Not even Lake Eden’s nosiest residents suspected Hannah Swensen would go from idealistic newlywed to betrayed wife in a matter of weeks. But as a deadly mystery unfolds in town, the proof is in the pudding . . . When The Cookie Jar becomes the setting of a star-studded TV special about movies filmed in Minnesota, Hannah hopes to shine the spotlight on her bakery—not the unsavory scandal … unsavory scandal swirling around her personal life. But that’s practically impossible with a disturbing visit from the shifty character she once believed was her one and only love, a group of bodyguards following her every move, and a murder victim in her bedroom. Now, swapping the crime scene in her condo for her mother Delores’s penthouse, Hannah and an old flame team up to solve a case that’s messier than an upended chocolate cream pie. As suspects emerge and secrets hit close to home, Hannah must serve a hefty helping of justice to an unnamed killer prowling around Lake Eden . . . before someone takes a slice out of her!
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One of the first few cozy mysteries I began reading almost fifteen years ago was the Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke. For years, I adored the series, but then I switched to something else to try and experience a wider variety. About two years ago, I jumped back into its safety and caught up to the latest one… that is, until Chocolate Cream Pie Murder was published (or will be in the coming weeks). I won it via NetGalley and had to devour it today. How exciting to catch up in Hannah’s life especially after the new about Ross! If you haven’t read the last few books, stop reading here. If you have, it’s okay to continue…
I loved Ross in the beginning. I wanted Hannah to choose him. I loved Norman more than Mike, but they’d gotten old after 20 books. I needed something fresh, and it appeared Hannah did too, since she wouldn’t accept either’s marriage proposal for years. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to get married. She did. Just couldn’t decide who. On a whim tho, she said yes to Ross. And her troubles began. For weeks, he was a perfect husband. Then he disappeared. Then it turned out he was already married. LOUSE! Fluke ruined a perfectly good character. I’ll have a hard time forgiving her, but that’s life… and it made for good drama.
I enjoyed this book. We see the aftermath of Ross’s craziness. We see Hannah’s recovery. I love revisiting all the characters in these books because I want to live in Lake Eden, Minnesota, blizzards and all. Can I move there please? Okay… that might be going a tad far, but this book showed signs of getting back to the norm before we took a downward turn in the late teens of the series. That said, it’s not completely good news on all fronts. At the sacrifice of family and friends we adore, the supporting characters in this book are some newer ones and some we hadn’t known too well. I miss the old gang, but they’ll be back soon, I’m sure.
The mystery was okay. It was a weird setup. No one died until 80% into the book. We knew who would die, but along the way, the suspects hadn’t built up. Or so we thought. Ultimately, I didn’t like the structure in this one, but I did like the story itself. Fluke will always have a fan in me. I hope this means Norman gets his chance now… as Mike already had a wife. I suppose Norman did too, but she was murdered. Eh, what am I saying, I can’t decide. I’m the male version of Hannah!
Just wait til the end… I knew the cliffhanger was coming. It had to happen. Fluke’s as bad as me with ending our books in such a manner. But I’m pretty certain it will mean something else when we get to the next one. I HOPE SO AT LEAST!
As delicious as always! My doctor would be quite upset if I made most of the recipes, but they were fun to read. As always, the book moved along at a fast clip, keeping you reading and wanting more. I love the characters, I love Goldie, and having once owned a baking business, I appreciate that she lets people know it’s not a fantasy, but hard work.
This is so unlike the regular Hannah Swensen stories you have read in the past. This is the perfect combination of recipes and honest to goodness story telling. The murder does not happen until 2/3 of the way through the book. The reader gets a better sense of the emotions that Hannah is going through with Ross, and more information is given as to what he has been doing while away. The ending – wow – I cannot wait to see where this leads!! This was great story telling which makes it a wonderful read.
I always love these books. Who can argue with the sweetness of the recipes? The ending was unexpected. And the lead in to the next story is great (though secretly I already thought it myself). If you are looking for an enjoyable, sweet, easy read you can’t miss with these series of books–each one a standalone but you see the characters throughout.
I love the Hannah Swenson series. Each of the books excellently move the connecting stories along so well. All of her regular characters are distinct and likable. Hope it progresses for a long time since they hasn’t gotten tiresome yet!
Overall, very good. I feel like we are starting to get back to the real Hannah. Ross returns in this book. If you are one of the readers who hasn’t liked him, you will definitely hate him even more. When he turns up dead, Hannah and the whole town could be considered suspects. I wish we could have just skipped the entire Ross storyline because it never made any sense. I feel like there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding Ross, which I hope we will get the answers to eventually. I hope we will see a return to the Hannah we all knew and loved before Ross came into the picture. Also, I really hope that Hannah and Norman eventually end up together. I feel they are meant to be. Loved how the whole town stood behind Hannah and the antics of Moishe and Cuddles. Looking forward to the next adventure!
I have been anxiously waiting for Chocolate Cream Pie Murder because I wanted answers about Ross. I never understood why the author took the series in this direction (probably so she would not have to pick between Mike or Norman). Chocolate Cream Pie Murder reminded me of cool whip—light and fluffy. There is mystery and intrigue mixed with baking, eating, drinking coffee, time with Moishe and Cuddles, friendship, family, and chatting. I wanted fewer recipes and more substance. At the end of the book, I was still left many unanswered questions about Ross. I will admit, though, that Chocolate Cream Pie Murder was an improvement over the previous books in the series where Hannah veered off course courtesy of the persuasive Ross. I found the story easy to read with the author’s conversational writing style and engaging characters. Lake Eden has friendly residents and charming shops. Chocolate Cream Pie Murder can easily be finished in a couple of hours. I do not recommend reading Chocolate Cream Pie Murder on its own. You do not have to read all the books in the series, but it helps to have read the last four or five (the Ross saga). The mystery is extremely simple. It was obvious who would be killed and who did the killing plus what a key clue would be to solving the mystery. The murder does not occur until very late in the book. The dialogue, unfortunately, continues to be stilted. Joanne Fluke leaves us with a surprise ending and we will have to wait until the next A Hannah Swensen Mystery for answers (once again). I am giving Chocolate Cream Pie Murder 3 out of 5 stars.
Chocolate Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Have read the whole series and can’t to find out what happens next with Hannah and the sleuths who help her solve murders in the MN town where she runs the Cookie Jar.
Starts with listing of other works by the author, she writes in different genres.
Hannah makes an announcement about her husband Ross and why he’s not been around. wow what a shock!
Love hearing of all the characters in town that help her get over her loss and get on with daily life events.
Her life is the one in danger in this book. Love how the cops and friends are all over it by spending the night at her house even to make sure she’s safe.
They know he’s back in town and threatening her by all the phone calls and demanding of money…Doesn’t happen til the end when she walks in on it all, in her condo…
Others are there to protect her as she gathers the clues from things the prior several weeks before that are all now adding up…
Converstion charts at the end. Lots of recipes among the story. What a cliff hanger at the end LOL.
Other thriller works are summarized at the end along with an excerpt.
I received this review book from The Kensington Books via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
#ChocolateCreamPieMurder #NetGalley
This book is a marked departure from the series of Hannah books. The crime doesn’t even take place until 3/4 of the way through the book. It comes so late that I’d thought the book might end on a cliffhanger and that all the action would take place in the second book. This book was all dealing with fallout from the Ross situation, which, admittedly, DID need to be dealt with but I feel other books in the series have done a better job interweaving the personal and professional (as an amateur sleuth) lines. And the ending felt rushed and shoehorned in, though I know it wasn’t because it was clearly woven in from the start of this book, it just felt like it as a race to cram all the “action” into that last bit of the book.
I felt the character development suffering for lack of characters returning in this book. Many characters were mentioned who didn’t actually appear or they were there very little/few of the times those characters would normally have been around. Andrea and Claire (moreso Andrea) are especially notable because of their absence. I really missed catching up with all of my favourite characters. I especially missed baking new Valentine’s recipes with Hannah and Michelle at the condo.
I also felt the recipes sections in this book we’re a little disjointed. They seemed to mention a recipe several times before it finally appeared at the end of a later chapter than the one it’d originally been mentioned in. And I always thought these books had new or innovative ways of baking things but I found several recipes in this book for some things that I already make. Which is not a terrible thing but it feels like fewer newer recipes and so fewer actual new ones to try. I still am excited to try the new ones though. And even the old ones as there are some there that I haven’t made for many years.
Despite all the complaining I’ve just done, I didn’t hate this book. For all that it wasn’t, I really enjoyed it for what it was. (And it was through talking to my friend Jay about it that I realized this even more, so I thank him for that.) The Ross stuff needed to be dealt with and I’m glad that it was. I was never Team Ross but I liked him when he was introduced. For all the characters that were there, I liked catching back up with them and doing so while enjoying yummy treats down at The Cookie Jar.
I was hooked!!!
I started late in the series, but I love these books. I can’t wait for the next one.
*I received my copy in exchange for an honest review, from Netgalley
I recommend this book to Hannah Swenson fans, it is a must read. Hannah is finally getting her life back on track when Ross reenters it but this time now so lovingly. I have not read all of this book series but most of the ones I have read over the years can be enjoyed as a stand-alone. This book, however, in my opinion, you need to have read the previous two books to really have an understanding of what is going on. One other element that has some fans a little upset is that the murder does not happen until about the 80% mark. This, however, did not really bother me as there is enough mystery surrounding why Ross is suddenly back and asking for the money he left behind. I really enjoyed this book and I am happy to see that Hannah seems to be getting back to herself and not letting everyone make decisions for her but at the same time, she willingly accepts help from her family and friends. Also, she isn’t making stupid decisions by putting her life in jeopardy. I also like how there isn’t this love triangle with Norman and Mike but they are still very much there for her as friends. I don’t think the murder victim will be a surprise to anyone and most fans will be happy the victim is this person even if it took a while to happen. The only thing that I didn’t like is the placement of the recipes but this is a minor thing and should not reflect on my opinion of this storyline or writing of the author. If you like recipes there is no shortage in this one. There is a big cliff hanger in this book that I somewhat suspected but was still surprised at the reveal. I am looking forward to the next book.
I voluntarily agreed to read a copy of this book supplied by NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.
I have read 25 of the books she’s written..love them.
Love the recipes
Chocolate Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke was pretty good. As a long-time fan of the series, my expectations may have been too high. I wish the pacing had been faster. Adding new characters and the new spouse took too little by to get gritty. I still liked it a lot though.
I like all books by Joanne Fluke and can’t wait for the next one.
and i enjoy the recipes also
Love all of her books!
Fun read!
fun books
I love returning to Lake Eden to see what’s cooking and what mysteries will happen to Hannah! Wonderful characters and family relationships! Love the love triangle between Hannah, Mike and Norman!