Heavenly Pleasures: A Corinna Chapman Mystery

Kerry Greenwood
Poisoned Pen Press (2008)
ISBN 9781590584262
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (3/08)


At first glance, you might assume that Corinna Chapman has a boring life.  She is a baker that resides among elderly people.  At second glance though, you learn that she has an assistant that is newly recovering from his heroin addiction.  She also has two anorexic actresses helping out at her shop.  Plus, the people she resides among are eccentric and so are all of their cats.  She also has a sexy Israeli lover named Daniel.  Life is definitely more interesting for Corinna than one would expect. 

Heavenly Pleasures is an incredible chocolate shop located near the bakery.  Two sisters run it.  They are very distressed to report that somebody is tampering with their delightful desserts.  This is hurting their business.  Investigating further into their lives, Corinna learns that an employee has disappeared.  She comes from a very strong cultural background and has fallen in love with an Asian man.  There is also an unscrupulous assistant who seems to know more than he is telling.  Corinna also is suspicious about a mysterious man who has moved into her apartment building.  His presence seems to be putting them all at risk and endangering the cats.  She has a lot on her plate.

“Heavenly Pleasures” is a delightful, laugh-out-loud tale.  I totally enjoyed reading the exploits of Corinna. Her need to get involved, and help solve the mysteries presented, is not always appreciated and puts the people around her in danger.  The relationships that she has with her cats and the people closest to her are heartwarming.  While she is trying to solve the mysteries, she is also learning a great deal about herself.  Her relationship with Daniel provides her with a lot of lessons in learning to trust and in learning to accept her self for how she is.  This is really a fun book to read and the perfect gift for mystery fans, especially if they are cat lovers.  The recipes in the back of “Heavenly Pleasures” put the perfect icing on the cake.  My stomach growled my whole way through the story!

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