Format: Audible Download/Kindle Whispersync for Voice

Heavenly Pleasures is the name of a Chocolate Shop run by a pair of sisters of Belgium ..Show More »extraction. They are located near Corinna Chapman's bakery and do very good business. Then Corinna finds out that they have been the focus of a series of unpleasant incidents involving their chocolates. Nothing dangerous, so far, so it is unlikely that they would be of interest to the police, and if the story becomes public knowledge then it might ruin their trade. They hire Corinna's partner (ex-Israeli soldier, current private eye) to try to find out who is trying to put then out of business.

This isn't the only mystery though around Insula, the Roman style building where Corinna has her bakery and apartment.

Corinna is intensely likeable with her whole-hearted enjoyment of the good things in life including bread, sex, chocolate and good company. The mystery is interesting enough; however, I really enjoy the cast of eccentrics who populate Corinna's world.

The narrator, Louise Siverson does an absolutely bang up job of reading this book. I couldn't imagine another voice as that of Corinna now.

I try not to read too many books in the same series in a row because I start to notice the authors little tics and twits. However, I got the first one (Earthly Delights) on a deal from Amazon/Audible and then had to buy the next two because I liked it so well. The following book (3rd) is Devil's Food.

« Show Less

All is not well for Baker Corinna Chapman despite her successful business and the acquisitions of both a promising young apprentice and a handsome, se..Show More »nsual private eye/partner.

Jason, her young apprentice, had entered into a deal to produce "famine bread" for a group of monks who had established themselves in a property in Melbourne. Given that their only complaint had been that she had made the bread taste too good, it seems they were seriously into mortifying the flesh. And speaking of mortifying-- her unwashed, unpleasant and hysterical mother shows up at the bakery to demand Corinna's help in finding Corinna's father, who had taken off on a mid-life crisis to find "young flesh". Finally, it appears that her two young shop assistants hae fallen victim to a dangerous diet aid.

There's other mysteries that Corinna must solve which introduces the reader to some other venues (including one that is distinctly sad), as she searches for her father.

This one is also narrated by the inestimable Louise Siverson in her warm, kind tones.

I'm going to take a break in the series here, but I'm sure I will be back to finish the rest. The second book in the series was Heavenly Pleasures: A Corinna Chapman Mystery. The next is Trick or Treat: A Corinna Chapman Mystery.

« Show Less

I can't seem to get enough of Kerry Greenwood. In the fourth Corinna Chapman book Halloween is in the air and the witches are gathering. Meroe is as..Show More » nervous as a very cool cat in a room full of rocking chairs. She is a solitary Wicca by preference (and because she doesn't really like other witches). Now there are hundreds of witches flooding into Melbourne for the Samhaine rites. And one of the more eclectic covens is on a purely material treasure hunt that threatens the sanctity of the rites. In the spirit of the season there is also a sudden increase in the number of people going mad in town. Corinna encounters one well dressed man in her alley who thinks that his hands have fallen off. Much as she is shaken by this it is nothing to how she feels when a man jumps to his death from the building next door thinking he can fly. Corinna has other causes for anxiety as Daniel has a friend named George staying with him. He may have forgotten to mention that George is tall, blonde, long legged, and imminently female. And George really doesn’t like Corinna. There is also a new franchise bread shop right down the street from Earthly Delights with unbeatable prices, but no taste (on more levels than one). It’s going to be a difficult spring for or intrepid heroine, but there is bread to bake so Corinna can’t just lie abed and worry.

« Show Less