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 … of the recipes Hannah has collected for the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet Cookbook.
‘Tis the season for trimming the tree, caroling, baking cookies, and curling up by the Yuletide waiting for Santa to drop down the chimney. But in this festive collection of holiday whodunits, murder is also paying a visit. . .
“Candy Cane Murder” By Joanne Fluke
When a trail of candy canes leads to a corpse outfitted in a Santa suit on a snowy bank, Hannah Swensen sets out to discover who killed Kris Kringle. . .
The yuletide season in Lake Eden, Minnesota, guarantees a white Christmas, delectable holiday goodies from Hannah Swensen’s bakery, The Cookie Jar–and murder. As a shadow hangs over her friends’ Christmas wedding, Hannah’s determined to cook a killer’s goose before anyone else gets burned. . .
The Cookie Jar’s busiest time of the year also happens to be the most wonderful time. . .for Christmas cookies, Hannah’s own special plum pudding–and romance! She also gets a kick out of “Lunatic Larry Jaeger’s Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot,” a kitschy carnival taking place smack-dab in the middle of the village green. But then Hannah discovers the man himself dead as a doornail in his own office. . .
Nothing’s better on Christmas Eve than waiting for the stroke of midnight with a cup of eggnog and a plate of warm gingerbread cookies. But in this merry collection of holiday mysteries, murder is making its own special delivery. . .
“Gingerbread Cookie Murder” By Joanne Fluke
When Hannah Swensen finds her neighbor Ernie Kusak with his head bashed in and sprawled on the floor of his condo next to an upended box of Hannah’s Gingerbread Cookies, she discovers a flurry of murder suspects that’s as long as her holiday shopping list.
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The addition of recipes extends the fun of reading all of her books. I have made every recipe, usually I bake/cook after reading a chapter or two. My family is delighted that I read every book she wrote to date.
LOVE these books!!!!!!
Can’t go wrong with Hannah Swenson
In all of Joanne Fluke’s books, her marvelous characters create a delightful & intriguing read, full of humor & suspense!
Great series, great recipes!
Love, love ,love the Hannah Swenson series, I’ve read them all!
Fun group of books
I have loved all the books I have read in this series and can’t wait to read the rest.
I read every book that Joann Fluke writes because I love Hannah’s authentic perspective regarding her mother, sisters, and the men in her life. She is very real and I feel as if I know her personally. The plots are fresh and keep my interest.
The characters have real personalities and they grow with each book. The murder is not always who you think it is. The recipe add a new and delicious touch, that has inspired me to bake.
All of these books are very entertaining.
Love all the Hannah Swenson books! Own them all!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the characters and the relationships.
3+ stars to Laura Levine’s The Dangers of Candy Canes, a short Christmas novella in the Jaine Austen mystery series. I haven’t read anything by this author before and stumbled across this in a collection of stories about candy cane killers; it was fun and gave me an interest in reading more in this series.
Story
Jaine Austen (no relation) is an unlicensed, sort of part-time, freelance private investigator in LA, and she is preparing for her annual holiday trip back home to Florida to visit family, which she is very unhappy about. Her friend Seymour calls and asks for help when he’s been accused of murder, by way of someone falling off a roof Seymour just finished roofing. Jaine sets about asking all the neighbors and learns the victim was a nasty man with tons of enemies, and someone likely damaged the finished roof on purpose to cause the victim to fall off. Jaine finds several possibilities and as she settles on who she thinks the killer is, she realizes she fell right into the real killer’s trap. But she narrowly survives and ends up having a better trip to Florida.
Strengths
1. Cast of characters were very clear, and each had a motive. I enjoyed the guessing game but still picked the wrong killer. Jaine’s humor is great. She sometimes talks directly to the readers. Also to herself. And she talks to her cat.
2. The sub-plot side-stories were very fun. Prozac the cat and Angel the demon child make for many hilarious moments and good comic relief.
Suggestions
Too short to really find anything that needed improvement or I didn’t like. It received a 3 as it was a very basic story and didn’t have tremendous complexity. If it were longer, and added a few more scenes, it would have been stronger.
Final Thoughts
A definite series to give a shot to… especially when I need to laugh.
Joanne Fluke tells humerous stories you cannot put down.
All 3 were cute just a little short.
Love any story with Hannah and her recipes! She always finds a mystery to solve. The characters are entertaining and I feel like I know them personally