Publishers Weekly
07/29/2019
Set in Fallingbrook, Wis., Bolton’s charming third Deputy Donut mystery (after 2018’s Goodbye Cruller World) opens on the morning of the Fourth of July when Deputy Donut shopkeeper Emily Westhill is supposed to drive the festivities’ king and queen in the town parade. Emily ends up with the duke and duchess, however, after the queen, Taylor Wishbard, turns up her nose at Emily’s restored Ford. That evening during a picnic, someone aims a firework, hidden in a batch of Emily’s donuts, at the snooty Taylor, killing her. When photographer Philip Landsdowner accuses Emily of lighting the firework, and Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation detective Rex Clobar considers her a suspect, Emily turns sleuth. Could it have been Taylor’s best friend or her old boyfriend? Maybe the hairdresser Taylor maligned or Landsdowner or someone from the ice cream shop where Taylor worked? Bolton keeps the reader guessing throughout. Yummy donut recipes round out a whodunit (or is it a whodonut?) sure to please cozy fans. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"[Durante] She is a narrator that I have listened to before having narrated over 300 books, and I enjoy her performance. She has a pleasant reading voice for the basic narration of the book and gives the characters recognizable voices." ---Carla Loves to Read
Kirkus Reviews
2019-05-27
Baker Emily Westhill (Goodbye Cruller World, 2018, etc.) whips up a deadly delight that derails her local Independence Day celebration.
Since the death of Alec, her police detective husband, Emily's been absorbed with one goal: Making her cafe, Deputy Donut, a success. So she's thrilled at the chance to drive her vintage Ford Fordor in the annual Fallingbrook Fabulous Fourth Festivities parade. Festival queen Taylor Wishbard, who's considerably less thrilled at the prospect of greeting her fans in a tiny car painted to look like a police cruiser, insists on being chauffeured in her own convertible instead. All too soon, snippy Taylor gets hers. She's skewered by a rocket hidden in a stack of donuts during the annual municipal fireworks display. The mishap throws Emily right into the path of Brent Fynee, her late husband's hunky ex-partner, who's called in to investigate. Brent has an eye for Emily, but instead of bonding them, the grief they share has always pulled them apart. Now Brent has plenty of reasons to find his way to Emily's door. Too bad she's out chasing Taylor's killer. As their one-step-forward, one-step-back relationship competes for oxygen with the murder mystery, no one's the winner.
Despite its pyrotechnic setting, Bolton's latest food cozy is a misfire.
