Australia, small-business, friendship, family-dynamics, cosy-mystery

The publisher's blurb is pretty good, but I really love the characters, especially those who live at Insula! It's what the characters say and do that make the books, plots are always important but if the characters don't worm their way into you it's just another read. Each book in the series can stand alone, but you miss some really great laughs. Reading in order is not really necessary. ( )

Great book from one of my favorite authors. Probably not suitable if you are religious but I enjoy how irreverent she is! ( )

This a very good book to read at this time of year when the arctic wind makes you forget that you were ever warm. it takes place in Australia during December and the Christmas season. There the north wind is described as dragon's breath because it is so hot and the denizen's of Melbourne search for icy air conditioning to ease their holiday shopping woes. As always Greenwood takes you below the surface into more sinister environs where danger lurks for the unwary. ( )

Although branded crime fiction it’s stretching the bounds of the genre’s definition to call it that. There’s not a dead body in sight and until the last few pages there’s not even a hint that a single crime has been committed. The fifth book in Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman series sees her boyfriend Daniel, a private investigator, trying to trace the whereabouts of two teenage runaways. The girl, Brigid, is heavily pregnant. Of course Corinna becomes involved in the search in between running her successful bakery, fending off a troupe of carol-singing vegans who are opposed to all the companion animals that share the apartment block where most of the book’s characters live and dealing with a donkey addicted to her rose-syrup flavoured muffins.

Given that there’s no real crime or detecting going on and given that much of the action is of the incidental, non-plot developing kind I can appreciate this reviewer’s disappointed response to the book. However I like this series. I enjoy the odd assortment of characters and the way the series celebrates a whole range of lifestyles and doesn’t just feature the traditional families and loner alcoholics that populate much of crime fiction. In lots of ways it reflects my own real world environment and I appreciate dipping into the lives of these people every now and again. Even so, I don’t think this is the best example of the series given that its plot is so weak in comparison to the other books in the series. (I’ve rated it a 3 out 5).

For Christmas-y ness though the book has some unique things to offer. Being set in Melbourne, Australia the book really does a great job of depicting a Southern Hemisphere Christmas where often scorching heat replaces chilly snow. I don’t think Northern Hemisphere dwellers (except perhaps native Californians) really appreciate how tedious all the frosty snowmen and dreaming of white Christmases can be when it’s often hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement on Christmas morning. And Corinna, who hates the trappings of Christmas but can get into the spirit of things when pressed, depicts a fairly realistic attitude to the season. The ending of the book, with its nativity references abounding, is a bit too cheesy even for me but overall I still enjoyed catching up with Corinna and her good-hearted friends once again. ( )

Forbidden Fruit is Kerry Greenwood’s fifth novel in the Corinna Chapman series, and features all our favourite characters from the Earthly Delights bakery and Insula, plus a few new ones. Corinna is suffering the December heat and dreading the Christmas chaos; the delectable Daniel is on the hunt for a pair of teenage runaways, the girl heavily pregnant; Jason is on a quest for the perfect glacé cherry, falls in love with a blonde and becomes the temporary carer of a large Dutch rabbit; resident witch Meroe threatens to curse a few offensive characters; Horatio performs with his usual feline grace and Heckle of the Mouse Police performs a manoeuvre that makes his a starring role; also featured are the Freegans (living on free food and accommodation as they can), the carolling choristers incorporating a few animal libbers, a sect of fanatical “Christians”, some gypsies and a rosewater-addicted donkey. A few charming Christmas analogies appear. Mouth-watering muffins and cakes abound; one can almost smell the bread baking. As with all the Corinna novels, this one is a delight to read, will leave the reader feeling good and probably the best so far. Readers will be looking forward to “Cooking the Books” to continue their Corinna fix. ( )