Fudge Cupcake Murder: A Hannah Swenson Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Dangerous book if you're dieting...
Review: Another winner in the Cookie Jar mystery series. Hannah has her hands full! She's still in a quandry over two handsome beaus; her sister is still pregnant; her kitty, Moishe, is not happy; her Mother is, as usual, critical and has a secret; Mike, her brother-in-law, is suspect #1 in the murder of the Sheriff that happens to be who Mike is running against during a close election. Said Sheriff just ate one of Hannah's cupcakes minutes before he's murdered and thrown into a dumpster.
Now, all she has to do is get her kitty to eat again, slueth with her expectant sister to get Mike off "suspension pending investigation"; figure out what her Mother is hiding; bake for her thriving business at the cookie jar while she tests recipes and puts together a Lake Eden Cook Book whose deadline has been pushed forward by three months!
The recipes are excellent and all you cookie party gals will find the new Hannah Banana cookie delicious!
Now, don't read the recipes first; she gives a really good clue in the beginning, as to the secret ingredient missing from the Fudge cupcake recipe entry and it was fun to figure it out with her.

Rating:
Summary: Food, Murder and Fun
Review: Hannah Swenson has found another body. This time Sheriff Grant has been murdered. Then her sister Andrea, who is eight months pregnant with her second child, calls to tell her that Bill, Andrea's husband, has been suspended. He is a Deputy and was running for Sheriff against Sheriff Grant. Mike, one of the men Hannah dates, put Bill on administrative leave until he could be cleared from the murder.

Andrea and Hannah decide to begin investigating to clear Bill so that he will get back to work. He is driving Andrea crazy at home. He keeps cleaning and organizing and ends up throwing a lot of Andrea's things away.

Hannah owns and runs with her partner Lisa the Cookie Jar. They are preparing for Halloween and Hannah doesn't know how she ever did it without Lisa. Lisa helps the investigation by letting Hannah be gone a lot. Also, Lisa and Hannah are trying to determine the missing surprise ingredient for Alma's Fudge Cupcakes. Unfortunately she died without telling anyone the surprise ingredient and her son Ted wants to add it to the recipe book Hannah is compiling from recipes of people from town. She is also running a cooking class that is trying out all the recipes to catch errors and decide which recipes should go into the book.

There is also the fact that not only does Hannah date Mike from the Sheriff's office, but she also dates Norman, a dentist. During most of the book Norman is out of town. The tension Hannah feels about not knowing which one she likes better really adds to this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it and all the other books in this series. The recipes are always great, too. Who doesn't like a mystery filled with food? Important Note: please check out the author's website: www.murdershebaked.com before trying the Fudge Cupcake recipe as there is a typo in the ingredients.

The small town she has created in this book is great. There are so many different characters but they interact so well. I felt as if I had really visited Lake Eden when I finished this book.

Hannah, her mother, and her sister Andrea are great characters. She has done a great job in creating them and the many mother/daughter and sister strifes. It is all so believable and enjoyable.

Hope you try this book and series, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Food, Murder and Fun
Review: Hannah Swenson has found another body. This time Sheriff Grant has been murdered. Then her sister Andrea, who is eight months pregnant with her second child, calls to tell her that Bill, Andrea's husband, has been suspended. He is a Deputy and was running for Sheriff against Sheriff Grant. Mike, one of the men Hannah dates, put Bill on administrative leave until he could be cleared from the murder.

Andrea and Hannah decide to begin investigating to clear Bill so that he will get back to work. He is driving Andrea crazy at home. He keeps cleaning and organizing and ends up throwing a lot of Andrea's things away.

Hannah owns and runs with her partner Lisa the Cookie Jar. They are preparing for Halloween and Hannah doesn't know how she ever did it without Lisa. Lisa helps the investigation by letting Hannah be gone a lot. Also, Lisa and Hannah are trying to determine the missing surprise ingredient for Alma's Fudge Cupcakes. Unfortunately she died without telling anyone the surprise ingredient and her son Ted wants to add it to the recipe book Hannah is compiling from recipes of people from town. She is also running a cooking class that is trying out all the recipes to catch errors and decide which recipes should go into the book.

There is also the fact that not only does Hannah date Mike from the Sheriff's office, but she also dates Norman, a dentist. During most of the book Norman is out of town. The tension Hannah feels about not knowing which one she likes better really adds to this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it and all the other books in this series. The recipes are always great, too. Who doesn't like a mystery filled with food? Important Note: please check out the author's website: www.murdershebaked.com before trying the Fudge Cupcake recipe as there is a typo in the ingredients.

The small town she has created in this book is great. There are so many different characters but they interact so well. I felt as if I had really visited Lake Eden when I finished this book.

Hannah, her mother, and her sister Andrea are great characters. She has done a great job in creating them and the many mother/daughter and sister strifes. It is all so believable and enjoyable.

Hope you try this book and series, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: What Is The Secret Ingrediant
Review: Hannah Swenson, owner of the Cookie Jar in Lake Eden, Minnesota is having a couple of problems.

First there's the sheriff's race, where Bill, her sister Andrea's husband is running against Sheriff Grant.

Secondly, she's attempting to put together a cookbook filled with Lake Eden's favorite Potluck dishes. And the late Mrs. Koester's fudge cupcakes are proving a problem.

Beatrice Koester's very anxious to have the cupcake in the cookbook, for her husband Ted's sake. He & mom were very close. Unfortunately, the recipe includes 1/2 cup of secret ingredient. It's up to Hannah and her partner Lisa to try and find out what that ingredient is.

So it trial and error as they bake and bake. Hannah's first batch is taking to the Potluck Cooking class that she's teaching at the local community college. (They're testing all the recipes.)

Sheriff Grant is at the college, and Hannah gives him a couple of cupcakes to try out. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to give a review as when she's putting out the trash, Hannah finds the Sheriff's body in the dumpster.

Who'd want the sheriff dead? Did it have anything to do with the election? What about his son's death in a car accident a couple years ago? Or maybe it was the "big case" he always found and solved just before elections.

Things get even worse, when Bill is taken off duty by acting Sheriff Mike Kingston,(Hannah's Boyfriend), as a possible suspect.

Hannah and Andrea have to work hard to find who the killer is, before Bill gets arrested.

Highlights:

Hannah's relationship with her two boyfriends, Mike the Cop and Norman the Dentist. Both great guys, and it's unusual for there to be two boyfriends in a series.

Family and Friends. This series has wonderful relationships between Hannah and her family and her friends. There are a lot of returning characters in each book, you really get to know them well.

Murder Victim - Another unusual thing to this series, is that the murder victim is often someone who has appeared in previous books. Sheriff Grant has been in the books from the first, so it was surprising to have him killed off.

Hannah's cat Moishe. He almost makes me a cat lover.

Great Recipe's.

Lowlights:

Guessing the killer was too easy. I knew who did it very early, but not why, so it was still an enjoyable mystery.

Hannah acting totally stupid at the end of the book. There was no reason for any of it to happen if she had done things a little smarter.

This is a great series. I've already pre-ordered the next one, The Sugar Cookie Murder.

If you're looking for another good series to read while you're waiting, I found a one by Victoria Pade, there's only two books, Divorce Can Be Murder & Dating Can Be Deadly, but they're both very funny along with a good mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Politics Get Deadly
Review: Hannah's life is very full. Not only is she juggling the demands of running The Cookie Jar, but her brother-in-law is running for sheriff in a very tight race and she's trying to organize the recipes for the Lake Eden cookbook. One night, as she's taking the trash out after her potluck cooking class (a convenient way to test all the recipes to make sure they're right before the book goes to print), she finds the body of Sheriff Grant in the dumpster. Now Bill is suspended from work because he's a suspect, and Hannah must clear him by finding the killer before he drives the very pregnant Andrea crazy cleaning out their house. This also adds major complications to Hannah's relationship with Bill's partner Mike. Meanwhile, her mother is acting strangely, and she needs to get her cat to eat his senior cat food. And she's searching for the missing ingredient in Mrs. Koester's fudge cupcake recipe so it can make the book. Can Hannah juggle all these competing demands?

Needless to say, there's never a dull moment in this book. There are a few times when the murder investigation seems to stall briefly, but the other sub-plots take up the slack. Frankly, I hardly noticed because there is so much else happening. The mystery does progress well, with an ending I figured out a little before Hannah, but not by much. All the characters we've come to love are back, and it's definitely a wonderful visit with old friends. This book contains 10 delicious sounding recipes. (A word about the title recipe. The first edition contains an error. It should read 1 1/2 teaspoons baking POWDER not baking soda. This will be fixed in all future editions.)

Is it possible to get the warm fuzzies from a murder mystery? If so, this is the series to do it. If you like your murder served cozy, look no further then this fun series.

Rating:
Summary: if you like cats and cooking read this book now
Review: i have read all of ms fluke's cat cookbook mysteries. they get better each time as we learn about her well crafted characters. they are also non violent and and make your mouth water. try them you will like them

Rating:
Summary: Another Sweet Morsel
Review: I look forward to each new Hannah Swenson mystery like a kid waiting for Santa. I'm not going to give away even a smidgen of the plot, but suffice it to say that as usual, Hannah is up to her elbows in another town mystery. There are unexpected twists and turns and will keep you guessing all the way from beginning to end. I love the way Joanne Fluke writes. The story never bogs down and will keep you turning page after page. All of her books in this series have a wonderfully 'homey" feeling. You feel like you're getting together with old friends and family as Hannah sleuths her way to the unmasking of another culprit. I can never figure out who the bad guy is, and once again, I was amazed at the ending. And of course, last but not least is the bonus of more mouth-watering recipes from the Cookie Jar to add to your collection. Once again Fluke has a winner on her hands. Another great book for all ages. One that the whole family can enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: What Is The Secret Ingrediant
Review: I really enjoyed "Fudge Cupcake Murder: A Hannah Swenson Mystery" - there is a good mystery to follow, lots of family drama and some amazing dessert recipes as well.

From reading the other reviews listed here, you would think that the mystery is not so mysterious, as everyone seemed to solve it rather early in the story. I may have been the only one that didn't catch on right away, but when all is revealed it made perfect sense. Maybe I got too wrapped up in the family dramas going on in Hannah's life (a pregnant sister, over bearing mother and TWO boyfriends!) to solve the mystery sooner, but the fact that I got lost in this book shows how good it is.

"Fudge Cupcake Murder" gets an A+ from me and I'll be getting my hands on more of the Hannah Swenson series soon! What a great character she is.

By the way, the fudge cupcakes referred to in the title are incredibly delicious!

Rating:
Summary: Cover Art is Great Too...
Review: I really love the Joanna Fluke series. I like the characters, the plots, LOVE the recipes and have to state that the cover art by Hiro Kimura is just FANTASTIC. The cover art is what drew (no pun intended) me to the series in the first place. Once I started, I read them all. I now eagerly look forward to the next in the series.

I especially like the changing dynamics between Joanna and her sisters. It is realistic and multi-faceted.

Rating:
Summary: an entertaining but "light" read
Review: I'm a fan of the Hannah Swenson mystery novels, but I have to admit, I kept on reading "Fudge Cupcake Murder" because I enjoyed the interactions between the characters and because I wanted to know if Hannah had made up her mind as to which one of her beaux (handsome police detective Mike Kingston who makes her pulses race, or dependable dentist Norman Rhodes who seems to be her soul-mate in so many ways) she was going to settle on. If you're looking for an enjoyable "light" read that is entertaining and will keep you absorbing in what's going on, than you'll enjoy "Fudge Cupcake Murder" -- esp if you enjoy reading about the creation of different kinds of cookies/biscuits; if, however, you're looking for a mystery novel that will keep you glued to the edge of your seat, that's suspenseful and engrossing, than you might want to try something else.

In between trying to vet all the submissions for the Lake Eden cookbook; teach a class on desert making; juggle two boyfriends (even if one is currently out of town); support her sister, Andrea, who is heavily pregnant and whose policeman husband (Bill) is running for the position as sheriff in the upcoming elections, Hannah must now also fit in a murder investigation! The incumbent sheriff, who was running for reelection, has been found murdered, and Bill, is suspected of the crime because of the angry words and threats that the two men exchanged just hours before the murder. With Bill's reputation and election bid on line (and Andrea's sanity: a suspended Bill is driving Andrea 'round the bend), Hannah will have to put her detective hat on again in order to discover who murdered the sheriff and clear Bill's name even if it does upset Mike Kingston...

Mystery-wise, everything (the clues and suspects) only really came together in the last quarter of the book. Up until then, what really moved the novel forward was the dynamics between the characters and the snappy and breezy dialogue. "Fudge Cupcake Murder" was entertaining and enjoyable -- it may not be the mystery read of the year or month, but it was fun. I especially enjoyed Joanne Fluke's vivid portrayal of what life with an intelligent and stubborn cat is like. So, if you're looking for a good, light and easy read to pass the time on a trip or rainy weekend, this just might do.