The coronavirus is canceling classes, sports and meetings everywhere. As a result many students, like me, have a ton more free time.

During the week that we have already had off school, I have been reading a lot more than I normally do. I have been reading the “Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series,” by Josi S. Kilpack. I love these books and recommend them if you are looking for a book that is interesting, but not scary, so you can read it before bed.

These stories are pretty fast to read and can be purchased online if your library is closed. Many of them are also available as free ebooks through the Hoopla website if you have a Weber County library card.

The series is about a middle-aged woman, called Sadie, who accidentally finds herself in the middle of murder cases and uses her amateur detective skills to solve them. I love the character of Sadie because she reminds me of my own grandma in a lot of ways. She is a very caring and stubborn person, which often gets her in trouble with the people she works with.

Sadie is constantly cooking, and the book comes with recipes in every chapter. Sadie seems to really like food, and the descriptions of food are one of my favorite parts of the books.

I started reading these books because I was at the library and I picked a random book with a pretty cover. It turns out it was Book 5 in this series, ”Blackberry Crumble” (there are 12, with one stand-alone book). I was drawn to the picture of blackberry crumble on the cover and was not disappointed with the book. I then went back and read the previous books in the series but it was not really a problem that I read them out of order. However, the next six books are harder to follow if read out of order.

I love these books because they are all set in different places. In this time when we can’t really travel, this series goes to different states and even a different country. The books, “Lemon Tart” (Book 1), “Devil’s Food Cake” (Book 3) and “Wedding Cake” (Book 12) are set in Garrison, Colorado. Garrison is a small town where Sadie lives and is visited by her two grown children.

My favorite book, ”Pumpkin Roll” (Book 6), is set in Boston. Other books are set in England, Florida, Portland, Kauai, New Mexico, Alaska and San Francisco. “Rocky Road” even takes place in St. George, Utah! While St. George is far away from Ogden, it was still cool to read a book set in my home state. There was even a recipe from Rainbow Gardens, a restaurant that is here in Ogden.

And Kilpack is a Northern Utah author.

During our time off school, reading is a good way to beat the boredom of sitting at home all day. If you want a cozy mystery series that talks about food and travel, this book series is for you!

Corinna Healey is a sophomore at the DaVinci Academy. Email her at corinnahealey@gmail.com.