, Glazed Murder is more interesting as a recipe book than a whodunit.