Cookie Dough or Die

A Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery

By Virginia Lowell

Paperback, 295 pages

Who knew there were shops devoted to selling cookie cutters and that some of these items are worth thousands?

Cookie Cutters? Seriously? Yup. There’s even a National Cookie Cutters Collectors Club with a newsletter called ‘Cookie Crumbs.’

Have a mentioned how much I enjoy learning about quirky topics by reading so many cozy mysteries?

Virginia Lowell made me a cookie cutter convert with her cleverly crafted ‘Cookie Dough or Die.’ In fact, I unearthed my mother’s collection and looked at it in a whole new way after finishing this yummy tale.

Besides, who doesn’t love a world filled with different shapes and colors and flavors of cookies? And they all take shape in a home business located in Chatterley Heights, just outside Baltimore.

“No more chocolate-iced shortbread before bed,” Olivia Greyson tells her pooch, Spunky, a rescued Yorkie.

Darn. I immediately wanted to bite into a shortbread cookie.

Readers will want to visit the Gingerbread House, located on the first floor of Olivia’s small Victorian home and watch Olivia’s best friend Maddie Briggs made cookie dough. At 4 a.m. when she couldn’t sleep.

How cool would it be to wake up to the smell of fresh coffee and freshly baked cookies? Heavenly.

And of course, there’s a murder that gets solved along the way, but it’s all about the cookies. The recipes. The decorations. The shapes. The tastes.

There’s “a buttery warmth laced with nutmeg,” throughout this sweet new series.

The writing is strong, the storyline engaging, the characters ones you’d like to be your friends. This is what makes a good cozy mystery a special read. I look forward to more cookie adventures — with sprinkles and chocolate icing on top.

Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. In addition, each Wednesday she reviews a cozy mystery in her column called “Cozy Corner.”