Book Review: Doughnuts and Deception by Agatha Frost

Julia wakes up hearing a noise in her kitchen. Grandma Dot’s been worried about her granddaughter’s safety – there have been a couple of murders recently and she insists that Julia should keep a baseball bat, just in case… Off goes Julia to the kitchen with a baseball bat in her hand and steps on something furry. The furry creature yowls in pain – Julia’s accidentally stepped on her cat Mowgli in the dark.

The ‘intruder’ is none other than Jessie, the homeless girl that Julia’s looking after. Jessie feels sad that she has a roof over her head while her homeless mates are out in the cold. Julia decides to take doughnuts and coffee for the homeless.

When Julia reaches Fenton Industrial park – the burned building where the homeless are currently residing, she learns about recent deaths of the homeless people. Tommy, the old man who treats Jessie like his own, tells Julia about the suspicious deaths that occurred a couple of days ago. Julia isn’t convinced that the homeless died due to natural causes. With the help of Jessie and her boyfriend/Detective Inspector Barker Brown, Julia decides to investigate.

Doughnuts and Deception is the 3rd book in Agatha Frost’s Peridale Café Cozy Mystery series.

Out of the first three Peridale cozy mysteries that I have read so far, this one is no doubt, the best! With each book, the story just gets better and better. In this installment of the Peridale Café Cozy series, Julia’s loving and caring side takes you to a whole new level. After vouching to take care of Jessie (in the first book), Julia now decides to do whatever it takes to save the homeless. She almost gets her boyfriend killed in the process!

Though there is not much of sleuthing in this story, I liked it. After reading the first book, I had decided to read all the books in this series. And in each book, one gets to read more about the characters’ lives. In this book, Barker Brown’s life is highlighted – his childhood, his mother and brothers.

How can I not mention Grandma Dot??!! In the second book, Grandma Dot starts a book club and the first book that the old ladies decide to read is… wait for it… Fifty Shades of Grey! I had mentioned in my previous review that I definitely want to know what Grandma Dot and her friends thought about Fifty Shades of Grey. And this is what Grandma Dot has to say about it: “Some of the girls weren’t too happy when we got to the mucky scenes in Fifty Shades of Grey. They didn’t realize how filthy that Mr.Grey was. I quite enjoyed it myself.”

Grandma Dot is unbelievable! She even starts an impromptu gossip club and concludes that the vicar killed Amy!! Jessie also plays an important role in the story. Her past is well highlighted in this book.

The only issue I had with the story is that I put two and two together, played detective and identified the killer two chapters before Julia could. Not that it matters but I didn’t find this to be a bummer. Each story is unique in its own way and since this book was inclined more towards the emotional side of the characters, I didn’t mind the identification part/ me playing detective much.

Coming to the technicalities, there is no doubt that Agatha Frost’s storytelling skills are absolutely fantastic. She knows how to weave a story with precision. The story was engaging. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one go. If you are in a mood to read a cozy mystery then do check out The Peridale Café series and you will not be disappointed.