Deputy Donut #7
Emily Westhill is the protagonist of Ginger Bolton’s Cinnamon Twisted, and owner of the Deputy Doughnut shop. Things start off simply enough for Emily, with the only oddity being a customer who is a little off. Then said customer asks to not only give a toy to Emily’s cat, Dep, but to also leave the store through the back. While Emily finds this odd, she chocks it up to the woman’s personal issues and helps her out, little knowing that interaction would turn her world upside-down and sideways.
Through a series of happenstance and goodwill, Emily finds herself going to visit the odd customer at the cabin she is renting, only to find her dead. Luckily her boyfriend Brent Fyne, who also is a member of the local police, is nearby and is able to be first on scene to give her a little bit of comfort over her gruesome discovery. Unluckily, the second on scene is the newly appointed Police Chief Agnew. His demeanor isn’t just unfriendly, it is downright hostile. Not just to Emily, either, but to Brent as well. He does not even let Emily stick around to give her statement, and seems to stand guard at the driveway to ensure she actually leaves.
She attempts to return to her regular life, focusing on the upcoming wedding of a friend of hers from the police force. Not only did Emily work as a police dispatcher, her now deceased husband was also a police officer, so she has a deep connection to most of the staff that works at the department. This is why Chief Agnew is such an affront. She isn’t used to feeling uncomfortable or unwanted at the station, which was once a safe and beloved haven for her. Given his abrupt and gruff demeanor, it does not take long for Chief Agnew to make it clear to her that SHE is a suspect in the murder. Hearing that, Emily sees no choice but to, carefully, dive into her own investigation to try and clear her name.
Brent is sadly sent out of town by Chief Agnew, making things more difficult for Emily both emotionally and as a possible resource inside the station. That does not, however, stop her from bouncing ideas off Brent and working out theories with him. However, any information she comes across, or witnesses she finds, she makes sure to relay to the police either through Brent or one of her other police officer friends. Given her friendly demeanor, many people are more willing to speak to Emily than they were to Chief Agnew, provided he bothered to find and speak to them at all. Emily’s uphill struggle to solve the mystery, while also trying to avoid anything that makes her seem suspicious to Chief Agnew, will have readers unable to put Cinnamon Twisted down as they hurry to see how things are resolved.
Cinnamon Twisted is the seventh book in the series. Ginger Bolton describes the characters and town in enough depth to give readers an understanding of the world, so new readers will enjoy Cinnamon Twisted even if they have not read any of her prior works. However, there are crumbs left throughout the book that hint at things that have happened in prior books that will have readers curious about what Emily was up to prior to Cinnamon Twisted. I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys not only a murder mystery, but layers of mysteries that revolve around historical significance. There are many conversations about the town’s history as well as Emily’s home itself, and plenty of old historical letters. I enjoyed reading Cinnamon Twisted and look forward to Emily’s future adventures. — Carla Schantz
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Carla Schantz is a Courthouse Clerk Supervisor and has a bachelor’s degree in English as well as a master’s in legal studies. Books have been a passion of hers since she was young, and she is a firm believer in the purse book so that she is never without a book at any time.