Doughnuts and Deception

Doughnuts and Deception is the third Peridale Cafe cozy mystery by Agatha Frost. Julia South did not go looking for another murder, but when she learns that homeless people sheltering in a burnt-out warehouse are dying in suspicious circumstances — and that the police have not treated the deaths as worth investigating — she cannot let it go.

Her young lodger Jessie has ties to that community, and Julia's promise to her is what drives the case forward. Aided, and occasionally obstructed, by her Detective Inspector boyfriend Barker Brown, Julia works to prove that someone is preying on the village's most vulnerable residents before another body turns up.

The series formula holds: a Cotswolds village, a cafe at its centre, cake described in loving detail, and a murder investigated by a woman nobody in authority takes seriously. The subject matter is darker than in the first two books, but the treatment stays cozy.