REVIEW: M&M Surprise Murder

M&M Surprise Murder
Author: Susan Gillard

Because her employee and friend Jung is in the competition, Heather Shepherd is in the stands for the annual Hillside Archery competition. Unfortunately, the event is halted before it even starts. One of the judges is dead, an arrow through his heart. Who wanted Kyle Henson dead? Heather jumps into investigating the case, but it turns out there are a lot of reasons someone might have wanted Kyle dead. A ruined sports career. Messy divorce. Old jealousies. Heather is determined to help her police detective husband solve the case, as usual.

M&M Surprise Murder is the 17th book in the Donut Hole Mystery series. The stories are light cozy mysteries of novella length. Fun, quick reads! I like the doughnut shop theme. Heather is a strong, intelligent main character. The supporting characters are quirky and fun, making for an enjoyable, entertaining reading experience. Heather's nemesis, Geoff Lawless, is definitely the comic relief in these stories. This time he even puts a doughnut on his nose. Total weirdo. But you know, I find myself really liking the character. Strange, loner wackadoo who tries so hard to steal Heather's doughnut recipes but can't seem to manage it. I start each book looking forward to whatever crazy thing Geoff is going to do. The doughnut on the nose moment in this book made me laugh out loud. I could picture the chunky, bearded weirdo putting his schnoz through a doughnut hole. Why not? He's done stranger things (like dumpster diving for doughnuts)!

There are usually more than a few typos and grammar mistakes in these books....but I can overlook that. The errors are minor ones, not glaring problematic mistakes or huge plot holes.

For cozy mystery fans, this series is perfect for times when you need a short, enjoyable light mystery to read -- car trips, waiting for appointments, at the beach, during train or airplane trips, etc.

The only problem I have with this series is that it always leaves me with a severe doughnut craving!

The Donut Hole Mystery Series has 60 novella length books. There is also a spin-off series, The Oceanside Mysteries, with 22 books. I have a lot of reading to do!