Customer Reviews

Strawberry Shortcake Murder

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hannah Swensen, baker of the highly successful bakery of The Cookie Jar, located in small town Lake Eden, Minnesota, returns once again to solve a vicious murder mystery when she finds a body, all the while baking up dozens of cookies for The Cookie Jar.

The CEO of the Hartland Flour company decides to use small town Lake Eden, Minnesota, as the place for the first annual Hartland Flour Bake-Off. The CEO came up with the idea to help boost marketing sales for their flour. Everyone in Lake Eden is excited about the bake-off, but none as much as Hannah Swensen, since she's the head judge, and will be making her own dessert recipes live on Channel 4.

But one of the other judges, Coach Boyd Watson, who Hannah knows full well physically abuses his wife Danielle, provides some downright destructive and cruel criticism for the losing contestants. Hannah, having some leftovers of the dessert she had made earlier on the bake-off show, Strawberry Shortcake Swensen, lets Boyd take the rest of it. Later, Hannah gets a breathless call from Danielle, in hysterics, who pleads for Hannah to come to the house. When Hannah gets there, Danielle, still recovering from the flu, leads her to the garage, where a bloody hammer lies on the floor, and blood is spattered all over the walls---mixed in with strawberry juice from the remnants Hannah's leftover strawberry shortcake. And the blood belongs to none other than Boyd, whose skull was ruthlessly smashed in by the hammer.

Though Hannah's sometimes-boyfriend, Detective Mike Kingston, begs Hannah to refrain from her own little investigations on the murder, Hannah feels obliged to Danielle, her friend, especially since Danielle is the number-one suspect as Boyd's killer. Hannah can't let her friend be thrown into jail for a crime Hannah knows she did not commit, so Hannah decides to investigate Boyd's murder.

Strawberry Shortcake Murder is a great mystery novel. Sure, it may not be the most intelligence-driven or the most suspenseful, but it does exactly what a cozy mystery should, and Joanne Fluke writes wacky characters, delicious desserts, and a lovable pet cat in to a doggone good any cozy or culinary mystery fans will surely love.

Highly recommended!

I would have given it 5 stars but I was mad because I figured out who the killer was. Now THAT is annoying!
But I will continues to read her books because I am hooked on the series. The books are not a hard read; I liken this series to the recipes included in them: fluffy and sweet, empty calories, but enjoyable!
I would aslo highly recommend that one reads the series in order as the author mentions events in this book that happened in the first one, which is annoying if you haven't read the first book but great if you have because then you get to see how the characters are developping.

This series is great and the characters are ones that you want to read about more. I constantly felt the need to go bake (and sample!) the many great recipes that were included in the book.

The mysteries are light, but not thoroughly transparent. I'll get the next book that comes out in this series!

This is one of the best culinary mystery series for it incorporates recipes into the storyline. It makes you want to make every "cookie" item and savor the relationships expressed by the characters. Art work used on the cover just enhances the anticipation of the food and mystery to follow. Keep them coming and watch the calories!

The 2nd book in the Hannah Swensen mystery series involves another case solved by an owner of a Minnesota bakery called The Cookie Jar. Hannah is also an amateur sleuth (having previously helped the police solve a murder involving a friend) and likes to get involved in police matters in between baking. In this book, the murder victim is Coach Boyd, a loudmouth, and nasty judge at the town's first Hartland Flour Baking Contest. He is murdered, and his battered wife enlists Hannah's help in finding the murderer, claiming her innocence. However, with her fingerprints all over the murder weapon and a strong motive of spousal abuse even Hannah will have trouble proving this abused wife's innocence.

This was an excellent read more for the character relationships than it was for the mystery. Although the mystery was interesting, I find the characters engaging and the town "warm" despite the cold temperatures. The dialogue between the characters gets repetitive at times (they are constantly repeating one another's names) but overall, this is a light, entertaining mystery series. Also included in these books are yummy recipes that you can try which is a nice treat while you read the books!

I would recommend that you read the first book in the series, The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murders, before you read this book as it gives a lot of background on the other characters in this series. Enjoy!

A Cozy Lover

I've become hooked on this mystery series, although I can't figure out why! The writing is repetitive; there are pages and pages of irrelevant detail; and the recipes (although they sound great) are written in a very patronizing way! But the characters and the setting are appealing (even if Hannah is too self-congratulatory and not very insightful -- it's the others who make the books worthwhile), and they are fun, quick reads.

I am so glad that I stumble accross JoAnne Fluke. I eally enjoyed tis book.Its a mice relaxing read. I must be honest though. I almost enjoyed the "sub-plots as much as the mystery itself. The people in this little town ar wonderful. It's amusing to see Hanna's mother try to take a hand in her life and how she draws her sister into her mischief!

After what she promised her anxious mother would be her one and only foray into crime-solving, Hannah Swenson (Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, 2000) is ready to return to relative obscurity as proprietor of The Cookie Jar, the favorite spot for coffee-and-whatever in Lake Eden, Minnesota. She may thwart mama's desires by dating sexy cop Mike Kingston rather than steady-Eddie dentist Norman Rhoades. She may even agree to a brief stint as head judge of Hartland Flour's Dessert Bake-Off (to be televised locally following the nightly news). But no more murders. At least, not until fellow judge Boyd Watson, coach of the Jordan High School basketball team, turns up in his garage lying face downward in a puddle of strawberries and crème fraîche. His wife Danielle, home nursing her latest black eye, is so sure she'll be accused that she goes ballistic. So, moved by Danielle's pleas, Hannah agrees to try her hand at detection just one more time, enlisting the help of her chic and poised sister Andrea (and in the process resolving their long-standing smart-vs.-pretty-sister rivalry). Together, the two Nancy Drews search every hidden corner of the tiny midwestern Mecca, asking unguarded questions of everyone who might possibly know anything about the murder-including, of course, the murderer. For all her recklessness, though, does anybody believe Hannah won't be available for still more encores? Fluke's small deviations from formula are laudable, but not enough to counterbalance her draggy pace and clumsy clueing.

Hannah Swensen is among the judges for the Hartland flour company's cookoff. One of the judges drops out and she is forced to find another. The local basketball coach volunteers, but the abrasive wife beater makes no friends at the contest. Later that evening, he is found dead in his garage. Since his wife Danielle is suspected of the murder, Hannah feels obligated to find the killer.

There is alot going on in this novel, murder, cooking, blackmail, and drugs. The murderer is not difficult to figure out, but the book is alot of fun, nevertheless.

Inconsistent behavior from the characters in books bugs me. If Hannah doesn't like hearing her mother talk about how she ought to get married in early morning phone calls, why doesn't she get caller ID? For that matter, why doesn't she get a portable phone & not have to go to such lengths to satisfy her cat & mother simultaneously? And how can anyone run a business when they're away from the place as often as the baker owner of the Cookie Jar is, for that matter? The book isn't bad but the main character certainly is annoying.