Since the Easter time in Norway is a bit longer than it is in the U.S.(about ten days), one of the big things that people like to do over there as part of the holiday fun is read crime fiction. From classic Agatha Christie to modern day thrillers, murder mysteries are an essential element of the spring time entertainment; even the TV stations show marathons of British mystery shows!
That inspired more than one of the TBRs that my fellow Spring Into Horror reading friends have put together, as well as this write-up featuring foodie mystery series. After all, whether you're celebrating Easter,Passover or any other holiday this season, food is a key ingredient and curling up with a cozy mystery that happens to whet your appetite and your imagination is a bountiful bonus:
The leading lady of her books is Goldy Schulz(aka Goldy Bear), a divorced mom who started up a catering business in Colorado and manages to do well despite running into dead bodies in between gigs.
Her books boast a tasty sense of wit and whimsy, especially with titles such as Catering to Nobody, Dying for Chocolate, The Cereal Murders and Crunch Time. I know from my bookselling days that DMD has a strong fan following and for good reason-with recipes as smartly crafted as her plots, her savory stories are worth the creative cooking time for:
Hannah is a baker with a shop called The Cookie Jar who can't help avoiding strange disappearances and murder cases as she strives to make her culinary dreams come true. The titles of her books alone could fill a pastry display as the murder cases include Chocolate Chip Cookie, Cherry Cheesecake, Fudge Cupcake and Blackberry Pie.
Fluke's Hannah Swenson books have even been adapted into Hallmark Channel movies(known as Murder She Baked) and the author is even known to make batches of chocolate chip cookies for her fans. How could you resist something as literally sweet as that?:
Juliet(who prefers to be called Jules) has returned home to Ashland,Oregon upon graduating culinary school in order to help her mom run their small town bakery,Torte. While getting over a failed romance and perhaps finding a new love, Jules also discovers that she has a talent for solving murders as well as making souffles.
I love the punny flavor of her titles: Meet Your Baker, Caught Bread Handed, On Thin Icing and Till Death Do Us Tart. What can I say, I'm a sucker for foodie wit:
Cleo Coyle(the pen name of husband and wife team Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini) has poured out seventeen cups of well brewed mysteries set in a Greenwich Village coffeehouse. Said coffeehouse is run by Claire Cosi, formerly a housewife from New Jersey.
Wanting to reclaim her past life, Claire takes a job as manager at The Village Blend despite having her ex-mother-in-law as her boss.
While dealing with the offbeat staff and even more offbeat regulars, she stumbles across a murder or two during brewing sessions. This certainly feels like a series that you would read during a Gilmore Girls marathon, if you ask me:
I wish you all a Happy Easter and Passover and even if you're not joining in the Spring Into Horror reading party, do give yourself the gift of time to enjoy some fabulous foodie mysteries. At the very least, you should be able to check out those Murder She Baked movies,which sound like a real sweet treat to suspensefully savor:
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