What do you think?
Rate this book
Donut Hole Mystery #17
M&M Surprise Murder
When Heather Shepherd discovers that a popular judge at Hillside’s Archery competition has been murdered, she’s alarmed.
Heather soon finds out that the competition will be cancelled if the murderer isn’t brought to justice – and that means Jung won’t get his shot at winning. Heather must use that arrow-sharp wit and investigative skill to solve the crime, with the aid of her besties far and wide. Equipped with her desire to find the truth, Heather hurries to interview the grief-stricken widow. But, as ever, things aren’t as clear as they could be: Geoff Lawless has taken to investigating in his spare time, there’s a long list of suspects and the construction at Donut Delights has everyone reeling to catch up on orders.
Heather has to choose her leads wisely, or she'll risk losing more than just her integrity while she juggles the demand for her newest creation, M&M Surprise Donuts.
Heather soon finds out that the competition will be cancelled if the murderer isn’t brought to justice – and that means Jung won’t get his shot at winning. Heather must use that arrow-sharp wit and investigative skill to solve the crime, with the aid of her besties far and wide. Equipped with her desire to find the truth, Heather hurries to interview the grief-stricken widow. But, as ever, things aren’t as clear as they could be: Geoff Lawless has taken to investigating in his spare time, there’s a long list of suspects and the construction at Donut Delights has everyone reeling to catch up on orders.
Heather has to choose her leads wisely, or she'll risk losing more than just her integrity while she juggles the demand for her newest creation, M&M Surprise Donuts.
- GenresMysteryCozy Mystery
240 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 23, 2016
31 people are currently reading
158 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 18, 2018
Because her employee and friend Jung is in the competition, Heather Shepherd is in the stands for the annual Hillside Archery competition. Unfortunately, the event is halted before it even starts. One of the judges is dead, an arrow through his heart. Who wanted Kyle Henson dead? Heather jumps into investigating the case, but it turns out there are a lot of reasons someone might have wanted Kyle dead. A ruined sports career. Messy divorce. Old jealousies. Heather is determined to help her police detective husband solve the case, as usual.
M&M Surprise Murder is the 17th book in the Donut Hole Mystery series. The stories are light cozy mysteries of novella length. Fun, quick reads! I like the doughnut shop theme. Heather is a strong, intelligent main character. The supporting characters are quirky and fun, making for an enjoyable, entertaining reading experience. Heather's nemesis, Geoff Lawless, is definitely the comic relief in these stories. This time he even puts a doughnut on his nose. Total weirdo. But you know, I find myself really liking the character. Strange, loner wackadoo who tries so hard to steal Heather's doughnut recipes but can't seem to manage it. I start each book looking forward to whatever crazy thing Geoff is going to do. The doughnut on the nose moment in this book made me laugh out loud. I could picture the chunky, bearded weirdo putting his schnoz through a doughnut hole. Why not? He's done stranger things (like dumpster diving for doughnuts)!
There are usually more than a few typos and grammar mistakes in these books....but I can overlook that. The errors are minor ones, not glaring problematic mistakes or huge plot holes.
For cozy mystery fans, this series is perfect for times when you need a short, enjoyable light mystery to read -- car trips, waiting for appointments, at the beach, during train or airplane trips, etc.
The only problem I have with this series is that it always leaves me with a severe doughnut craving!
The Donut Hole Mystery Series has 60 novella length books. There is also a spin-off series, The Oceanside Mysteries, with 22 books. I have a lot of reading to do!
M&M Surprise Murder is the 17th book in the Donut Hole Mystery series. The stories are light cozy mysteries of novella length. Fun, quick reads! I like the doughnut shop theme. Heather is a strong, intelligent main character. The supporting characters are quirky and fun, making for an enjoyable, entertaining reading experience. Heather's nemesis, Geoff Lawless, is definitely the comic relief in these stories. This time he even puts a doughnut on his nose. Total weirdo. But you know, I find myself really liking the character. Strange, loner wackadoo who tries so hard to steal Heather's doughnut recipes but can't seem to manage it. I start each book looking forward to whatever crazy thing Geoff is going to do. The doughnut on the nose moment in this book made me laugh out loud. I could picture the chunky, bearded weirdo putting his schnoz through a doughnut hole. Why not? He's done stranger things (like dumpster diving for doughnuts)!
There are usually more than a few typos and grammar mistakes in these books....but I can overlook that. The errors are minor ones, not glaring problematic mistakes or huge plot holes.
For cozy mystery fans, this series is perfect for times when you need a short, enjoyable light mystery to read -- car trips, waiting for appointments, at the beach, during train or airplane trips, etc.
The only problem I have with this series is that it always leaves me with a severe doughnut craving!
The Donut Hole Mystery Series has 60 novella length books. There is also a spin-off series, The Oceanside Mysteries, with 22 books. I have a lot of reading to do!
September 11, 2016
M&M Surprise Murder is the 17th installment in Susan Gillard’s Donut Hole Cozy Mystery series and is a quick and easy read. Donut Delights is undergoing expansion renovations and is closed to the public because of the noise, but they are still filling on-line orders and selling donuts at an archery competition at the local high school where Jung, one of Heather’s employees, is competing. Before the competition can begin, a co-judge, Kyle Henson, is found in the locker room with an arrow through his heart. Since Heather hasn’t taken the final exam for her private investigator license, she can’t officially help with the investigation, but her husband, Detective Ryan Shepherd, asks for her “off-the-record” help and she promises to be discreet.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
September 25, 2016
I thought this book was okay and talked a little bit about the donuts. I just had a hard time reading it because the mystery really wasn't that interesting but I thought the book was unnecessarily longer than it needed to be. Also there were a ton of grammatical errors in this book and confuse me a little bit because names were put in the wrong spot. Overall it was just an okay book. But I didn't like reading was the fact that an adult was bullying a child and I'm not sure why that was even written in the book or what Susan was thinking when she added it to the book because it didn't really impact the story in any way. It was almost kind of a pointless addition to the book. But I will continue to keep reading and writing my reviews.
August 31, 2016
M&M Surprise Murder is the 17th book in the Donut Hole Cozy Mystery series.
In this book, Donut Delights is closed to the public due to construction next door, however, the shop staff is keeping busy by filling online orders. We learn about an archery competition, but one of the judges of the competition has been killed. Heather investigates.
This is a quick and enjoyable read and I like the small town setting, as well as the quick pace of these books!
I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for my honest review.
In this book, Donut Delights is closed to the public due to construction next door, however, the shop staff is keeping busy by filling online orders. We learn about an archery competition, but one of the judges of the competition has been killed. Heather investigates.
This is a quick and enjoyable read and I like the small town setting, as well as the quick pace of these books!
I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for my honest review.
June 7, 2017
This is the most detective-y book to date. We get to see Heather not have to worry about the store and looking into the murder. If the books turn more into a detective who happens to own a doughnut store then I would really like it. This book is my favourite in this series, currently. The murder weapon in this story was very interesting, though it makes sens that there is an archery competition going on, using a bow and arrow is an interesting choice.
Heather's workers are not really in the forefront of this book, well accept for Jung. I enjoyed seeing Heather outside of the shop, which also lets the world grow bigger. I am starting to have high hopes for the continuation of this series.
Heather's workers are not really in the forefront of this book, well accept for Jung. I enjoyed seeing Heather outside of the shop, which also lets the world grow bigger. I am starting to have high hopes for the continuation of this series.
December 9, 2017
Again a fun reading cozy mystery about Heather and friends. When I am almost finished with a book from Susan Gillard I slightly panic until I have the next in the series available. Can't stop reading them.
February 28, 2018
Another good entry for this series. Looking forward to #18.
May 6, 2019
Fabulous!!
This is one of my favorite mysteries so far. I loved Heather in this one. the mystery had some great twists and the ending was incredible. 😊
This is one of my favorite mysteries so far. I loved Heather in this one. the mystery had some great twists and the ending was incredible. 😊
August 27, 2016
Everyone was having a good time at the Hillside Archery Competition waiting for Heather Shepherd’s friend Jung to show the judges how good he was at the sport and just might possibly win. But the judges weren’t on the field yet and people were wondering what the hold up was.
Heather suddenly sees her husband, Detective Ryan Shepherd, appear on the field and she knew that this meant that a major problem was in the making. And it was a major problem. One of the judges, Kyle Henson, was found murdered, found in the locker room with a carbon arrow in his heart. The killer was obviously an archer but who?
At first Heather was afraid that her friend Jung might be accused because he was falsely accused of a previous murder but there’s no way he killed the judge. Luckily Jung isn’t a suspect because luckily he was at Heather’s bakery, Donut Delights, when the murder occurred.
Heather now plans to take off her baker’s hat and exchange it for her investigator’s hat and find out who murdered the judge and ruined the competition for everyone.
There is long list of suspects including the dead judge’s wife who he was cheating on and rumor has it that she was cheating on him too. Or it could be the one of the competitors who was the favorite to win the contest and was trained by the judge years earlier. Or it might even be that suspicious looking man that Heather keeps seeing who drives a white Ford Fiesta.
The murderer could be anyone and it isn’t going to be easy for Heather to investigate. Her bakery is being expanded and the construction noise is deafening, she has a ton of online orders she and her crew have to get out, and her Private Investigator's test is coming up in a week and she wants to study more so she can pass it.
But nothing is going to stop her from finding out who killed the judge and why.
“M&M Surprise Murder” by Susan Gillard is the 17th in her Donut Hole Cozy Mystery series and it’s just as cute as the previous 16 books. Ms. Gillard’s novels all seem to take place within a couple of weeks of each other which means there’s a lot of murder going on in the book’s venue of Hillside, Texas but there’s also a whole lot of donut making too. I’m a real fan of the donut making part.
I do enjoy this long series. Since there are so many and come at a steady pace readers don’t have to try and remember who’s who and what’s what and I like that. These books are like one continuous story.
The characters are friendly and even though the plot lines are like a formula, the formula works. Someone is killed in Hillside, Texas as Heather and her baking crew are creating a new delicious donut; Heather is asked to investigate even though fans know she’ll investigate if she’s asked or not; and her husband, police Detective Ryan Shepherd, will tell her not to investigate even though he wants her help. The stories are simplistic which is not a bad thing at all. I like going into a new book in this series knowing that I’ll be very familiar with all the characters and the area and expecting nothing more than a cute who-dunnit. You don’t always have to read some heavy serious novel, it’s okay to find a lot of fun, easy reading in a book. As far as I’m concerned I read for enjoyment and to take me to someplace outside of my real life.
Reading for enjoyment is exactly what this cozy series is for. Start with the first book in the series so you can see how the characters develop. Reading should be fun and the Donut Hole Cozy Mystery books are a whole lot of fun.
Heather suddenly sees her husband, Detective Ryan Shepherd, appear on the field and she knew that this meant that a major problem was in the making. And it was a major problem. One of the judges, Kyle Henson, was found murdered, found in the locker room with a carbon arrow in his heart. The killer was obviously an archer but who?
At first Heather was afraid that her friend Jung might be accused because he was falsely accused of a previous murder but there’s no way he killed the judge. Luckily Jung isn’t a suspect because luckily he was at Heather’s bakery, Donut Delights, when the murder occurred.
Heather now plans to take off her baker’s hat and exchange it for her investigator’s hat and find out who murdered the judge and ruined the competition for everyone.
There is long list of suspects including the dead judge’s wife who he was cheating on and rumor has it that she was cheating on him too. Or it could be the one of the competitors who was the favorite to win the contest and was trained by the judge years earlier. Or it might even be that suspicious looking man that Heather keeps seeing who drives a white Ford Fiesta.
The murderer could be anyone and it isn’t going to be easy for Heather to investigate. Her bakery is being expanded and the construction noise is deafening, she has a ton of online orders she and her crew have to get out, and her Private Investigator's test is coming up in a week and she wants to study more so she can pass it.
But nothing is going to stop her from finding out who killed the judge and why.
“M&M Surprise Murder” by Susan Gillard is the 17th in her Donut Hole Cozy Mystery series and it’s just as cute as the previous 16 books. Ms. Gillard’s novels all seem to take place within a couple of weeks of each other which means there’s a lot of murder going on in the book’s venue of Hillside, Texas but there’s also a whole lot of donut making too. I’m a real fan of the donut making part.
I do enjoy this long series. Since there are so many and come at a steady pace readers don’t have to try and remember who’s who and what’s what and I like that. These books are like one continuous story.
The characters are friendly and even though the plot lines are like a formula, the formula works. Someone is killed in Hillside, Texas as Heather and her baking crew are creating a new delicious donut; Heather is asked to investigate even though fans know she’ll investigate if she’s asked or not; and her husband, police Detective Ryan Shepherd, will tell her not to investigate even though he wants her help. The stories are simplistic which is not a bad thing at all. I like going into a new book in this series knowing that I’ll be very familiar with all the characters and the area and expecting nothing more than a cute who-dunnit. You don’t always have to read some heavy serious novel, it’s okay to find a lot of fun, easy reading in a book. As far as I’m concerned I read for enjoyment and to take me to someplace outside of my real life.
Reading for enjoyment is exactly what this cozy series is for. Start with the first book in the series so you can see how the characters develop. Reading should be fun and the Donut Hole Cozy Mystery books are a whole lot of fun.
Read
August 31, 2016With Donut Delights undergoing construction, Heather has closed the shop to customers but is still busy filling special and online orders. Her employee,Jung, is competing in a local archery competition but before it can even begin, murder once again rocks Hillside. Heather is only one week and one exam away from getting her investigator's license and Ryan asks her to investigate, discreetly. With not much evidence to go on and a long list of suspects, Heather has her hands full. I love her relationship with her bestie, Amy and her growing relationship with the young Lily. The only thing I don't understand is how they all can't be 200 pounds with the amount of donuts they eat. LOL! Another great book in the series!
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
September 2, 2016
Construction next door has closed Donut Delight with
exception of their online order.
Jung is competing in an archery contest. Heather and her
crew are selling special M&M donuts before the
competition.
But wait…..the competition is being postponed.
Why, you ask ??? One of the judges is found DEAD!!!!
Heather Shepherd ,owner of the donut shop also dabbles
As an amateur detective. Heather’s husband is a police
officer.
Heather with her best friend, Amy and Heather’s dog,
Dave set out to search for clues to help solve the judges
murder.
Very interesting, colorful characters along with a puzzling
plot containing plenty of twists and turns make for an
delicious adventure.
This is book # 17 in the Donut Hole Cozy Mysteries.
It can be read as a stand alone.
Thank you to the author for this eBook. My opinion is
my own.
exception of their online order.
Jung is competing in an archery contest. Heather and her
crew are selling special M&M donuts before the
competition.
But wait…..the competition is being postponed.
Why, you ask ??? One of the judges is found DEAD!!!!
Heather Shepherd ,owner of the donut shop also dabbles
As an amateur detective. Heather’s husband is a police
officer.
Heather with her best friend, Amy and Heather’s dog,
Dave set out to search for clues to help solve the judges
murder.
Very interesting, colorful characters along with a puzzling
plot containing plenty of twists and turns make for an
delicious adventure.
This is book # 17 in the Donut Hole Cozy Mysteries.
It can be read as a stand alone.
Thank you to the author for this eBook. My opinion is
my own.
August 25, 2016
M and M Crunch Donuts Yum!!!
Heathers donut shop is expanding so the shop is closed to customers. But the Donut crew is still baking up a storm to fulfill on-line orders and Heather is busy helping Ryan solve the most recent murder in Hillside. An archery contest is being held in Hillside and some of the competitors have a history with one another and not all the history is good. Heather has to interview some very uncooperative suspects but ultimately she has the killer in her sights. Only one question remains, how do these people eat donuts and drink milkshakes all day without gaining weight?
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Heathers donut shop is expanding so the shop is closed to customers. But the Donut crew is still baking up a storm to fulfill on-line orders and Heather is busy helping Ryan solve the most recent murder in Hillside. An archery contest is being held in Hillside and some of the competitors have a history with one another and not all the history is good. Heather has to interview some very uncooperative suspects but ultimately she has the killer in her sights. Only one question remains, how do these people eat donuts and drink milkshakes all day without gaining weight?
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
September 14, 2016
Heather and Ryan are trying to find out who murdered one of the judges at an archery contest. One of her bakers is entered in the contest and so disappointed that they halt the contest until find killer. She ends up going back to things that happened 8 years ago, looking for answers. Ryan with Heather's help finds some of the answers but it is Heather who finally out who did it. These are quick, fast fun reads.
August 26, 2016
With Heather's shop is closed to customers but she is still busy filling online orders. Jung, Heather's employee is in an archery competition is and a judge is killed. Before Jung is accused Heather and Amy are bound and determined to find the killer. The donuts always make me hungry and I wish recipes were included but then I don't think I could make them like Heather and the gang.
August 25, 2016
Even though Heathers shop is closed as construction is going on to expand it, she is still busy filling on line orders. And another new donut, one with M&M's! My mouth was wanting one.
An archery competition is taking place and Heather is at Hillside to watch Jung. Another death has occurred and Heather is back to doing what she does best...sleuthing with her bestie Amy at her side.
An archery competition is taking place and Heather is at Hillside to watch Jung. Another death has occurred and Heather is back to doing what she does best...sleuthing with her bestie Amy at her side.
October 15, 2016
Heather learns the danger to be had when arrows are involved.
The mysteries run wild when a archery contest turns deadly. Heather is almost finished with her investigation classes but the one case that can stop her is now here. Will she find the killer in time? I am enjoying the whole series so I was ex tied to read this.
The mysteries run wild when a archery contest turns deadly. Heather is almost finished with her investigation classes but the one case that can stop her is now here. Will she find the killer in time? I am enjoying the whole series so I was ex tied to read this.
November 21, 2016
The editing of this book is so bad it made it difficult to read. The story was not bad, but I could tell right away who the murderer was. The dog being named David confused me into thinking he was a person at times, and there were a lot of characters thrown in that didn't seem necessary to the storyline.
August 26, 2016
Heather and Ryan are at it again!!! Solving murders and eating donuts. M&M Surprise Murder was AWESOME!!!! Intriguing from start to finish. Mouthwatering too- Susan Gillard really needs to incorporate some of her donut recipes.
July 15, 2020
I love this series and especially the characters. However this specific book was a little predictable
April 1, 2017
A winner again!
Again Heather and the donut gang solve another wacky mystery...... cheers Susan! I'm already looking for the next book.
Again Heather and the donut gang solve another wacky mystery...... cheers Susan! I'm already looking for the next book.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews