The Donut Shop Mysteries by Jessica Beck!
This past week I made a startling discovery: I am THISCLOSE to running out of precious real estate on my bookshelf. Translation? I’m going to have to figure out, in Sheldon Cooper’s words, “a new organizational paradigm” or stop buying books.
Yeah, that’s not an option. New organizational paradigm it is.
I know this won’t be easy but there’s just no other way around this snafu. I love books too much to stop buying them. I just bought 5 Nancy Drews yesterday from a used book sale to add to my collection for goodness sake. And I know off the top of my head there will be 3 new books coming out this year for a few of my favourite series. Not to mention there are plenty of books that I haven’t gotten around to buying yet (and series that I haven’t even gotten around to reading/starting/collecting yet, like the Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle or the Orchard Mysteries by Sheila Connolly) because I believe in pacing myself. So before anyone says, “oh, well, that’s easy, just get a kindle/kobo/e-reader/whatever other tablet device that’s available out there and you won’t run out of space” I should warn you that if you dare to utter anything even remotely close to that sentence I will chase you down with a wooden spoon. I don’t do e-readers. End of story.
So, how did this mini bout of panic over bookshelf space come about in the first place? After posting the recipe for the Twin Chocolate Delights cookies from Joanne Fluke’s Blueberry Muffin Murder last Friday and tweeting about the first book of the series being made into a tv movie (I was so excited that I squealed after finding out about this), I received a very enthusiastic response from friends who were really intrigued by the foodie murder mystery genre. Being the aficionado that I am, I started yammering about how much I loved the series and mentioned how I read and followed a number of other foodie murder mystery series. Well, that just opened up a can of worms: “There are other series?!” and “Wait, this [genre] is a thing?!” I haven’t posted about my love for the foodie murder mystery genre in a long time so it’s understandable folks may not have seen those posts. So I took inventory of my growing collection and took brand new photos to show you all. And that is when I realized I really needed to reevaluate things! I am queen of organization and squish though so I have no doubt I’ll come up with a solution to remedy the situation.
Here is my book collection in all its glory and may new ones find a comfy space on my bookshelf in my soon-to-be new “organizational paradigm”.
I love the Donut Shop Mysteries by Jessica Beck but unfortunately, my collection has to stop at 9 because if I’m not mistaken, the series went exclusively digital from the 10th book onward and are now only published as e-books. This makes me sad, sigh. Anyway, below you will see:
- the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries by Jenn McKinlay
- the Cookie Cutter Shop Mysteries by Virginia Lowell
- the Ice Cream Shop/Mystery a La Mode Mysteries by Wendy Lyn Watson
- the Magical Bakery Mysteries by Bailey Cates
- the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries by Victoria Hamilton
- the Fresh Baked Mysteries by Livia J. Washburn
- the Pizza Shop/Lovers Mysteries by Chris Cavender
- the Lucy Stone Mysteries by Leslie Meier (the series isn’t a foodie one but there are a number that are food-themed, like this one!)
- and while the Icing on the Cupcake and the Christmas Cookie Club aren’t mysteries, they are food-themed and they are wonderful novels that I adore to itty bitty pieces and I highly recommend both if you love food as much as I do.
- And finally, my beloved Hannah Swensen Mysteries collection by Joanne Fluke! This is, hands down, my favourite foodie murder mystery series and one of my all-time favourite book series in general which is saying a lot because I am a die-hard Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley, and Nancy Drew fan! I love these books like crazy and I get so excited every time a new one is released. I am waiting with baited breath for the latest one, Blackberry Pie Murder, to be released in paperback at the end of the month and for the newest one in the series, Double Fudge Brownie Murder, to come out next month in February!
Ate by Ate 