Devil's Food: A Corinna Chapman Mystery

By Kerry Greenwood

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590584287
• ISBN13: 9781590584286
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Blends the story of a baker with a mystery centered around who is poisoning people

Kerry Greenwood's DEVIL'S FOOD: A CORINNA CHAPMAN MYSTERY blends the story of a baker with a mystery centered around who is poisoning people with weight loss herbal tees and an odd cafe's strange clientele. An investigation brings all these disparate forces together in a fine tale for any mystery library: one that blends food appreciation with a host of small-town characters and experiences.

Fat Chance

Kerry Greenwood is the author of two delightful series featuring two unusual and interesting women: the Hon. Phryne Fisher and the zaftig Melbourne baker, Corinna Chapman. This novel is the third appearance of Ms. Chapman and her collection of unusual neighbors; ex-junkie apprentice, Jason; Israeli lover Daniel; and assorted cats and dogs. The series not only brings to the reader the smells and tastes of her bakery, Earthly Delights, but the various mysteries and troubles in which she gets involved which she has to solve. Corinna, assisted by Daniel and others, are faced with three situations in this entry. First is the appearance of an herbal tea said to guarantee weight loss, but which almost kills four people. Then there appears a mysterious customer, a monk, requesting her to make 'famine bread,' a tasteless concoction which easily could be made of sawdust. The two problems merely have one thing in common: an aversion to obesity, which, of course, is anathema to Corinna's beliefs. Lastly, her estranged mother turns up after her father disappears, demanding that Corinna find him and make him return. "Devil's Food," as its predecessors, is a recipe for light but delightful reading. And the actual recipes included at the rear should appeal to those of us with a sweet tooth. It's all good fun, and recommended.

wonderful Australian adventure

In Melbourne, Earthly Delights Bakery owner Corinna Chapman is happy about her life especially with her lover Israeli investigator Daniel until her estranged mother Starshine, a throwback to the 1960s hippies arrives hysterical. Her equally hippie spouse (and Corinna's father) Sunlight has vanished. Apparently the faithful Sunlight must have a supernova with a midlife crisis that has him on a quest to find a younger woman. However besides coping with a weeping mom, two bakery employees and some weird monks become ill after drinking poisoned tea. Corinna and Daniel with the help of a diverse eccentric crew search for her runaway dad while also tracing the source of the toxic tea, which leads to an anti-obese cult. The third Chapman cozy (see EARTHLY DELIGHTS and HEAVENLY PLEASURES) is a wonderful Australian adventure starring an interesting heroine who is the total opposite of Kerry Greenwood's superstar Phryne Fisher. The story line is lighthearted fun as Corinna goes from enjoying life to a near breakdown in a heartbeat when Starshine arrives. However, she has learned somewhat to cope with her star-sun shiny communal hippie parents so searching for dear old dad while struggling with poisoned tea and an anti fat cult targeting the pleasantly plump Corinna has added unneeded stress to her life. Still she, her boyfriend and their horde turn Melbourne into a personal playground in this fun lighthearted farce. Harriet Klausner