Sugar Cookie Murder

Hannah Swensen #6

by Joanne Fluke

The Barnes & Noble Review
Joanna Fluke has put together a terrific recipe for a holiday-themed whodunit in this Hannah Swenson culinary mystery.

Bakery owner Hannah knows everyone has special plans and traditions for the holidays, so she's planned a grand seasonal pot-luck dinner to test the recipes the residents of Lake Eden, Minnesota, have offered to share in the cookbook she's compiling. With all that delicious food bringing so many people together, there's sure to be plenty of gossip to spice up the party -- from the showgirl Martin Dubinski brought home from Las Vegas as his new bride to Hannah's mom's lordly British beau to the mayor's latest indiscretion. Even getting snowed in at the community center can't put a damper on the festive occasion at least until Hannah puts the crowd's holiday mood on ice by discovering the showgirl's dead body in the snow-covered parking lot. To add insult to injury (and complicate Hannah's dessert plan as well), the killer had the poor taste to use Hannah's mother's jeweled antique cake knife as the murder weapon.

To keep her beloved community from crumbling, Hannah uses all the ingredients at her disposal -- from digital photography to small-town memories -- to whip up a speedy solution to this culinary crime. And readers will find their appetites tempted by the author's wonderful descriptions of the items on the menu. You'll find more than 80 delectable holiday recipes, for everything from soups and appetizers to entrees and side dishes to drinks and desserts -- including the Cookie Jar bakery's own special Christmas Sugar Cookies. Sue Stone

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Christmas, Fiction, Audiobook, Cozy, Holiday

384 pages, ebook

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke grew up in a small town in rural Minnesota where her neighbors were friendly, the winters were fierce, and the biggest scandal was the spotting of unidentified male undergarments on a young widow's clothesline. She insists that there really are 10,000 lakes and the mosquito is NOT the state bird.

While pursuing her writing career, Joanne has worked as: a public school teacher, a psychologist, a musician, a private detective's assistant, a corporate, legal, and pharmaceutical secretary, a short order cook, a florist's assistant, a caterer and party planner, a computer consultant on a now-defunct operating system, a production assistant on a TV quiz show, half of a screenwriting team with her husband, and a mother, wife, and homemaker.

She now lives in Southern California with her husband, her kids, his kids, their three dogs, one elderly tabby, and several noisy rats in the attic.

Series:
* Hannah Swensen

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story was fine. Way too short. I thought it was a full book. I finished the actual story 60% through the book and the remaining parts were recipes and commentary. I was a little disappointed. Maybe I should have looked at it more before buying it, but then again, it's part of a series, so you gotta read em all, right? I understand short releases to keep your audience happy, so it doesn't stop me from reading more. I will keep going... there's only what, 15 more to go?

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I was sold on this one from the moment the green-eyed monster reared its ugly head and Hannah was having a bake-off with the police detective’s ex-girlfriend. So cute! This was perfect to read in between getting my pies ready for Thanksgiving… it got me into such a holiday baking mood. Hannah and crew are having a potluck dinner for the entire town, and this is just another thing I love about Joanne Fluke’s writing… when she does a Christmas book she goes all out 5-reindeer on it, and it’s small-town Minnesota cozy as well.

There’s a CRAZY snowstorm going on, Hannah’s sister is about to have a baby, there’s a priceless antique cake cutter everyone better keep their eyes on and of course, all the small town gossip. The middle school jazz band even comes to play! The town characters are a real treat with all those conflicting personalities, and of course the recipes just make you want to go to your kitchen and start baking.

[☾❀Apple✩ Blossom⋆｡˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Luck doesn't have anything to do with it. Intimidation is an art form, and don't you dare forget it!"



It's Christmas 🎅! Hannah is preparing for the annual banquet at Eden Lake, and everyone in town is expected to come. Except, that is, for recently divorced Martin Dubinski's new wife: a tall, gorgeous Las Vegas dancer whom he met and married on a whim just a week before. When the "exotic" beauty gets killed in the parking lot, and everyone is locked in with the excuse of keeping safe from the snowstorm, Hannah and her gang are "forced" to investigate on yet another body... oh, yes: did I mention Hannah found this one as well? A frozen corpse in the snow turns out to be exactly what is needed to turn up the heat in this cold, Christmas night! 🎄



At this point, no one is even upset anymore by Hanna's unsettling habit of finding bodies every other day (really, this woman meets more deceased people than a graveyard): even the town cop now is just leaving her alone, unlike her mother, who keeps complaining that this habit will ruin her social life -even though Hannah's murder club grows dangerously fast, and she uses corpses as her main way to bond with people, including her sister - and everyone seems to take for granted that a new killer means a new investigation form infamous snooper Hannah Swensen.

[Melike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed spending time at the community center's Christmas potluck in Lake Eden with Hannah and most of the town residents. Mike Dubinski's new wife is found dead in the parking lot with the antique cake knife Hannah's mom owns as murder weapon...As always, Hannah helps solve the murder.

The book was funny and entertaining, a perfect holiday read. However, it was way too short and the ending was abrupt and way too convenient. I was hoping and expecting more. It literally was over at 60% and the rest was recipes. Regardless, it is a sweet and quick holiday cozy mystery.

[Paraphrodite · Rating 3 out of 5]

The more I get into this series, the less I like Mike. He needs to be kicked out!

[Stacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. As with others I thought I was getting a whole book instead of a novella. The mystery felt forced, perhaps if she'd had an entire novel to work with Fluke could have rounded the characters out a bit more. Hannah was pushier and more controlling that ever. Mike was total jerk,but he is always a jerk, it was just more emphasized in this one. Mike's jerkiness made Hannah seem very shallow. He's rude, overbearing and sexist to her but because he is tall dark and handsome all is forgiven as soon as he smiles at her. Dump the idiot already. And just what is wrong with Delores' new man? Lots of hints that are not developed at all which makes Hannah & her sisters seem very petty & jealous that her mom has met someone. Perhaps it's all foreshadowing for a later novel where he turns out to be a mass murderer and extortionist or something. But I put this book down dearly hoping Hannah is completely wrong about him because I am just sick of her know it all attitude. Not to mention her petty nagging about the use of English. Only Norman & his mom came out of this one ok.
Probably I am so annoyed about the interpersonal relationships of the regular characters because the mystery itself was so forgettable. It was all about the food for a cookbook, oh and someone died. Mike was a jerk and Hannah solved who dunnit by being so exceedingly nosy she sounded like a blackmailer half the time, but then she often does.
Very disappointed in this one

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah Swensen can whip up a batch of cookies as fast as she can solve a murder!

This book wasn't as long as the others, but I enjoyed it. The last 2/3 of the book was all recipes. However it was a great novella. Andrea had her baby... Yay! There was another murder... But it wasn't really a murder... And Hannah solved it! Again!! Seriously she could be a cop, she figures it out before Mike every single time.

Mike is still a jerk. I wish Hannah would quit giving him chances. Norman is so much better but I fear they are stuck in the friend zone. Mike has the heat but he is a major butt. Hannah could take over his job so easily!

Looking forward to the next book with baby Bethany, Andrea and Hannah and another murder!

[Book Concierge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book # 6 in the Hannah Swenson series has our heroine / amateur sleuth coordinating the Lake Eden Christmas Potluck supper. Everyone will be bringing the dishes they’ve offered for inclusion in the latest community cookbook, and Hannah’s mother has offered a beautiful antique cake knife to cut a very special cake. This is Minnesota and a snowstorm isn’t about to keep the residents of Lake Eden away from the Community Center, so the place is packed. But before the desserts are even set out on the buffet tables, the valuable antique goes missing, and Hannah finds it embedded to the hilt in the latest murder victim.

This novella (168 pages of the 341 total pages in the book) is a barely concealed attempt at interesting us in the recipes which take up more than half the book. And it’s a failed attempt at that. The mystery is weak, Hannah and her sisters run around like fools jumping to conclusions and keeping notes on the backs of napkins (and Fluke gives us a description of every napkin’s design), while Mike is holed up in a small office “interviewing and investigating.” Of course, Hannah solves the crime – on page 151 – and Fluke fills another seventeen pages with a side story dealing with sister Andrea.

It’s just a waste of time (and paper). I’ve read several of the books in this series and at least they usually have some good cookie recipes in them. This time all the recipes are in the second half of the book, and like a community cookbook they’re arranged from soup to “extras” (including catfish bait – I kid you not). Most of them require a slow cooker and most of them include canned mushroom soup. Several had serious errors in the recipe instructions or ingredients list.

Like I said, a waste of time. Well, it fulfilled a challenge requirement … and there were a couple of dessert recipes that look worth the effort to try them, so they earned 1 star.

[Elle G. Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Release Date: October 1, 2005
Genre: Cozy Mystery

This is my favorite cozy mystery series and I can never get enough of Hannah Swensen and the murder mysteries she always seems to get involved in! In this installment, it is christmas time and everyone is gathering together to test out the recipes that are being used in the Lake Eden Cookbook. But when someone goes missing, and then ends up dead it is up to Hannah and the police to find out who did it before the killer strikes again!

This book is a lot shorter than some of the authors other books and can be read in one sitting. In fact, even though the book is longer in page length, half of it is filled with all sorts of amazing recipes that are to be included in the cookbook. You can bet that I will be trying out many of them in the future! Joanne Fluke makes these recipes so easy to follow.

With that being said, this is another great addition to the series and it's so nice to see the characters grow though each book. Fans of cozy mysteries, this series would be PERFECT for you! Just be sure to read the books in order as that is how they are meant to be read (otherwise, you will be confused because each book surrounds the same character- amateur sleuth Hannah Swensen).

[Shelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my first book of Joanne Fluke's. It might even had been my last, if I didn't get the other book free as well (when I volunteered at the library's yearly book sale). Gosh it was awful! I found the characters lacking personalities, and I was really shocked with the reactions or I should say lack of reaction of some of the people, including the main character Hannah, when the victim is murdered (can't say who it is). The reason I picked this book was basically because, I thought it was really cool that there are tons of recipes in the back of a novel (all the recipes that is served at Hannah's Christmas Buffet are included which this story takes place at). But the story plot was really boring, not to mention every time Hannah was listing all the recipes people had bought. There was really no base to the story, it was rushed (thank goodness) and it was just bla bla bla.

[Jacalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book four stars after some debating. I finally decided that I liked the characters and the basic thought process behind the book itself a lot. Enough that I want to read the rest of the series sitting on my TBR shelf. However, if I was rating it on mystery alone, I'd definitely have to go lower.

For me, this book wasn't about the mystery so much as the quirky and fun characters. What can I say, small-town Minnesota pot luck? I mean how do you go wrong? I've been there, doing the church pot lucks. Especially the time I was activity chair for my tiny church in small-town Ohio where I planned many a pot luck.

Hannah Swensen is a fantastic character and I like her. I especially like that she ran around the pot luck telling everyone and their brother about the murdered Las Vegas "showgirl" out in the snowy parking lot. Who cares that her cop boyfriend(?) told her the murderer was most likely still there and to keep it under wraps. Obviously he hasn't been in Small Town very long. HA!

Hannah's super pregnant, 20 dessert eating, sister as a sidekick? Priceless. Who doesn't like a lady playing detective while waddling around about to give birth in a blizzard?

And the food. Oh the food. Trust me. A swipe a lot of my recipes from these Hannah Swensen mysteries. (Part of why I've held off reading them. If I read them I have to give them back to mom, right? Hello, they are my cookbooks!)

The mystery surrounds a pot luck and the author included all the recipes for the various foods at the dinner. I like that. In character I might add. She even included Hannah's "Hot Brownies" made with jalepono peppers. (Genious way to get at your cop boyfriend(?) when he's talking about another woman's brownies. Let me tell you, my husband would be lucky if that's ALL I did to him. HA! Hannah, you are awesome in your diabolical baking!

It's a fun read to zip through but don't be prepared for a serious mystery. Curl up under your favourite quilt and a mug of cocoa and settle down for a good time.

--Lady O

[Bookishrealm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another quick installment in the Hannah Swensen series. This one is actually mainly comprised of recipes and it's lighter on the typical mysteries that we encounter in the other books of the series.

Sugar Cookie Murder finds Hannah Swensen and the crew gearing up to have a taste test of all of the recipes that have been submitted for the Lake Eden cookbook. When a someone's new wife turns up dead and is supposedly killed with the knife that belongs to Hannah's mother, she finds herself solving another case.

What Worked: This was a super quick read primarily because it's not as long as the other novels in the series. It's lighter on the mystery and doesn't have a sinister twist to it like most of the other novels. I liked hearing about all the foods submitted by the residents of Lake Eden. Some sounded great, while others sounded atrocious. Unfortunately, I still don't understand why we're dealing with all of this hate towards Mike. It almost feels like Fluke wants us to refrain from getting our hopes up about Hannah getting her HEA with him instead of Norman, but she does it in a way that's clunky and makes Hannah an annoying character. I'm hoping we get a little reprieve from this in the next installment.

Overall, another solid addition to the series. I'll be picking up the next one soon.

[Courtney Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute. The mystery was sort of silly but that they were all trapped by being snowed in was sort of fun. I haven’t read the others but it was a solid amateur sleuthing story. The romance was mild but they had cute banter especially the jalapeño brownies and am I crazy or do those sound amazing? Enjoy! (Recipes also at the end.)

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problem is with this book is that it was TOO SHORT!

A fun, easy read mystery.

I like the fact that the author:

* does not feel like she needs to make it gory or gross with the deaths that occur
* doesn't resort to promiscuity or sexual innuendos
* does show a strong, independent, smart woman as a main character
* shows fun family dynamics with siblings and parent relationships
* makes it fun to peak into the lives of small town residents

[Tari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love the older Hannah Swenson books. This book was a locked room mystery with everyone in Lake Eden at a Christmas party at the community center where someone got murdered, but there was no apparent escape of the killer due to the blizzard. Christmastime in Lake Eden sounds pretty fun, and despite the blizzard, the people of the town made the best of it while Hannah and her sisters and friends worked behind the scenes to help Mike discover the killer who he said had to be there in the building with them.

There was a nice little twist at the end with the showdown being non-confrontational, which is nice for a change. Needless, to say I hadn't guessed the killer.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually enjoy the crime/mystery genre. And I'm okay with reading something light. This just wasn't worth it, though.

What bothered me most was that Hannah seems unhappy with Mike, one of the men she's dating. He's rude, takes credit for her work, and he's sexist. I expected her, in the end, to tell him to get lost. But no. She just sucks it up and takes it. Um, hello? Self respect? Hannah has none, apparently. I guess the fact that he's a handsome guy means more than how he treats her.

And the secondary characters all seem pretty stupid. A child figures out what's going on but none of the adults do until they're told? Really? Huh.

Luckily, I didn't waste any money on this, and it's a quick read... but I want my time back. I only kept reading because I figured it'd get better. Wrong. Don't bother with this one.

[Brittany McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Good not great.

Not much substance to add to the series as a whole.

The weird jealousy and the pivot of Mike was kind of unnecessary and Norman barely existed outside of his photographs.

Zero romantic chemistry for anyone, except Hannah's mom and her regency man.

The recipes and food talk were less and the mystery was less than thrilling.

Possibly the worst in series thus far, but at least it was short and sweet.

Hoping for a better Book 7.

3 Stars.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not going to finish this book. I started reading it because, as I said in my last review, I'm trying to read a bit of everything so that I have a better idea of what our patrons are interested in. This book is just a bit too silly to keep reading. If I had one more day off of work for the holiday, I would have stuck with it, but leisure time is too short during a work week to keep reading this. There is too much inane dialouge. If I wrote down everything I said and slapped it in a novel, would that be interesting?! No, and neither is this book. AND the characters are very interested in Hummers- the vehicle. Oddly so. Maybe I don't understand people who live in Minnesota. There's is also a lot of Jell-o eating. Bizarre.

[Luffy Sempai · Rating 1 out of 5]

This proved to be an abortion of a story. It diverges from the other books. I'm glad I finished it ahead of schedule but in the end there is little meat to the story as 30 % of the book consists of recipes. It's the same length as the preceding ones. I simply think I read a short story. The mystery is like one of those stories where the writer wrote like a beginner from start to finish. It's got a sweet ending but nobody will feel anything but apathy for the victim and the murderer, a rare combination of indifference.

[ShannonCC · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I keep reading these because they are really easy reads. They're like popcorn books, you can just read them quickly and easily, without thinking.

I like the main character. She's a bit tactless and interesting. Another review (on another book in this series) mentioned that she seems a lot older than she is and I agree. She's just turned 30 in this book and she strikes me more as a woman in her 60's or older. It might be the small town angle the author seems to like. I'm surprised no one has said "gee whiz" or "golly gee". There's a 1950's, Andy Griffith feel you get from these books and the characters in Lake Eden. The other characters are pretty two dimensional (mostly with that same wide eyed, gee whiz quality), but overall, these books are enjoyable, easy reads.

I have complaints though. And yes, many spoilers, so if you don't want to know, stop reading now!

First of all, half of this book is a cookbook! The story ends at page 168 and the other 166 pages are all recipes! I would not have been happy if I'd bought this book but thankfully I got it from the library. Yes, she always has recipes in her books but it's usually one at the end of a chapter, not half a book's worth.

For the actual story, my first problem was the attitude of the characters toward a murder. I've noticed this in her other books, but in this one it's more noticeable. The author apparently wanted to keep up the witty banter, so despite the fact that the whole story takes place over the course of a few hours, almost no one was upset over the murder. At one point her sister was queasy (not over the loss of life, but the details of the death) but then, a few lines later, talks about how good some cookies are. The other younger sister is even more callous. And when the killer is finally revealed, everyone seems to be more happy about how the victim was now out of the way than anything else. I really have never met such heartless people as are in these books.

Then, at the end, the main character's sister goes into labor. So they leave the location and bring her to the hospital *without telling her husband*. They are told that the husband is going to the police station (he is an officer) but it was just minutes later that the sister goes into labor and they didn't even try to find him, (he was probably not even out the building yet). They just got her into a car and left. The laboring woman doesn't even say gee, I wish my husband was here. Nothing.

When he arrives at the hospital, he doesn't go join his wife, he instead paces the hallway with the other characters. I had to look again at when this book was written (2004). No one even made a comment about it.

And when the baby is born and there is a problem with the name they had picked, the doctor says that the "sisters" need to fix it. Not the father. No, he briefly visited his new born baby and wife and then went out to celebrate with his friends (according to the doctor).

The author seems a bit defensive about moose leather boots since in a few books she's made comments about how they are not "PC", so it surprised me she didn't make any defensive comments about the 1950's style attitude toward childbirth in this story.

And finally, the main character's niece. She is apparently profoundly gifted or else the author has never met a 5 year old (I just looked at the author's bio and she's not only had kids, she's been a school teacher - ok, profoundly gifted then?).

In the first book (age 4 at that time I think?) her speech was rather adult for a child. The topics, the ideas, the grammar. But in this book she writes a letter to Santa. She has to ask how to spell "body" (and a few harder words) but then goes on to write a multi page letter with good grammar and spelling. Most five year olds don't have the physical small motor coordination and stamina to write more than a few sentences, never mind the very long letter this girl writes. And, as another reviewer already said, this five year old is also smart and observant enough to know there has been a murder even though most of the adults at the party have been kept in the dark.

So if you're looking for an easy read for fun, these books are for you, but there are a lot of things to overlook. But maybe, like me, they will grow on you and you'll enjoy the easy, fun read and the poking fun you'll get to do after :)

[Ashley Baez Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one was just...not good. Hardly no mystery or investigation involving the murder in this installation. Book #6 is set during Christmastime and Lake Eden’s celebration and Christmas buffet. And don’t worry, every single recipe served at the buffet is provided at the end of the book, taking up almost 30% of it. There just wasn’t a lot of substance to this one and I’m honestly surprised it was published as part of the series.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sugar Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #6)
by Joanne Fluke (Goodreads Author)

Paperback, 352 pages
Published October 1st 2005 by Kensington (first published January 1st 2004)

The holidays are the icing on the cake for bakery owner Hannah Swensen. Surrounded by her loved ones, she has all the ingredients for a perfect Christmas until murder is added to the mix...
When it comes to holidays, Minnesotans rise to the occasion and the little town of Lake Eden is baking up a storm with Hannah leading the way. The annual Christmas Buffet is the final test of the recipes Hannah has collected for the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet Cookbook.
While Hannah is baking the day s goodies at The Cookie Jar, the evening s plans begin to jell. Start with the best Lake Eden culinary creations, add two of Hannah s sometime boyfriends, a pinch of her ready-to-pop pregnant sister, and a dash of her mother and new significant other, an actual British lord, and what do you get? A recipe for disaster, but the juiciest ingredient is yet to come...
The recently divorced Martin Dubinski arrives at the buffet with his new Vegas showgirl wife all wrapped up in glitter and fur. His ex-wife, however, seems as cool as chilled eggnog. And when Hannah s mother s antique Christmas cake knife disappears, its discovery in the dcolletage of the new and now late Mrs. Dubinski puts the festivities on ice.
With everyone stranded at the community center by a blizzard, Hannah puts her investigative skills to the test, using the ingredients at hand: half the town of Lake Eden and a killer. Now, as the snowdrifts get higher, it s up to Hannah to dig out all the clues and make sure that this white Christmas doesn t bring any more deadly tidings.

I have to state from the very beginning of this review that I am in love with Joanne Fluke. If you are ever in a severe reading slump like I have been for the past two months, you need to pick up a Hannah Swensen mystery. When you're in a reading funk, pick up a Fluke novel. It is guaranteed to get you out of your reading slump. It sure worked wonders for me.

I used the Text to Speech feature on my Kindle and read this book while I cross-stitched. This book is a bit smaller than other Hannah Swensen mysteries but it sure pack s a punch. Fluke doesn't sit on her laurels and phone in the shorter books. These are just as filled with mystery, mayhem and mad cap moments as all her full length novels. Plus, this book has a plethora more recipes than other books do, at least it seemed that way to me. This story featured a contest sort of thing where they were cooking dishes that would make it into a town cookbook. Of course, Hannah is in charge of that. Even her "I don't cook and don't make me" sister, Andrea, even provides a recipe.

It was such a joy to return to these characters and follow along as Hannah and her two sisters helped Mike solve the mystery of who killed Brandywine, the Las Vegas showgirl turned Martin's newest bride.

This book is a hoot and a half. You definitely need to read this one. I may have enjoyed it a tad bit more since it featured a holiday theme and Christmas is only a month or so behind me as far as calendar time goes.

It is my mission to collect all the Hannah Swensen mysteries. So expect to see more of them featured here.

I bough this book from Amazon and read it on my Kindle. I bought this book with my own money and I thank the publishers for being so foresighted to allow such a wonderful series out into the world.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hope Mike gets murdered in the next one.

[Stephanie Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hannah fancies herself a girls' girl until another female gives literally any attention to one of the men she refuses to commit to, then it's all "I'm gonna kill him with jalapeño brownies."

[SourPatchKid99 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll start this review with the problems I have with the editing: the editor must’ve been asleep while reviewing this. Simple errors (which should’ve still been caught) like: “we’d better stoke up on chocolate.” And more glaring errors: “…Hannah said, getting up to stash her crock full of meatballs in the cooler and making a mental note to take it down to the community center at noon and let it cook until time for the party.” And “Hannah had all she could do to keep from groaning.” (Somebody call the bondulance). Aside from that, there’s a lot of unnecessary word salad that makes it seem like the already anemic story (see below where the story ends just a little over halfway through the book) was bloated to reach a minimum word count. For example: “Before the second hand on her apple-shaped wall clock had made twelve complete revolutions, Hannah was back in the kitchen.” Just say she took a quick shower! Or when every dish is named at the Christmas party, which doesn't even help the reader visualize the setting; how am I supposed to know what Misdemeanor Mushrooms or Herring Appetizer look like?

On to the content: the book is literally almost half cookbook. The story ends on page 200 and the recipes & their index end on page 374. Just because you’re a former short-order cook who bring chocolate chip cookies to your meet and greets doesn’t mean you’re an expert in creating recipes. The recipes aren’t even good (see specifically caviar pie and silly carrots). (By the way, this is the same woman who thought raspberry can pass as a “secret flavor” in a different Hannah Swensen mystery).

Is Hannah stuck in high school? Because that’s how petty she is. She gets jealous that a man she’s not in a committed relationship dares to be friends with his coworker, Shawna, who’s a good-looking woman who makes a mean brownie. As punishment, Hannah bakes him brownies with hot peppers in them. And Shawna’s an unbelievable caricature: she steals a brownie recipe from Joy of Baking and tries to pass it off as her own, supposedly sleeps around with every married man at her job (somehow not taking aim at Mike because heaven forbid he become sloppy seconds for Hannah), and has a sister who’s allegedly a gold digger (which is somehow a flaw in Shawna’s character). Fluke could have a literal mustache twirling villain in this and it would still be less of a stereotypical caricature than Shawna...Oh, and then later on Hannah's wondering if she should stick with dating Mike because he happened to notice another woman in passing while looking for her. He's a detective, how's he supposed to not notice people? Even if he wasn't a detective, how's he supposed to not notice an ex-Vegas stripper who's dressed like a million bucks?

The story is also wonky in other small ways. Lisa is a professional baker but doesn’t know what a Jell-O cake is? Andrea supposedly has to stay home with her feet up because she’s overdue, when only a high-risk pregnancy would necessitate minimizing movement. And apparently it’s something of a surprise that she’s overdue. You’d think when a woman passes her projected due date her doctor would tell her (if she didn’t already realize it herself), “Hey, you’re overdue,” but it takes Andrea’s doctor two weeks to tell her she’s overdue (and he had to test to see if she was overdue). Her doctor is concerned by her being overdue, but still told her to stay at home with her feet up instead of telling her to try walking around or something to help encourage labor. And the doctor goes on to suggest she wait another whole week until he induces labor. I shouldn’t be pulled out of a story by the inaccuracies surrounding the pregnant side character, yet here we are.

I also don't like that the murder happens almost halfway through the story (page 92) and is solved less than 100 pages later (page 183). That means less than 1/4 of the book is actually a murder mystery (frankly, I'm not surprised: Christmas Cupcake Murder didn't even have a murder in it! I mean, neither did this one; it's technically just manslaughter). Why not cut out the whole part where Hannah, who's not in a relationship and doesn't have kids, gets judgy about pregnant couples who decide to say, "We're pregnant" and instead devote that whole part to the murder mystery?

After the murder happens, Mike tells Hannah to inform only the people who need to know. Which somehow includes both her sisters, neither of whom have police training (oh and they both magically guess a murder has occurred, even though there's plenty more logical guesses to make first when someone tells you something's happened at a Christmas party).

Michelle (Hannah's younger sister) is surprised Hannah wants her to tell Mike what the murder victim told Michelle, because Hannah usually "liked to keep the results of [her] questioning to [her]self." How has Hannah never been arrested for obstruction of justice? And furthermore (I know this is a common trope in mysteries, but this one's taking the fall because it's the one I'm reviewing right now), I'm pretty sure the police, who have to be trained to solve crimes, would be pretty mad when a random civilian with no training inserts themselves into an investigation.

Hannah, who's supposed to be an expert on crime, can't wrap her head around why women go to the bathroom in pairs in public. Again, this rant just serves as filler without adding anything to the overall story.

Also, the people at the party act holier-than-thou about the murder victim marrying a divorced man as if divorce isn't a common thing and as if she caused the divorce, placing no blame on the guy who divorced his wife and then married a young, hot, Vegas stripper five hours after meeting her. Oh, and then the woman who committed the manslaughter (and, I might add, instigated the physical altercation that led to Brandi's death) isn't even charged because she's an old lady everyone likes and the victim's a gold-digger who apparently deserves death for being a gold-digger and stealing a knife (everyone acts like it was self-defense/an "accident" but that doesn't mean the old biddy shouldn't get charged).

Oh, and Hannah's 5-year-old niece has got to be the most precocious 5-year-old in the history of precocious 5-year-olds. Why do people think precocious kids are cute? They're just obnoxious. Anyway, this kid writes a letter to Santa about how she thinks Hannah "found another body" (and even though she writes a letter to Santa with perfect grammar, spelling, and an adult vocabulary/train of thought, she somehow needed help with spelling "body"!)...what kind of idiot tells their 5-year-old about murder?

In conclusion: I will likely never read another Joanne Fluke mystery. At risk of being too harsh, I think her pseudonym last name is an apt descriptor of how she got published in the first place. These books frankly seem like a foodie-oriented ripoff of Laura Childs' teatime mysteries (which I recommend, and which is saying a lot, since I'm more of a foodie than a tea person, and yet I'd rather read a teatime mystery than another one of these).

[Mayda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah and her friends are holding a buffet and testing recipes for the new community cook book. An awful snowstorm strands everyone at the center, including the no-longer-flamboyant murder victim and the murderer. It’s not exactly a closed room murder, but it’s close enough. Mike is his usual obnoxious self while investigating the crime, and Hannah, as usual, is a step ahead of him. This is an entertaining and delightful Christmas cozy, but it’s good any time of the year you want to read it.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very simple cozy series, featuring baker Hannah Swensen. The books so far have been quick and easy to read. This was a fun book. In it, Hannah deals with a murder and a blizzard. She investigates to try to find the killer. All of the usual cast of characters are in this one, and all are up to their usual antics.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skipped ahead a book to read a Christmas one. At least half the book was recipes.

[Dinnu Reads Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was easy and fast listening/reading again! As it were, the conclusion wasn't very thrilling, although for once Hannah didn't get herself into mortal danger in the end which was a nice deviation from regular! 😆 And yet she wasn't very subtle in her investigations, as usual! 😉
Nice little entertainment when you're not feeling up to anything too energy and commitment consuming! 🙂

[Erica Chaillot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awe I love holiday books. Hannah and her gang are back for another fun installment. Great plot and festiveness that make this book a win.