Devil's Food (novel)
_(Book_Cover).jpeg) | |
| Author | Kerry Greenwood |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Corinna Chapman |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin |
Publication date | 2006 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 273 |
| Awards | 2007 Davitt Award, Readers Choice, co-winner |
| ISBN | 1741147107 |
| Preceded by | Heavenly Pleasures |
| Followed by | Trick or Treat |
Devil's Food is a 2006 crime novel by Australian author Kerry Greenwood.[1]
It is the third novel in the author's Corinna Chapman series of crime novels, following the author's 2004 novel Earthly Delights, and the 2005 novel Heavenly Pleasures.[2]
It was the co-winner of the Readers Choice Davitt Award in 2007,[3] with Silent Death: The Killing of Julie Ramage by Karen Kissane.
Synopsis
Corinna's hippie mother, Starshine, has suddenly arrived on her doorstep with news that Corinna's father, Sunlight, has run off with all their money to find a younger lover. Meanwhile, someone is poisoning people with herbal teas and a malnourished body has turned up.
Critical reception
In The Age newspaper Simon Caterson found the novel to be only tenuously associated with the crime fiction genre: "Readers who like their crime fiction chatty and relatively free of suspense may well warm to Corinna and we can all enjoy her recipes, an appetising selection of which is included at the back of the novel. On the other hand, fans of the sort of crime fiction that focuses on the evil that men (or women) do may find this approach exasperating. It is all a matter of taste, of course, but I much prefer terse to twee."[4]
Ian Hicks, reviewing the novel for The Sydney Morning Herald agreed: "Indeed, it might fairly be said that if this book were a cake, then the plot would be little more than the icing."[5]
Publication history
After the novel's initial publication in Australia by Allen & Unwin in 2006[1] it was reprinted by Poison Pen Press in the USA in 2009.[6]
Awards
- 2007 Davitt Award Readers Choice, winner[3]
Notes
- Epigraph: He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts...(Magnificat, Luke 1: 51-53)
- Dedication: This book is dedicated to Annette Barlow for her great kindness, gentleness, intelligence and unfailing courtesy.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Devil's Food by Kerry Greenwood (A&U 2006)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ^ "Corinna Chapman series by Kerry Greenwood". Austlit. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ^ a b ""Davitt Award Winners 2001-2025"" (PDF). Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ^ ""Devilishly short on vice"". The Age, 21 January 2006. ProQuest 363801372. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ^ ""Ultra-light craftswoman jabs at heavyweights"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 February 2006. ProQuest 364167933. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ^ a b "Austlit — Devil's Food by Kerry Greenwood". Austlit. Retrieved 29 December 2025.