Review: FORBIDDEN FRUIT, Kerry Greenwood

• US Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590587383
• ISBN-13: 978-1590587386

I was lucky enough to get to read an ARC of this on my Kindle, courtesy of the US publishers Poisoned Pen Press, through NetGalley.

For those who haven't yet made her acquaintance Corinna Chapman is an accountant turned baker who has a shop in Melbourne, just off Flinders' Lane.
FORBIDDEN FRUIT is #5 in the Corinna Chapman series (you may already be aware of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series which also has a new title out this year).

It is December in Melbourne, in the lead up to Christmas. As it often is at this time of the year, Melbourne is in the grip of a heatwave, with north wind days every day: hectic, invasive, dust-bearing wind like dragon's breath. Corinna and her assistant run a boutique bakery in the ground floor of an old building named, Roman style, Insula, with apartments in the floors above populated by a range of interesting/weird characters.

Corinna's lover Daniel is searching for two young people, both 16 years old. Brigid O'Ryan is pregnant, near term, and she has disappeared with Manny Lake, an apprentice landscape gardener. They have been missing for 10 days, and Brigid's father has commissioned Daniel to find them. Manny's parents are bewildered by their son's disappearance.

The search for the missing kids is literally a race against time, and brings them head-to-head with a sinister religious cult on a mission and a band of Romanies out for revenge. We meet most of the residents of Insula and get a glimpse of their close knit community.

The Corinna Chapman books are light cosy reads, sure to be popular with those who like food with their mystery. In this one Corinna's talented assistant (and Corinna is no mean cook herself) is in search for the perfect recipe for glace cherries. Everyday their bakery "Earthly Delights" serves up a mouth watering range of muffins and breads. As always, in the final pages of the book, Corinna delivers some tried and true recipes for readers to try. The ones at the end of FORBIDDEN FRUIT are for glace cherries, Christmas cakes, Vegie delights, and variety of muffins. One of the things I think Kerry Greenwood gets right is a taste of Melbourne weather at this time of the year.

My rating: 4.3

Other Kerry Greenwood titles reviewed on this blog:

• MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT
• TRICK OR TREAT

Corinna Chapman titles (courtesy Fantastic Fiction)
1. Earthly Delights (2004)
2. Heavenly Pleasures (2005)
3. Devil's Food (2006)
4. Trick or Treat (2007)
5. Forbidden Fruit (2009)

Find out more about Kerry Greenwood
Earthly Delights site
Allan & Unwin