Cozy Mystery Review: Earthly Delights by Kerry Greenwood

For some reason I have long resisted reading Kerry Greenwood's non-Phryne Fisher mysteries. I finally changed that, and can't for the life of me figure out what my problem was. I suppose I was afraid that nothing could measure up to that series. The whole thing does at least offer insights into book marketing--I don't think my new series is doing as well as the old, though I think it is better (okay, until later this year it's also only one book, so hardly a series. I'm working on that!).

 

 

Title: Earthly Delights: A Corinna Chapman Mystery

Author: Kerry Greenwood

Publication Info: Poison Pen Press, 2012 (US Kindle edition. Originally published 2004 by Allen and Unwin). 250 pages. 

Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb:

One day, Corinna Chapman, high profile accountant and banker, walked out on the money market and her dismissive and unpleasant husband James, threw aside her briefcase, and doffed her kitten heels forever. Now she is a baker with her own business, Earthly Delights, in Melbourne, Australia, living in an eccentric building on the Roman model called Insula with a lot of similarly eccentric people.

She and her cat Horatio are quite content with this new life until a junkie falls half dead on her grate, a gorgeous sabra stalks along her alley telling her that she is beautiful, and threatening letters accusing her of being a scarlet woman begin to arrive. Then suddenly Goths, lost girls, fraud, late nights, nerds, and beautiful slaves complicate life for Corinna. And she still needs to get her bread out for the morning rush....

My Review:
Corinna isn't Phryne, but that's a good thing. She is far more delightfully human, and yet the book lacks none of the excitements of the other series (if you know what I mean, and I think you do). The story was exciting, fun, and very well constructed (though I did guess the perp), and all the characters (mostly the denizens of Insula) are delightfully quirky. It's also fun to see Melbourne 80 years on from the other series, still gritty in places and shiny in others, with Corinna getting a boost into glimpses of the underworld.

 If I could wish for one thing different, it would be for more sense of the place. I'm not sure why, but while with the Phryne novels I never forget it's Australia, in this book my mind kept bringing it back to the States, to New York or LA or something, and I had much less sense of the city. I'll be interested to see if further books in the series do more to give me that vivid setting.

My Recommendation:
Don't be like me. Be bold to try your favorite authors' books of all sorts! I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Earthly Delights out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2024
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