Forbidden Fruit

Corinna Chapman, owner of the bakery Earthly Delights, detests Christmas. The shoppers are frantic and the heat oppressive in Melbourne, Australia, where Christmas is a summer festival. Corinna is a perfect size 20 with a genius for baking bread. And while dreaming of air-conditioned comfort, she finds herself dealing with a rose-addicted donkey named Serena, a maniacal mother with staring eyes, a distracted assistant seeking the definitive glacé cherry recipe, her friend the fearless witch Meroe, and the luscious Daniel with whom she would like to spend a lot more time. But Daniel is on the track of two runaways, Brigid and Manny. Their Romeo-and-Juliet romance is not as straightforward as it seems, and the pair will go a long way to avoid being found. With the help of a troupe of free-spirited "freegans," three very clever internet hackers, and a bunch of singing vegans, Corinna and Daniel go head-to-head with a sinister religious cult on a mission and a band of Romanies out for revenge in a wild and wonderful chase against the clock. Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray where she now lives and writes. She has written more than twenty novels, a number of plays, and is the creator of the Phryne Fisher series. In 2003 Kerry won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Writers' Association of Australia. Forbidden Fruit is fifth in her newest series featuring the irrepressible baker-cum-sleuth Corinna Chapman.