Corinna Chapman mysteries

I've been delving into my 'I'll read it one day, I promise' list that's either shelved or scattered about the house looking reproachfully new with uncreased spines and a '3 for 2' sticker. Well, some are even older than that long-running and now defunct promotion. However, I've since been speed-reading as I've found an author I really enjoy. Kerry Greenwood, an Australian author, writes mysteries with an emphasis on the muddles of human behavior without the blood lust found in far too much contemporary crime. I also like the geekery with nods to Buffy, Babylon 5 and every sci-fi show in between. I think only Firefly is missing, though someone's bound to comment that 'shiny' has most certainly been used  now.

Heavenly Pleasures was a welcome birthday present last year and I've spent the last fortnight reading every Corinna Chapman mystery that the wonderful Kerry Greenwood has published. Friends from Australia and New Zealand had said all kinds of positive things about her novels and I can only say that I wish I'd discovered them sooner. For those who haven't had the treat of a Corinna novel, these are set in present-day Melbourne. Corinna's a baker and lives in a 1920s block of astonishing elegance and comfort with three cats and a live-out private detective lover. I may well have read them all, gorged on them all, even. However, she covers human and feline behaviour with perfect understanding. I've also been influenced by Corinna to read them while sipping a gin and tonic. This does, of course, mean that I'll read them again in a little while for detail. That's the kind of re-reading I really enjoy.

Kerry Greenwood is published by Allen and Unwin and Poisoned Pen Press, so her books are widely available online and not in many English bookshops. US Kindle owners were given a treat when Earthly Delights was the free dowload on 14 February.