Kerry Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman series
I’m eagerly awaiting my turn to read Trick or Treat, Kerry Greenwood’s latest Corinna Chapman offering, as each new book in this series has been better than its predecessor.
Corinna the sleuth is a radical departure from the Phryne Fisher mould, possessing few of the qualities that made Phryne so enticing, although she is an equally likeable heroine.
Corinna is a large lady, completely clueless about fashion and makeup, who has to rely on her friend Meroe the white witch if ever she needs a spot of fashion advice. There are no strings of young men at Corinna’s beck and call, nor is she independently wealthy. In between solving crimes, Corinna works for her living – she is an accountant who chucked it all in to open the Earthly Delights bakery.
Corinna also inhabits the 21st Century, as exemplified by her talented assistant baker Jason (ex-junkie and maker of heavenly muffins) and her ditsy anorexic shop assistants, Kylie and Gossamer (of the ever-changing hair colour and bejewelled navel piercings).
The main backdrop to this series is the stunning rococo city building where Corinna and an ever expanding cast of other unusual characters live and work. These include the aforementioned Meroe, who runs a tiny witchcraft shop selling herbs and potions, Trudi the gardening expert, Jon and his highly decorative boyfriend Kepler, Pat (aka Mistress Dread the bondage mistress), computer nerds Taz, Rat and Gully (aka the Lone Gunmen), the erudite Professor Monk and the numerous and generous Pandamus family. There is also Corinna’s love interest, the gorgeous and mysterious Daniel Cohen, who works on the midnight Soup Run ministering to Melbourne’s junkies and homeless.
An assortment of wonderful cats also features, including scruffy Rodent Control Officers Heckle and Jekyll who earn their keep amongst the flour sacks; patrician Horatio lounging on the bakery counter all day; Belladonna, Meroe’s jet-black familiar, and one of the more recent additions – an extremely naughty and quite delightful kitten by the name of Lucifer.
The Series
Earthly Delights
Heavenly Pleasures
Devil’s Food
Trick or Treat
The Booksnob's Blog 
I’ve finished Trick or Treat this week and I’m devotedly chewing through Earthly Delights. I’m deeply impressed with the characer of Corinna Chapman and the books are a special delight to a Melbournite.
I just finished Earthly Delights which I loved–it was laugh out loud funny in spots.
Went looking for more books in this series and found 4, all with copyright dates in the 2000s. The book I checked out of the library is copyrighted 1992. I haven’t found that date anywhere else on the web.
I’m hoping that doesn’t mean I’m just reading reprints and that this is actually a “dead” series. I like Corinna much better than Phryne…