Tragic Toppings (Donut Shop Mystery, #5) by Jessica Beck

Tragic Toppings (Donut Shop Mystery, #5) Reviews

• 
  Jackie

  Poorly written and the characters don’t seem to have developed since the 3rd book (which was the one I’d read previously)
• 
  Trish

  I have enjoyed this cozy series and enjoyed this book. The mystery intrigued me (I didn't figure it out) and found this to be a good read.
  
  
• 
  Luffy

  It's these type of books that most reviewers skip writing a review for. There is nothing insightful really to be gleaned from such an offering. I'm a bit mystified about the high ratings on this site, and I feel I'm missing something, or that it's plainly an undeserved score. I think not including Grace and replacing her with the vanilla Jake was a mistake. George was practically useless. They tried to make him useful but he contributed next to nothing. I hope the next book will be more like the action packed books of the author in his various guises.
• 
  Avid Series Reader

  Tragic Toppings by Jessica Beck is the fifth book of the Donut Shop mystery series set in contemporary April Springs, North Carolina. Suzanne Hart owns and operates Donut Hearts donut shop. Emily Hargraves comes into the shop and orders a truly disgusting donut: a made-to-order blueberry donut with chocolate icing, sprinkles, stars, and a chewy sour gummy worm coiled on top. Suzanne doesn't mind pleasing a regular customer. She thinks no more of it until the chief of police informs her that Emily "disappeared" after leaving the shop.
  
  Suzanne at first uses common sense, suggesting Emily is just off on her own business, will be back when she's ready....but evidently Emily is not in the habit of missing appointments or leaving her store unlocked. That last detail convinces Suzanne something is wrong.
  
  Suzanne's next decision is that she and her best friend Grace and their mutual friend George, retired police detective, must solve the mystery of Emily's disappearance. What a weak premise for a mystery. It gets weaker....Suzanne soon finds Emily safe and sound. Emily is just seeking privacy (with Suzanne's ex).
  
  It was hard to continue reading after 37 pages of 'filler': a feeble contrived investigation into a non-disappearance, reiterating her mother is about to date the chief of police, reiterating her boyfriend Jake is away on law enforcement business (as always). I'd wondered in earlier books how Grace was always so available at the drop of a hat; as part of the 'filler' she confirms she's bored with her work, and of course a donut recipe fills a few pages, too. I assume the book eventually includes a murder mystery that Suzanne solves. For now, I'll pass; perhaps pick it up again later...
  
  Remember the old adage "try the first 50 pages before giving up on a book"? What do you know, on page 49 a body is discovered (no doubt an effort to get the plot started within the first 50).
  
  I continued reading after all. Suzanne, Grace and George investigate the murder. New and different in this book: Jake is present in April Springs. Far from chastising her for getting involved, he helps with the investigation. (!)
  
  Along the way, Suzanne's recipe book is stolen. This is a major crisis for her. She doesn't know if she can continue to operate Donut Hearts without it. [Really? As a teenager, I worked at donut shops. I never, ever saw the bakers following recipes. They knew how to make donuts, by heart.]
  
  A rare combination of circumstances leaves Suzanne all alone. When she's ambushed by the killer, an totally improbable plot device (something that might not really exist) comes in handy.
  
  Readers who read the series primarily for the characters, relationships and small town atmosphere are more likely to enjoy this book than other mystery readers. Or someone who wants plenty of donut recipes...but seriously, does anyone still deep fry in their home kitchen?
• 
  Linda

  I agree with Suzanne and like it when Jake can spend more time in April Springs and has a more active roll in the book. I enjoyed the story in this one and even though I picked up on the clue to solve the case I didn't see it going down like it did. I like the characters in this series and am rooting for them and what's not to love about a donut shop. There are recipes included in the book (spread throughout the story which I wouldn't like if I wanted to find one to make) and they sound easy enough and at the same time like too much work.
• 
  JoAnne McMaster (Any Good Book)

  Suzanne Hart owns Donut Hearts, a donut shop in small-town April Springs, North Carolina. One morning she's visited by Chief Martin, who's been contacted by Emily Hargraves' mother, who's worried because Emily is missing, and Suzanne was the last person to see her. So after he leaves, she calls her best friend Grace to help her locate Emily, knowing she'd never just disappear without a word and leave her shop unlocked.
  
  But later while Grace and Suzanne are walking through the park toward Suzanne's home, they find something they'd rather not: Tim Leander hanging from Patriot's Tree. After the police arrive and they've been questioned, they think that's the end of it. But Suzanne has been asked to help find out who killed Tim, and she feels an obligation to do so.
  
  Complicating matters are the fact that her boyfriend Jake has arrived since he has a few days off work and wants to spend the time with her; being a state investigator doesn't give him a lot of free time; and someone has stolen her beloved recipe book, without which she can only create the donuts she's memorized by heart. So Suzanne decides that now it's been made personal, and she's more than ever determined to find the killer, even if it puts her own life in danger...
  
  This is the fifth book in the series, and probably my favorite one. The plot was decent, and there were enough suspects and enough red herrings to keep me reading throughout without getting bored. I like Suzanne and the fact that she doesn't knowingly do things that might put her into danger, nor does she do stupid things like breaking and entering. It helps that she's smart enough to merely ask questions, even if those questions are a tad invasive. After all, how does one get answers otherwise?
  
  This time out, she has managed to finagle Jake into working with her, sort of like a tag team. She and Grace will ask the questions of the women, and Jake and her friend George Morris will tackle the men (not that it's sexist, but it makes more sense that way). In doing so, they hope to ferret out a killer.
  
  Also on the sidelines is her mother Dorothy, who is trying out dating again after being a widow for many years. The man she's seeing is none other than police chief Philip Martin, who's had a crush on her forever and is mellowing in his desire to please her. But unfortunately, some of his efforts have gone awry, and now Dorothy is still on the fence, which worries Suzanne.
  
  But in the end, the killer will be found, as we know it must be, and the reasons for the murder seem rather twisted and delusional, giving us no sympathy at all for them. All in all, it was a satisfactory ending and I will continue with the series. Recommended.
• 
  Kristen

  In Jessica Beck's Tragic Toppings, the 5th installment in the Donut Shop culinary cozy series, she delighted us with an intriguing cozy with delicious donut recipes to enjoy at home. For Suzanne Hart, she received a lot of customers come and go at her shop. But when their handyman winds up missing and turns up dead, it baffled Suzanne's mind on who wanted him dead. Besides trying to convince her mother to go out with the police chief on their dates, she's busy running her store and waiting for her boyfriend to visit her from his job. When he does, it's between the two of them on who wanted to see Tim Leander dad--they dig up his past life and his love life to question everybody as a suspect. When her recipe book went missing and up in flames, someone sent her a warning, before her business could go up in smoke. Before she knew it, her life was at stake and discovered who killed him and someone else, too.
• 
  Jo Anne B

  Light, fun, fast read! Love Suzanne. There wasn't as much Grace and barely any George in this one because he was off trying to help Jake solve the case. I did like how Jake was helping Suzanne for once in solving the case. Jessica Beck needs to write these faster because this is the fifth book in the series and I already read the seventh that means only one more new one for me to read. I can't be without these books. They are always good go to ones that I can count on in a pinch. A pleasure to read!
• 
  Michelle

  This is the 5th book in the Doughnut Shop cozy mystery series. Suzanne has a couple of mysterious disappearances to deal with, with one turning out to be benign (a romantic rendezvous) while the other has more deadly consequences. Suzanne must try to help figure out why a body of their friend was found hanging from a tree. Was it a new business competitor, a jealous girlfriend, or someone from his past. To make matters worse, her recipe book disappears, leaving her to have to recreate some of her doughnuts from scratch. As usual, the book contains many delicious sounding recipes.
• 
  K.

  I can see how some of the readers of the Donut Shop mysteries have gotten tired of the stories. BUT, I love it, love learning about Suzanne's and Jake's relationship, about Dorothy and Chief's growing and frustratingly slow relationship...and I like how Suzanne noses around in people's business. She's funny. Anyway, this was a great and quick read. I literally woke up in the middle of the night and would pick the book up and read myself back to sleep.
• 
  Kate

  Fun, light reading, perfect for the days when I was home sick. There were some inconsistencies in this book (Jake is daring and can get out of line at work, then he's a "play by the rules" guy a few chapters later), but I didn't even care. These books are fun, I love all the donut talk, and I love the little world of April Springs that the author has created. Keep them coming!
• 
  Martha

  I do enjoy this series ... a quick, light read. She does have a tendency to over explain things, but it's a minor annoyance. LOL
• 
  Cindy

  I’m not sure what the significance of Emily missing in the beginning has to do with the rest of the story. It felt a little forced to have that happen as a way to connect it to Suzanne’s donut shop when finding the body seems to be enough to make her entitled to solving the mystery.
  
  Something I’m uncomfortable with is how Suzanne and Grace feel entitled to getting the “truth” from people involved in the murder mystery but that’s just part of the series; if you can’t buy into that you’re not really going to enjoy a cozy mystery.
  
  This time around Suzanne is prying into other peoples business as a favor and even with that being the case, she never shares much of the information to the person who requested it from her. Even at the end of this book she never calls in the favor she was asked for, she turns to Jake.
  
  I thought Jake was the most boring boyfriend I’ve ever read in
  Fatally Frosted because of his job he’s never around. This being the second book I read in this series, it was a nice change of pace to have his involvement (unofficially.)
  
  Jake is still pretty boring. Hard to get a sense of his character, other than the offhand mention of his tragic backstory there’s not much personality. When he’s present, he’s still a pretty distant boyfriend. Kinda funny how uncomfortable he seems around Suzanne’s mom, he seems to want to avoid her at all cost, it’s kinda sad. Suzanne knows how uncomfortable he is but then feels bad leaving her mom out so still tries to tag her along. Seeing that her mom is a big part of her life, they live together, her mans needs to get over it. He is somewhat considerate, he gives her a card, but this books ends with a near death experience and it’s brushed off with “you were really brave tonight.” Okay... you would think being nearly choked to death would require some therapy or comfort. But to be fair. To our knowledge, Suzanne doesn’t share the details of her encounter with the killer. Although it’s mentioned that it hurt to talk and he is absolutely oblivious as to what she went through. No wonder she needs to be the one solving these mysteries.
  
  Suzanne mom tries to put herself out there and get back into dating which seems to be the theme of this book and the murder mystery it revolves around. I thought the love advice that Suzanne gives out to her friend was very thoughtful.
  
  Overall it had a good amount of drama surrounding the case. The bit involving the recipe book was melodramatic for my taste. I understand the value of it but they live in the modern world, don’t they? Can’t she pull up some recipes off the internet? How long has Donut Hearts been open that she doesn’t have these donuts memorized by now? I understand lacking in specialty selections but I’ve watched enough cupcake wars to know that small town shop owners, who aren’t exactly culinary masters can whip up a creative selection in an hour. She has so much pride in her donuts, she clearly isn’t as skilled as she thinks she is.
  
  Dabbling in these books was a fun read. I think they’re alright, but not all that invested in the characters.
• 
  Jennifer Oberth

  I still like these quirky characters even though they still drive me up the wall!
  
  I'm liking the mom more and more. I didn't not like her before but she didn't get much time spent on her in previous books. She still doesn't - but I like how happy she is in life and we get to cheer for her.
  
  The repetitive nature of Suzanne's over-explanations are beginning to grate on my nerves, however I do like the internal thoughts and opinions (when she's not unfairly maligning clowns). I wish the author would have captured that balance a bit better.
  
  The best friend kind of disappeared halfway through (thereabouts) and that was disappointing - especially since it was a plot device just to make the main character have no one to lean on toward the end. Suzanne says how many people she's friends with but suddenly Grace, George, Jake, and her mom are busy and she has no one to go to this incredibly dangerous rendezvous so she goes alone. Because that's smart five books in :)
  
  As you can tell, I'm a bit annoyed by the end. Suzanne herself says she didn't get killed due to "sheer dumb luck" and that's not really acceptable, is it? I mean, at what point does she have to take responsibility for putting herself in unnecessary danger for no reason?
  
  I might find out because I'm about to start the next book in the series.
• 
  Amanda McGill

  I'm liking this series! Thankfully there are a lot more books in this series!
  
  There are 2 people missing from April Springs, Tim the handyman and Emily who runs the local newsstands. One has shown up safe and sound, while the other is found dead hanging from a tree in the local park.
  
  The summary on the back of the novel and the summary on Goodreads doesn't have much to do with the main plot of the story. Maybe it was from an earlier version?
  
  I enjoyed the mystery and the characters are fun in this series. Excited to read more in the series!
• 
  Tammy Lunsford

  Suzanne Hart is your average everyday “snoop”, and she is very unlucky when it comes to finding dead bodies. This is #5 in the series. It is definitely not my favorite. However, I have to say that the mystery was literally a mystery right up until the end. I was shocked at the suspect. It also picked up a little more steam halfway through the book. I will continue this series because I like the characters and a good clean mystery. I am also happy to see that Suzanne’s relationship with Jake appears to be moving forward!
• 
  Tari

  Another mysterious murder in April Springs, and Suzanne is on the case along with Grace and their buddy George. The police were baffled, and so was Suzanne, and after her beloved recipe book went missing, she wondered if the killer had stolen it or if it was even connected to the case other than a distraction for her. The showdown was exciting, and the perp was hauled away. It was cute that Momma had finally decided to start dating again.
• 
  Katherine Decker

  Another enjoyable read. Suzanne wants to find the truth behind her friend's death while also trying to keep her career in donuts on track despite a setback or two, and while offering up relationship advice. I really like the relationships between the various characters. I once again have a craving for donuts as well.
• 
  Lorraine Shaw

  Enjoyed this book.
• 
  Cindy Miller

  I enjoyed this book.
• 
  Kim

  Another tasty mystery. I ache that there is so much hate in the world. Grateful there are more of us that put love first.
• 
  Terri Thetford

  Nice little quick read.
• 
  Brenda

  Tragic toppings
  
  Jessica has done it again! You can't turn the pages fast enough to see what is going to happen next. The recipes aren't bad either!
• 
  Robin

  Really enjoying these donut shop Mysteries
• 
  Allison Ann

  Silly little books, not much substance but entertaining.
• 
  Susan Moxley

  I really fun read along with a few doughnut recipes.
• 
  Heather

  Synopsis (from bn.com):
  
  Donut shop owner Suzanne Hart sees customers come and go all day long. But when one of them up-and-disappears, the police start asking questions. It seems Suzanne is the last person to have seen Emily Hargraves, who runs the local newsstand. Suzanne has nothing to report about their encounter. But when Emily doesn’t turn up, no news is bad news…
  
  Suzanne has to admit that Emily’s last request was a little odd—a blueberry donut made to order, with chocolate icing, sprinkles, stars, and a chewy sour gummy worm coiled on top. Odder still: Suzanne’s ex-husband Max also appears to be missing. But what really takes the cake? The corpse Suzanne finds hanging from a tree in the park. Who knew donut-making could turn out to be such dangerous business…
  
  My thoughts:
  
  As you know already if you have read my last blog post, I am working my way through the Donut Shop Mystery series to catch up on the series. (Oh dear if this was the only cozy series I had to catch up on, how lucky that would be. . . but alas that is not the case, so many books, so little time. But I digress!)
  
  
  I truly enjoy this entire series. As I have said before I find the main characters, Suzanne and her best friend Grace, really great . . . fun, charming, successful, strong-willed. Now that I am reading the books closer together, I am finding that I am really enjoying watching Suzanne grow as the series moves along. She is strong, successful, and ready to meet her amateur sleuthing responsibilities head on. Go Suzanne!
  
  
  I know there are more books for me to catch up on, but I am hoping the next couple of books show me how this relationship between Jake and Suzanne is moving along . . . or not moving along? Do tell Jessica Beck, do tell!!
  
  
  A great, light cozy mystery read set in a great location that will leave your mouth watering just thinking about the donuts she talks about in her shop! Yum!
  
  
  Oh and by the way . . . I am not ashamed to admit that I have actually been thinking about buying a small deep fryer so I can actually try some of those delectable donut recipes the author has in the book!
• 
  Maureen ~Bitch Can Write A Book

  I've had this book since Borders closed. Since I am on a cozy kick, I dug it out. I love reading a series that no matter how long in between books...when you pick it up it's like visiting an old friend.
  
  I enjoyed catching up with Suzanne, her momma, her best friend Grace and all the rest of the people that hang out in Suzanne's donut shop.
  
  Suzanne finds herself in a bit of a twist thinking one person is missing, Emily. When her BFF and herself find another person hanging from the Patriot Tree by her home things get a bit crazy. Emily turns up in a comprising sitch with Max...Suzanne's ex. When Suzanne is begged to help find out who killed Tim...well trouble ensues. Between her beloved recipe book for her donuts disappears, Tim's relationship with three woman is revealed, the suspect pool is large. Jake her hot boyfriend visits and agrees to help her to keep her out of trouble, he is an investigator. But when Jake is called back to work, Grace is out of town and her momma out on a date with the chief of police...Suzanne finds another body, and things start to unravel.
  
  If you are a fan of cozy mysteries, this is a fave of mine. Check this series out...and bonus...recipes for donuts :)
• 
  Kim

  This is more like a 2.5 star rating than a 3. Perhaps the donut shop is becoming too sweet for my taste when it comes to fluffy relationship stuff.
  
  This starts with the disappearance of two characters. One is found alive and the other, dead. Then it goes into a murder mystery that could have been so many things if Beck stopped harping on the relationships for the Hart women and made more of an effort on the mystety. Too much just didn't need to be there or was rather long and drawn out. I was skipping sections of conversation between Suzanne and her mother because I could predict what was being said. It's a cute story overall, but maybe too cute.
  
  Also, I'm not a fan of how she continually says how important the shop is to her, but then drops it in the next paragraph to play clue. I was not only hoping the drama was sabatoge, but also that she had to drop the mystery and go to town trying to fix it. But neither of those things happened. It just makes it hard to believe her character when she does stuff like this.