Christmas Dessert Murder
Author: Joanne Fluke
I love the Hannah Swensen series. I've been a reader since book one came out in 2000. It was literally the first cozy culinary mystery I ever read. I read every single book as soon as it comes out. And I've seen every Hallmark movie several times. Gotta get my Hannah fix! Each year there is usually a holiday story or novella at Christmas and a new book. This time, the holiday story is a reprint of two earlier books in the series. I have to say I was a bit disappointed to not get a new Hannah holiday treat. I don't necessarily dislike reprints, but if I was going to choose two earlier Hannah stories, it wouldn't have been these two. Just not my favorites....
This book includes: Christmas Caramel Murder (Book #20, published in 2016) and Christmas Cake Murder (Book #23, published in 2018).
I'm a dedicated reader of this series. I will keep reading each new book until there aren't any more. The series went through a rough patch a couple years ago, but things seem to have improved.
Readers will enjoy these two holiday cozy stories. The recipes sprinkled amid the stories are wonderful, as usual. And Hannah and her crew are awesome. I've been reading this series for more than 20 years -- what more can I say! :) I keep coming back again and again for Hannah, Mike, Norman and the whole gang....plus recipes from The Cookie Jar!
I, of course, reviewed both of these prior books when they came out. Here are those reviews:
CHRISTMAS CARAMEL MURDER (Originally reviewed 2/2/2017)
Christmas Caramel Murder is the 20th book in the Hannah Swensen series. This story is a novella of only about 200 pages or so, including the recipes sprinkled throughout the book.
Hannah's new husband, Ross, asks her why The Cookie Jar won't be selling Christmas caramels for the holidays. Hannah replies that she and Lisa, her business partner and good friend, believe the candies they made last holiday season are bad luck. When she made them last Christmas, she found a bag of them near a dead body. Then she settles in to tell Ross the whole story of the murder case and a Christmas spirit that appeared to her.
This story at first reminded me a lot of a prior Hannah Swensen holiday novella, Candy Cane Murder. Hannah saw something in the snow and walked through the drifts down into a ditch and found a body. Both stories started out the same with a naughty Claus dead in the snow, but in Christmas Caramel Murder, it's the local slut who was playing Mrs. Claus in the Christmas play who got iced.
This story was short, but basically enjoyable. It's pretty much fluff with lots of recipes and subplot like what they are baking for the holidays, the broken popcorn machine at the high school and Norman's new huge television. The mystery is simple and not that involved. But, this is a cozy mystery....so fluff and light mystery is ok. That's how it's supposed to be. This would be a great cozy to read in front of the nice fire on Christmas Eve.
I was a little disappointed in this book. Mostly because it's so short. If you leave out the subplot unnecessary-to-the-mystery portions and the recipes, the mystery itself is maybe 50 pages tops. The rest is fluff stuff. And I found some parts of the plot to be just too cheesy -- like Hannah's father appearing as a ghost visiting her in the night to help her with the case. Really? At one point, he told her to throw a pen at him to prove he was a spirit. Umm....yeah. A bit too hokey for me. Plus, this story is told as a flashback to her new husband, Ross....the parts with Mike and Norman still acting all in love with her was just a bit weird since it was a story she was relating to her husband. I dunno....just seems like Joanne Fluke wrote this hurridly without paying too much attention. I feel like maybe she took the basic plot of Candy Cane Murder, replacing the victim with a woman and making little tweaks here and there to form a new story. Old hat. But.....the story would still be a nice cozy read during the holidays. It is what it is. After writing 21 books in this series, it might just be running out of steam a bit.
I'm surprised this wasn't another holiday collection like Candy Cane Murder that also included stories by Linda Levine and Leslie Meier. I could have justified the $20 price tag of the hardback book a little more if it had more than just the short, fluffy Hannah Christmas tale. But, it was an enjoyable read. I checked it out of the library, rather than buying it.
CHRISTMAS CAKE MURDER (Originally reviewed 8/2/2018)
I have been a fan of the Hannah Swensen series for years. Although there are a lot of culinary cozy series now, this series was one of the first. After 23 books, this series is still one of my favorites, despite some....disappointments....in the last couple of books (not going to say what so I don't spoil things for newer readers but those who have read the entire series know I'm talking about R.) This book is a prequel taking readers back to before Hannah opened her bakery, The Cookie Jar, ....so it circumvents the R debacle. I was so excited when I saw this available for review. A Hannah prequel! Yep -- I'm up for it!
I'm going to delve into what I love about this book first, then get to several problems I see. Always the good first! :)
I love the fact that the plot of this book is a bit different....a bit of a story inside a story. Hannah comes home after college, not sure what to do with the rest of her life. She settles back into life in Lake Eden, helping her mother and sisters after the recent death of her father. An elderly much-loved resident of the little MN town has fallen on hard times and is in the hospital recovering from a fall. Hannah and her mother discover that the woman has been living in squalor in the old theater building in town. They come up with a plan to recreate the annual Christmas Ball, an event that Essie remembers fondly. And, they go to the old building Essie has been living in to pack up some of her belongings to bring to the hospital. While looking for items Essie has requested, they find some old notebooks. Essie was writing a story. Hannah, her sisters and mother all get totally sucked into Essie's story, which turns out might be a real mystery about the past. So...a story within a story. Nice creative touch for a Hannah Swensen Christmas tale!
I liked the fact that this story was completely pre-love triangle. For those new to the series, through most of the series, Hannah was torn between two men in Lake Eden. Things just dragged on too long, and when it finally did resolve, it was disappointing. But, in this prequel tale, Hannah is busy deciding to open her bakery and coffee shop. No love triangle. No male competition. Not even Moishe, Hannah's kitty cat.
Lots of recipes! From pork roast to breakfast burritoes and peach pie to mint cookies, there is a recipe to tempt almost everybody!
There is some nice character development in this prequel. Dolores has just lost her husband and is having difficulty dealing with the loss. Hannah has just finished college and wants to change her life plan of teaching college to something she will actually enjoy -- baking. The story gives some nice insight into Hannah, her sisters and her mother. I'm invested in these characters after years of reading this series. It was nice to read about what things were like for them before Hannah opened The Cookie Jar.
Much as I love, love, love getting a Hannah-fix, I do have to give an honest review.... Some problems evident in the past several books in this series are still a problem with this one.
Clunky, clumsy dialogue. Overuse of characters' names. Over explanation of situations, or characters unnecessarily repeating conversations or situations to other characters. It's just different (and more amateurish) writing than what I'm used to from this series. I went to my library's digital site and downloaded an early book in the series to see if I'm imagining things.....and no, I stand by my analysis. The writing style is completely different, and much less polished than the rest of the series. The last 3 books have been problematic. Ghost writer? Different editor? Something has changed. I'm invested in this series after 23 books and years of reading, but I'm disappointed by the changes in quality of writing and in the characters' behavior.
But.....all in all....I love this series and the characters. This was a nice Christmas story with some new elements that I enjoyed. But I have to be honest and say that the story should have gone through another round of editing to tighten things up, bringing it up to the standard of the first 20 books or so of this series.
**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Kensington. All opinions expressed are entirely my own**
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