Four days before Thanksgiving, the dead body of a paralegal is found dumped on a residential street in Midtown Detroit. A receipt for two cups of coffee in the gutter near her body leads Detectives Zannos and Wong to the New Delhi Donut shop. Questions arise - who killed her, and why did the murderer break her fingers and move her body? A prequel to The Greeks of Beaubien Street and the other Greektown Stories.
Suzanne Jenkins lives at the west Michigan lakeshore. She is the author of Pam of Babylon and the series; Don’t You Forget About Me,Dream Lover, Prayers for the Dying, Family Dynamics and The Tao of Pam. The Greeks of Beaubien Street,and The Princess of Greektown from the Greektown Stories, Alice's Summertime Adventure, The Savant of Chelsea and Someone Like You. https://www.facebook.com/suzannejenki... Twitter @suzannejenkins3
Another new cosy mystery series I have come across, this one ended up surprising me with how enjoyable it was. I'll admit I "judged a book by it's cover" so I was fully expecting to throw it on the "not interested" pile after a few pages, but lo and behold, before I knew it I was on the last page! A surprisingly quick read with wonderful characters that I'm sure will become more fully fleshed as the series goes on. The descriptions of the Greek food had me drooling and Greektown reminded me of my youth spent in cosmopolitan Melbourne.
A lot of action and investigation is packed into this novella. A seemingly clairvoyant Greek detective and her gay Asian partner investigate the death of a young lady found on the street in Detroit. An ingenious set of detectives run through the evidence and false leads to a satisfying conclusion. If this novella is any indication, the Greektown Stories must be a brilliant series!
I received this novella from the author and (likely) Bookfunnel.com in return for a fair and honest review.
As with all books that I have received as of late in return for an honest review, I have taken to reading these books with a critical eye with the hope that any critical review that I provide might enable the author the opportunity to examine and make any necessary corrections to allow them to put out a better product.
That being said, I found this novella to be well written with few errors (the only one that I found was a duplicated word in chapter 7 page 3), which was really minor and does not effect the reading of the story.
On a whole, I would rate this story a solid nly my five four stars on a five point scale.
Called to the discovery of a dead body dumped in a residential area, Jill and Albert must fit clues together that really don't want to combine.
As a cosy, there is a fair amount of things that fall outside the usual borders. So, to start with the warnings: swearing, (offscreen) sexual activity and a slightly unnerving undercurrent of inappropriate relationships (unnerving due mostly to the age of one of the participants). There were some technical difficulties, too, that could have been cleared with stronger editing - the most notable, a character being called by the wrong name. (That caused a bit of back-paging, let me tell you!)
I did, however, love the characters of the detectives. They had a great working relationship and weren't stereotypical cops. The main character, Jill Zannos, is well-rounded and her background was incredibly detailed. And all the greek food made me ravenous!
Detroit Homicide Detective Jill Zanos and her partner, Detective Albert Wong, are called to the scene where a young woman is found dead, shot in the head at close ring. As they investigate, the suspects keep piling up, each shown to be at the scene around the time of the murder, and each with a motive, but how do they separate the wheat from the chaff, and nab the true murderer? One way, a rather unorthodox one at that, is Jill’s ‘gift’ bestowed upon her by her mystic Greek grandmother, and as they work methodically through the case, her ‘gift’ keeps pulling her in different directions.
The Donut Shop Murder by Suzanne Jenkins is a short read, but, man oh man, is it riveting. False trail after false trail, clues sprinkled like Hansel and Gretel’s bread crumbs lead them up one false trail and down another, until, BINGO, Jill figures it out. Even she is unsure just how her gift works, and believe me, you’ll be surprised at the conclusion.
This one is one of the best one-hour reads I’ve encountered so far this year, and I recommend it highly for all mystery fans. An easy one to give five stars to.
The Donut Shop Murder: A Greektown Story By Suzanne Jenkins
Review By Larry Sells Suzanne Jenkins wrote a sweet tasting book in The Donut Shop Murder. A love triangle which turned deadly with the murder occurring in the parking lot of a donut shop. Jill’s father own Gus’s Greek Grocery where the detectives get most of their sweets not the New Delhi Donut Shop, a contrast of where police office rumored to get their donuts and coffee. The person who murdered Allison broke ring finger to remove a ring. I will not reveal the murderer to you but will talk about the type a person is to broke the ring finger removing a ring. They have to be desperate, angry, have no regard about others, and sometimes see themselves as a victim, so they lash out with violence all at once. I cared for the characters, and they stayed within their limits. I can see each character doing each specific act. Suzanne wrote a great mystery and told a great story. I recommend it.
When I got a newsletter from instafreebie.com with some free ebooks in the murder mystery genre, I first encountered this book. I thought it sounded very cute: The Donut Shop Murder. Luckily, the story was anything but cute. There was betrayal, forbidden love and of course ... a bloody murder. Because this book was only 95 pages long, my review on it won't be very long either. Overall I just really liked reading this book: I could feel a connection to the main characters (in only 95 pages!), I didn't know who'd done it until the detectives knew it as well, and I definitely feel like reading more about the Greek Jill Zannos and her murder cases!
This is definitely a cozy mystery. No passion, no violence, no real people, or at least none that stand out. I was actually enjoying it though, until the MC had an epiphany and solved the case without giving the reader a clue that the ending was even coming. The way the evidence kept being repeated, I was sure this novella was going to last me all night. I'm not daft, and I'm sure most readers of mystery stories are also not daft. Tell the reader once and keep it moving forward. We don't need the details repeated over and over. It could also use a little suspense to keep things interesting. I never felt any emotions during the entire story. It just fell flat.
Not sure what I think of this murder mystery from this author. I have read her other books and loved them but this one I just couldn't connect with the characters. The mystery has enough twist and turns to keep you wondering but it became quite repetitive giving the same details over and over and then it felt rushed at the end. Like I mentioned the story is good but I wish she had put a little more depth into the story and the ending instead. This wasn't one of my favorites from this author but it's a good read and will definitely keep you wondering until the end.
I was introduced Ms. Jenkins' writing through her awesome dystopian young-adult series, Memory of the Color Yellow: Boxed Set Short Stories 1-5. Here in her Detroit Detective Stories (which I'm reading out of order, by the way), Jenkins introduces me to Greek-American Detroit police detective Jill, slightly workaholic but interesting nonetheless. The donut shop murder plot is an engaging one, involving infidelity, high school teachers, lawyers, and donut shop drive-thrus. Adultery seems to be a common theme in Jenkins' works, and it makes for interesting reading.
A thoroughly well written crime book with a great plot, it couldn’t have been better. I particularly enjoyed the two main detective characters their personalities and characters added a lot to the story. The plot is fantastic, I couldn’t work out who had done what, very well crafted. With no bad language or sex scenes this is a book all can enjoy. Highly recommend it.
Here it is 4:00a.m. On a Friday morning and I'm wired! What a ride! This book had me hooked from page one. It's a mystery, a cheating husband, a half crazed wife, a livestock young man, a smutty mistress, what more could you want? Plenty of twists, red herrings, and misdirections to keep you interested. A truly fun read! Suzanne Jenkins certainly knows how spin a web! Bravo!!!
i think this is the first read by from Suzanne ... i gotta check to be sure. i found this ... an author, totally don't recall the authors name? i know terrible ...there was a mystery fill up your kindle with free reads ...this was one. i enjoyed the read. twists and turns. novella short. i will read more from Suzanne soon. check this one out!!
I don't remember where I received this book but this is my voluntary honest review. Thank you! I really like this author's writing! Murder! Look for the shuttle clues to solve this murder. This was a quick read! Very enjoyable! A well written, action packed, well thought out short read (only 95 pages). This was a well spent hour if my time! Read this clean cozy mystery and enjoy!
this really was a good cozy mystery which I got for free on instantfreebe. The characters were interesting and well written. I didn't have a clue who did it kept going back and forth but the real killer came out in the end and was a surprise. I look forward to reading more from this author.
This was a nice "cozy" mystery although there were some portions that I could have done without. I hadn't read any of Suzanne Jenkins books but would liken this book to a Joanne Fluke book but no recipes. I am going to look for more books by this author.
This was a fun crime mystery novella. The characters are likable and the plot has some good twists. Suzanne Jenkins kept me guessing until the end. I liked the vignettes with Jill’s Greek family. You can’t go wrong with murder, suspense, and betrayal!
Lots of suspects in this whodunit. Lots of motives. Lots of sleazy people. It's almost like a serious Keystone Kops episode. But it eventually gets solved as the pieces come together. Enjoyable to read.
Great procedural. Great crime story. Awesome characters. Tale is one to be told. Whodunit is awesome. Wanna a a detective? Read this to see if you're smart enough to be one. And lots more books to go......
This is a good murder mystery that keeps you guessing about the killer until the very end. Some of the evidence, however, seems to be incredibly simple clues which are designed to point the reader to a particular suspect, as a diversion from the real criminal.
This is a great murder mystery. All of the characters are great as well as the dialogue. With twists and turns as different perpetrators are identified the story runs to a shattering conclusion as the killer is identified and arrested. Well worth the short time to read.
Nice (cosy) murder mystery with detectives who are not suffering from angst, drinking problems or other personality flaws. Nicely twisted plot with lots of potential suspects.