Mystery Book Review: Trick or Treat by Kerry Greenwood

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Trick or Treat by Kerry Greenwood. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Trick or Treat by Kerry Greenwood
A Corinna Chapman Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-532-1 (1590585321)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-532-0 (9781590585320)
Publication Date: October 2009
List Price: $24.95

Review: There is trouble in the Melbourne neighborhood where the Earthly Delights bakery is located, and for its owner Corinna Chapman, when a franchised competitor selling baked goods and pastries at cut-rate prices opens its doors just down the street, in Trick or Treat, the fourth mystery in this series by Kerry Greenwood.

Corinna is beleaguered with situations most out of the ordinary. Not only has this new bakery opened, leaving her with too many baked goods and too few customers, Georgiana Hope, a to-die-for tall, slender, gorgeous woman (everything Corinna isn't) has shown up and taken residence in the home of her lover Daniel. Daniel insists he has no feelings for Georgiana, but that's little comfort to Corinna. Especially when Daniel disappears for hours at a time, and won't tell her where he's been. And now a mysterious substance has been found in the flour that Corinna uses, an ingredient rumored to cause madness in those who consume it. (The good news, if it can be characterized as such, is that the new bakery is also a victim.) Closed by the health authorities to investigate its origins, Corinna turns her attention to yet another problem: people are being assaulted in the alley behind Earthly Delights. When she reopens (if she reopens?) she wants to ensure a safe environment for her customers. But there's also (and still) the mystery of why Georgiana has shown up ... and the onset of Daniel's odd behavior; the two events simply cannot be coincidental.

Trick or Treat can be read as a comedic mystery or a mysterious comedy, as it has effectively combined elements of both into a winning formula. It's a first rate mystery with laugh-out-loud moments. Corinna is a bit more mellow here than in previous outings, and maybe just a tad less cynical, a decidedly favorable improvement on her character. The secondary characters, in particular the tenants of her apartment building, still retain their edge but seem less quirky, more appealing. Trick or Treat is a highly entertaining novel, and clearly the best of the series to date.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Trick or Treat and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing Trick or Treat from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): When a cut-price franchise bakery opens its doors just down the street from Earthly Delights and crowds flock to purchase the bread, Corinna Chapman is understandably nervous. Meanwhile, the gorgeous Daniel's old friend Georgiana Hope has temporarily set up residence in his house, and it doesn't take Corinna long to work out that she's tall, blonde, gorgeous and up to something. Daniel is making excuses and Corinna is worried about his absences and also the strange outbreak of madness which seems to be centred on Lonsdale Street.

Will Corinna win through a maze of health regulations, missing boyfriends, sinister strangers, fraudulent companies and back-alley ambushes? Or will this be the end for the Earthly Delights Bakery?

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