Donut Shop Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Donut Shop Mysteries Books

The Donut Shop Mysteries series is a series of thriller and cozy mystery novels written by an award winning American novelist under the pen name Jessica Beck. The series features the main protagonist Suzanne Hart, who is depicted as the owner of the Donut Hearts, which is an independent doughnut shop, and is situated in April Springs, a small town in North Carolina. One of the novels of the series has helped author Jessica Beck to be nominated for the prestigious Agatha Award and also to be named as a national bestseller by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. The Donut Shop Mysteries series consists of a total of 19 novels published till now, between the years 2010 and 2015. Author Jessica Beck began writing the series in the year 2010 and published the first novel of the series in the same year. The unique feature of the novels of the series is that they feature a number of recipes for baking the doughnuts. Jessica says that the readers will find the novels of the series more interesting to read when they will be able to use the recipes to bake their own doughnuts. The series is currently ongoing as author Jessica Beck is busy in writing the plot of the latest novel of the series, which she is going to publish at the end of this year.

In the initial novels of the series, the main protagonist Suzanne Hart is introduced as an amateur sleuth and the owner of a doughnut shop. She runs the Donuts Hearts shop along with her ex-husband, and frequently indulges herself in investigative works along with one of her wacky friends and a hunky police officer in the small town of April Springs, situated in North Carolina. The first novel of the series was published by the Minotaur Books publishing house in the year 2010. It was published under the title ‘Glazed Murder’. The plot of the novel is set in April SPrings, North Carolina, United States, and features the primary character of Suzanne Hart as the main protagonist of the series. In the opening sequence of the novel of the series, Suzanne Hart is introduced as the operator and owner of the Donut Hearts coffee shop located in the April Springs town in North Carolina. She is described as a divorcee and after her divorce from her husband Max, Suzanne decided to move on an pursue her passion for doughnuts, which she considers as her only and true passion of life.

Max is described as an out of work actor, who used to sit idle all the time in his house before his divorce with Suzanne Hart. Because of his uncaring attitude, she used to call him as The Great Impersonator. Going after her passion for doughnuts, Suzanne cashed her settlement with Max and opened her doughnut and coffee shop in the heart of the beloved hometown, April Springs. After her initial success in the business, the troubles begin to appear in the life of Suzanne Hart. At first, a dead body is discovered on the doorstep of her shop in the form of a sack of wheat flour. This causes the Donut Hearts coffee shop to become a crime scene of a deadly murder. As the news spreads in the town, everyone begins to drop by for the glazed doughnuts and the gruesome details about the dead body. A retired sheriff, who believes that Suzanne Hart is innocent, warns her to be careful as anyone from the ones coming to her shop could be the real murderer. Soon Suzanne begins to poke in the holes of everyone’s lives as she could not resist the feeling of snooping around just like her doughnuts.

The second novel of the series was published in the year 2010 by the Minotaur Books publishing house. It was titled ‘Fatally Frosted’ and continued to feature the character of Suzanne Hart as the owner of the Donut Hearts coffee shop and an amateur sleuth, often investigating about the murder cases taking place around her shop. Just like the first novel of the series, this novel too is set in the town April Springs, North Carolina, United States, and depicts Suzanne Hart as the main protagonist of the series. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, a local man is found dead in the coffee shop of Suzanne Hart after eating one of her well known doughnuts. Due to this, the Donut Hearts coffee shop once again becomes a crime scene and makes Suzanne Hart as the prime suspect in the murder of the local citizen. After a short while in the case, a team of forensics experts storms into the kitchen of the coffee shop and begins to search for the clues related to the murder. The team begins dusting every corner of the coffee shop, snooping for important clues, sifting through the sugar jars, and investigating the past life of Suzanne.

Even after looking at every possible scenario, the motive of the murder was not getting established. Also, there were not enough clues that would confirm Suzanne as the murderer. The team of investigating officers also do not get any information about the past life and present status of the victim. Seeing that the police and the team of investigating officers are not getting any success in the case, Suzanne Hart decides to do a little bit of sleuthing on her own along with the help of her ex-husband Max and police inspector Jake Bishop. She hopes to find some clue that would help her to track down the real murderer and allow her to clear her name of the crime that she has not committed. Also, she is required to act as quickly as possible and search for the missing clue before the murderer fatally frosts another bad doughnut from her coffee shop. The novel proved to be a delicious mystery by author Jessica Beck, who was very appreciated for her determined efforts. Her unique characterizations and descriptions of the mysterious plots were liked by one and all, and this helped her to receive the much required encouragement and motivation for writing the other novels of the series, as well as other mystery novels in her successful writing career.