CRIME

Sticks & Scones, by Diane Mott Davidson, Bantam, 301 pages, $35.95 I loathe gimmick mysteries -- those cute little plots grafted onto gardening hints or recipes -- but Diane Mott Davidson is the exception. Her plots zip and her characters zing, and her recipes are really good. Sticks & Scones is the 10th novel starring caterer Goldy Schulz in Aspen Meadow, Colo., and the series is still fresh. This time, the owners of a genuine English castle, relocated and restored in Aspen Meadow, want Goldy to lay on genuine Elizabethan dinners for corporate clients. But on the first day of the job, she is awakened by someone firing a shotgun through her front window. Lunenburg, by Keith Baker, McArthur & Company, 344 pages, $24.95 This is a highly accomplished novel from Irish author Keith Baker, who obviously knows a lot about the lovely town of Lunenburg, N.S., where this story takes place. The plot isn't new, but Baker's characters hold the reader to the page. The tale begins as a small boy sneaks out of his house to go watch a local woman entertain her male friends. But this night he witnesses more than sex; he sees murder and the face of a killer. He doesn't tell, he just goes home. Thirty years later, detective Annie Welles is faced with another murder, and with history. Death on the Douro, by Tony Aspler, Warwick, 185 pages, $19.95 This is the third in the clever series of mysteries set in various wine regions and featuring wine writer Ezra Brant. This novels are part mystery, part travelogue and all about the details of making, tasting and drinking fine wines. Author Tony Aspler is one of Canada's best-known experts on wine, and his knowledge is what makes these stories work. The setting this time is a quinta (winery) in Portugal, just outside Oporto. Brant is invited for a celebratory fiesta, but by the time he arrives, sinister events threaten to derail the occasion. Then murder moves in. This is a nice, slick story and perfect for the cottage -- accompanied by a Portuguese red.