COOKING THE BOOKS

A baker’s holiday plans are thwarted by gentle blackmail and a series of mysteries.

No more lazing around for zaftig Australian baker Corinna Chapman (Forbidden Fruit, 2010, etc.). Tommy, a schoolmate who’s now a caterer, forces her to do the baking for the cast and crew of a TV soap opera. Corinna’s assistant Jason is away surfing; her gorgeous Israeli lover Daniel is investigating the case of some missing bearer bonds; and her shop servers, Kylie and Goss, have achieved their ambitions by getting parts in the soap. Corinna herself goes back to the routine of rising early to bake bread and muffins. With some help from Tommy’s pastry chef Bernadette, she delivers the treats to the set and helps serve. The program is plagued by a number of annoying incidents, most of them directed at the star, aging prima donna Molly Atkins, whom almost everyone dislikes. Corinna has been helping Daniel, whose client, a chubby young woman bullied by her health-crazed bosses, had left the bonds in a phone booth, where they were picked up by a homeless man who’s now leaving nursery-rhyme clues to their whereabouts around Melbourne. In addition, Molly hires Daniel to find the baby she had given up for adoption as a young girl and the trickster who’s spiking her food with chili powder and such.