Australian Crime Fiction Database

	Trick or Treat by Kerry Greenwood
From the Dustjacket Corinna Chapman, amateur sleuth, baker extraordinaire and proprietor of the Earthly Delights Bakery, returns for her fourth criminally entertaining and delicious adventure. When a cut-price franchise bakery opens its doors just down the street from Earthly Delights and crowds flock to purchase the bread, Corinna Chapman is understandably nervous. Meanwhile, the gorgeous Daniel's old friend Georgiana Hope has temporarily set up residence in his house, and it doesn't take Corinna long to work out that she's tall, blonde, gorgeous and up to something. Daniel is making excuses and Corinna is worried about his absences and also the strange outbreak of madness wich seems to be centred on Lonsdale Street. Will Corinna win through a maze of health regulations, missing boyfriends, sinister strangers, fraudulent companies and back-alley ambushes? Or will this be the end for the Earthly Delights Bakery?	Publisher : Allen & Unwin First published : 2007 ISBN : 9781741750003 No. Pages : 287
	Review The aroma of fresh baking bread would have to be one of the most pleasing for our olfactory system, stimulating all sorts of feelings of comfort and well-being. So it's no wonder that a series set in a bakery - and a gourmet bakery at that - has become so popular among cozy mystery readers around Australia. Trick or Treat is the 4th book in Australian author Kerry Greenwood's amateur sleuth series featuring Melbourne baker Corinna Chapman. Similar to the previous 3 books, the story opens in Corinna's bakery, Earthly Delights in the early hours of the morning while she prepares the bread, rolls and muffins for the coming day. As she does so, she catches everyone up on her life and the friends who make up her world on a daily basis. It's a quiet, comfortable way to ease into the story as the seemingly idyllic scenario is laid out before us. Indeed, this quiet scenario extends beyond what I would consider a reasonable opening period and I was beginning to wonder when anything of note would actually happen. Gradually though, Corinna's peaceful routine begins to suffer and the results are dramatic for Corinna, her store and the entire resident population of her apartment block. It starts with the occasional raving person wandering through the alley behind her shop, each a victim of some kind of tainted drug and each requiring hospital treatment. Another wrinkle in the quiet bakery life comes in the form of a new bakery that has opened up just down the road. It's part of a large chain and although the quality of the bread is nowhere near that of Corinna's, the prices are much cheaper and Corinna feels the sting at the register. But that's nothing to the potential devastation that looms when her bakery is temporarily closed down due to health regulation fears. It could mean the end of Corinna's business. As if this isn't enough for Corinna to handle, there is a witches convention in town and her good Wiccan friend Meroe is feeling very stressed with so much magic in the air. Ever the caring friend, Corinna lends her support but winds up, along with boyfriend Daniel, becoming involved in a mystery that originated in Greece and surrounds the appearance of jewellery that had been stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. Although there is concern over the forced closure of the bakery, trepidation over the succession of loonies in the back alley and interest in the origins of the mysterious jewellery, you never really get the impression that the implied threats will lead terribly far. Indeed, by the number of "calming meals" prepared and consumed by Corinna and her apartment dwellers, this is more a lesson in making the best of a bad situation. My problem with Trick or Treat is an aspect of the whole soft-boiled mystery genre that devotees would simply adore, so you may dismiss this gripe as a personal preference. Much of the book is devoted to the loving adoration of the many cats that populate the apartment building in which Corinna lives. There isn't a scene that passes by without featuring a detailed description of a moggy, the peculiarities that render it simply irresistible and a certain anthropomorphism attached to its personality. Over the course of the series, the various residents of the apartment building have each accumulated a cat/kitten and have taken to bestowing a level of devotion upon them that is specific to cat lovers everywhere. Personally I felt that, had the various plot lines - all of which were quite compelling - been developed more fully in place of the cat fascination, the book would have been richer and more satisfying. Trick or Treat is light entertainment, a pleasant diversion and a chance to revisit old friends with a little bit of intrigue thrown in just to make things interesting. It would be a good idea to have read at least one of the earlier 3 books (my suggestion is Earthly Delights at a minimum) to appreciate the role of the other characters because the Corinna Chapman series is becoming a real ensemble performance.