Cinnamon Twisted (Deputy Donut Mystery #7) by Ginger Bolton #bookreview #mystery

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Title: Cinnamon Twisted

Author: Ginger Bolton

Publisher: Kensington Books

Publication Date: April 25, 2023

Page Count: 307

My rating: 5 stars

About the book:

Ginger Bolton returns with the latest installment of her Wisconsin-based Deputy Donut cozy culinary mystery series!

Weeks before summer begins, Deputy Donut Café owner Emily Westhill has it all—a tabby cat by her side, cinnamon twists powdered to perfection, and a murderer on her case . . .

An ordinary late-spring afternoon for Emily becomes one that will remain baked into her memory from the moment a customer gives Emily’s cat a toy donut and then flees Deputy Donut, dropping an earring in her panic. Concerned about the customer, Emily attempts to return the earring . . . only this time the customer doesn’t have a pulse. Things get more complicated when an ambitious police detective finds the earring and an unsealed envelope addressed to Emily at the murder scene. The envelope contains a cryptic letter and a fading photograph of a woman standing in front of Emily’s house.

Why did the customer grab her cinnamon twists and flee Deputy Donut? With the detective eying Emily as a prime suspect, Emily is determined to find out. But once a donut-shaped murder weapon is discovered in her own backyard, Emily has no time to lose as she pulls apart the connection between the victim and the strange history of her property—while stopping the real culprit from ensuring her fate is done and sugar-dusted . . .

Cinnamon Twisted by Ginger Bolton is the seventh book in the cozy Deputy Donut Mystery series. As with most cozy mystery series each book of this series can be enjoyed as a standalone or in any order with the mystery being completely solved within each book. Of course there is some character building that carries over from book to book for those that follow the series from the beginning.

In the first book of this series we met Emily Westhill who co-owns the Deputy Donut donut shop named after her tabby cat in small-town Fallingbrook, Wisconsin. Emily used to work as a 911 dispatcher until the day her husband who was a police officer was killed so now she and her retired police chief father-in-law sell donuts at their shop instead. Although Emily thought opening a donut shop would be safe she keeps finding herself mixed up in solving murders.

This time around it’s spring in Fallingbrook, Wisconsin and Emily is working in her shop when a customer comes in and befriends Emily’s cat giving him a a toy donut. The lady leaves in a hurry though dropping one of her earrings on the way out of the shop. Emily tries to return the dropped earring but instead of finding her customer and making her happy Emily finds herself in the middle of a murder scene and becomes the main suspect by an ambitious police detective takes over the case.

The Deputy Donut Mystery series is another cozy series that I have followed from the beginning and find myself always excited to return. This series checks off all of my boxes when it comes to cozies, plenty of humor, some quirky characters and a lovely setting with the bonus of a cute furry sidekick. On top of all of that this does offer a character with some law enforcement connections which I also enjoy and after this wonderful installment I’ll of course be looking forward to the next.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

I like donuts and I like coffee. I like reading and I like writing. I like lots of things, actually…

People gather in donut shops to drink coffee and eat delicious treats, and also to spend time with neighbors and friends. What if a murder occurred in a small town? Wouldn’t patrons who spend time enjoying each others’ company in the town’s favorite coffee shop gossip about the tragedy and the possible culprits?

And the people who own that shop would hear things that might lead them to a murderer. Anything could happen…

Usually, when people ask where I get my ideas, I say, “Everywhere.” That’s true, but the idea for a donut shop run by people with connections to a police department came from Cops & Doughnuts. You can read their wonderful story at copsdoughnuts.com.

Finally, I have a confession. I have an alias. Readers might know me as Janet Bolin, author of the Threadville Mysteries.