Pattiserie Mystery Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Patisserie Mysteries Books
Macaron Murder | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Eclair Murder | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Baguette Murder | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Crepe Murder | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Croissant Murder | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Creme Brulee Murder | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Madeleine Murder | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Opera Cake Murder | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Chocolat Chaud Murder | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Pattiserie Mystery series is a series of novels by American crime mystery author Harper Lin. Set in Paris, the books feature Clemence Damour as the chief protagonist, trying to solve murder cases in which she, her friends, or her employees are implicated as the main suspects. What makes the series so unique as compared to other detective crime series is that, Clemence and her friends and associates solve murder cases while baking the most delicious French recipes of desserts and pastries. Clemence is a headstrong character that runs a very successful and popular patisserie in Paris, where she invents new dessert flavors and pastries, takes experimental painting classes, and hangs out with her friends. After dating a murder suspect, Clemence is wary of ever loving again, though her charm and beauty means that she always gets her pick of handsome boyfriends and an annoying neighbor that just will not stop trying to seduce her. Developing from a simple patisserie manager once suspected of a murder, she ultimately becomes an important asset to Inspector Cyril St. Clair. Between the patisserie and her knack for seeing unique angles in murder mysteries, Clemence’s life gets ever more interesting.
After writing romantic and paranormal mysteries in 2013 and 2014, Harper Lin really came into her own with the foodie Pattiserie Mystery series. The Pattiserie series became popular fast, since it appealed to two demographics; women interested in exotic recipes and detective crime mystery fans. Her first detective mystery Macaron Murder, was wildly popular with fans, and established her as one of the names to watch in crime fiction. She went on to release seven more titles followed by box sets of volume I-IV and V-VIII. As the popularity of the books soared with fans clamoring for even more, Clemence Damour the lead character was compared to Nancy Drew, which says a lot about Lin’s talent in the creation of the character. The last title in the series Chocolat Chaud Murder was published in 2015, after which the author started writing another foodie mystery – The Cape Bay Café Mysteries.
Harper Lin describes Clemence Damour as an exceptionally talented and intelligent woman. She runs her family’s patisserie business and just like Nancy Drew stumbles upon her cases, while going about her own business in Paris. She is attractive, well off, and exceptionally cool under pressure. An expert cook, experimenting with different pastry and dessert recipes is what she does with her friends when she is not hanging out with her latest hot boyfriend. She is depicted as developing a fast friendship with Inspector St. Clair who more often than not gets his detective theories completely wrong, leaving Clemence to steer the investigations in the right direction. Despite her laid-back attitude that sees her attend parties at the Grand Palais, launch new patisserie recipes, attend the Paris Fashion Week, and beat off the advances of the annoying neighbor, she still finds time to help St Clair crack bizarre Parisian murder mysteries.
Macaron Murder
In the first book of the Pattiserie mystery series, we are introduced to gourmet chef turned detective extraordinaire, Clemence Damour. Clemence has never really felt at home in her native Paris, though as the heiress to one of the most popular pastry and dessert chain in the country, she has no choice but to be involved. After traveling all over the world she is finally settling down in Paris as the head of the city outlets. While her parents are away on business setting up another subsidiary of the chain in another country, she moves into one of their apartments.
As a gesture of friendship, she brings the caretaker who happens to be huge fan of her father, some macarons she gets from the patisserie. What she did not expect is that the Caretaker would turn up dead on the next morning, with the half-eaten casserole of macaron on his table. Clemence is now the prime suspect in the killing and expects to be charged with the murder anytime. Macaron Murder follows Clemence Damour’s journey in trying to absolve herself of the charges of murder of the caretaker. She needs to find the person that framed her or else she is going to spend the rest of her life in jail.
This is a fun book to read and will have the reader turning the pages from the beginning to the end. It provides an hour of thrilling detective work that takes one through the sights and sounds of Paris. With the recipes for the patisserie desserts and pastries at the back of the book, you could make your own, and enjoy them while having a read.
Éclair Murder
The second book of the Pattiserie mystery series sees Clemence Damour returning to Paris to immerse herself fully in her family’s patisserie business. Determined to follow in the footsteps of her father and if possible make the business a bigger success, she is recreating some favorite classic recipes and inventing some new flavors.
Taking some time off from managing the patisserie, she takes Miffy her dog out for a walk in the park. Strolling around the park, she meets Arthur, her next-door neighbor that had saved her from certain death just a month before. While they chat, Miffy runs off and disappears into a bush where Clemence finds her eating an éclair. The éclair is in the hand of a man who is seemingly dead. With her curiosity heightened, she takes a closer look at the pastry, and immediately realizes that it is a brand made by her family’s patisserie. She now has a case in which she has to save one of her employees from a murder charge. She needs to find out why the killer chose the particular brand of Éclair to poison the dead man, who they are, and what their motivation is.
While the story has a similar background to book one, Harper manages to inject a lot of variance in characters and storyline to make the second book of the series very enjoyable. Similar to the first title in the Pattiserie mystery series, the book comes with several recipes to make the different types of pastries and desserts talked about in the book. Learn how to make the delicious eclairs and even the famous Pistachmaio Éclairs, which you can enjoy while reading the novel.
Book Series In Order » Characters »