Rating: 
Summary: Delicious Small Town Murder
Review: If cozies are your cup of tea, you'll savor this latest entry in the popular Hannah Swensen series. It's charming, chatty, pleasant, and easy to digest. Adding to the fun are the several original (and quite good) cookie recipes and enough baking tips to warrant keeping Fudge Cupcake Murder on the shelves in the kitchen.
--Marcianne Miller, author of The Artful Cupcake
Rating: 
Summary: delicious amateur sleuth
Review: In Lake Eden, Minnesota, Hannah Swenson owns and runs the only bakery and cookie shop in town and business is booming thinks to her excellent baking concoctions. She is helping her brother in law Bill run for town sheriff and is a volunteer teacher for those who want to learn how to make desserts. One night after class, she goes to throw out the garbage only to find the murdered body of the incumbent sheriff Jim Grant.Her boyfriend Mike takes over as acting sheriff and places Bill on admin leave because he is a suspect having had a public fight with Sheriff Grant the day he was killed and offering no alibi for the time the victim was murdered. Hannah's sister Andrea is due to give birth in a couple of weeks and insists that she and Hannah have to clear her husband's name. Bill wants Hannah's help because she has solved homicide cases before but once she proves he isn't the killer, he expects her to back away. Hannah, who likes sleuthing is determined to find the killer, a decision that could kill her. FUDGE CUPCAKE MURDER is one amateur sleuth mystery that should not be read on an empty stomach because there are mouth-watering recipes and descriptions of desserts in almost every chapter that are so good it will kill the Atkins crowd. Joanne Fluke has written a heartwarming cozy with characters caring and looking out for one another. Readers might guess the killer's identity but that will not take away from the delight they will feel when reading this simply super caper novel. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A Yummy read... Joanne Fluke does it again
Review: In this the fifth installment of the Hannah Swensen Murder mysteries, Joanne Fluke shows us again why is she is one of the best loved family-oriented mystery writers out there today. The interaction between her characters is so real that you can almost hear the words being spoken. The tension betweeen Hannah and her two beaus as she struggles to make a decision between them is both funny and believable and her conversations with her sister and mother show exactly what a family would sould like ( given the fact they are such different people). Her plots are relatively easy to follow UNTIL she sneaks up on you with the finish and I really enjoy a book that I can read to my daughter without foul language getting in the way of a good mystery. Oh yes, the recipies are KILLER and there are quite a few of them!
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: It's really startling how a series that has all the potential to be good has gotten so bad. But I guess this is what happens when an author tries to find a new career for a cozy series and picks one that really has nothing to do with police work, causing their character's involvement to be more and more forced the longer the series goes on.
The mystery itself was very easy to figure out, mainly because the culprit's name kept being dropped into paragraphs here and there that somehow tied to a clue that came up a few pages later. If the author was going that route, then she should've spaced these things out better.
There were also way too many subplots going on -- the cooking school, the pregnancy, the cat diet...which had to be the stupidest of all, since anyone who owns a pet knows that you change their food by gradually mixing it with the old food, not by changing it abruptly, giving vitamins or cooking boiled liver.
Hannah's lovelife has also gotten silly already. Two guys dating the same woman are not going to show up to take her out on a date together. She seems to be casually dating them while deciding which one she likes better, but it seems she's not thinking about who she like more, but rather which one she wants to marry. Can we slow down a bit please and develop a relationship before we start picking out wedding china?
The supporting cast are a bunch of buffoons. Andrea isn't able to take a leak without calling Hannah to see if she should pull down her pants before or after she sits down. Lisa seems to have some kind of woman-crush on her. Bill is an officer of the court who encourages Hannah to investigate his cases and stick her nose into police business. The townspeople don't seem to have any faith in the local police since they all encourage Hannah to solve every crime in town, offer her every bit of confidential information and family secret. And even when the other cops do try to discourage her involvement, Hannah thinks nothing of breaking the law in order to keep investigating. Why they don't just change the name of Lake Eden to Hannahville and elect her as mayor, I have no idea.
The writing is also completely amateur. Character's names are overused ("Hannah walked into her bedroom. Then Hannah put on a sweater. After getting a glass of wine, Hannah sat down on the couch. Hannah then reached over to pet Moishe." Does this author not believe in pronouns?). Every little detail is written out for us ("Hannah backed the car down the driveway. Then Hannah backed into the street. Putting the car in gear, Hannah drove forward down the street." I'm glad we were informed that Hannah drove forward down the street or I never would've figured out how she got where she was going!). Go back to basic creative writing school.
On page 223, while watching a movie, Hannah says she enjoys watching this type of flick because "I watch to pick the plots apart and see how many mistakes I can find." That's what reading a Hannah Swenson novel has turned into. As she says on page 229, "the dialog was trite...the plot was nonexistent and the characters were unlikeable...." The only difference is that this series is not immensely enjoyable. Rather, it's gone the way of Nancy J. Cohen's "Bad Hair Day" mysteries -- leaving me wondering if it's true that anybody can get published if they have the right connections.
Rating:
Summary: Strong on Character, Short on Mystery
Review: Right at the top, let me assure you that I love the Hannah Swenson series. Perhaps I've read too many, or maybe I was just on the right wave-length, but I knew the killer even before I knew the motive, and I knew that a few chapters later. It took Hannah quite a bit longer to figure it out. Still, I adore these characters and Ms. Fluke's writing. If you're a fan, you'll still love it; just don't expect a heavy dose of mystery.
Rating:
Summary: It was a sweet success
Review: This book was such a delightful read. I started reading it, and found that I could not put it down. Not only was it a fun read, but the recipes were wonderful. If you like cooking, murder, mystery, and fun, then read this book. When the sheriff is found dead, there are a lot of suspects including Hannah's brother-in-law. Once again she works her magic and figures out who killed the sheriff. My question is -- who will Hannah end up with, the hunky cop, or the stable dentist?
Rating:
Summary: Fudge Cupcake Murder: A HannahSwenson Mystery
Review: This is a light hearted piece of fluff with great recipes. Hannah has a family and life that many of people can relate to whether they be male or female. The mysteries are woven into the family life and community in a far northern city. Ice fishing and endless snow in the winter and melting hot weather in the summer. Hannah's Fudge Cupcakes are to die for, sometimes trying to find certain ingredients can be a challenge. Most recipes are easy and should be started ahead of when needed and baked the next day. The plot will keep you turning the pages to try to figure out "who dunit". This is a fun read but still challenging.
Rating:
Summary: Fudge Cupcake Murder: A HannahSwenson Mystery
Review: This is a light hearted piece of fluff with great recipes. Hannah has a family and life that many of people can relate to whether they be male or female. The mysteries are woven into the family life and community in a far northern city. Ice fishing and endless snow in the winter and melting hot weather in the summer. Hannah's Fudge Cupcakes are to die for, sometimes trying to find certain ingredients can be a challenge. Most recipes are easy and should be started ahead of when needed and baked the next day. The plot will keep you turning the pages to try to figure out "who dunit". This is a fun read but still challenging.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read
Review: This is another great mystery from Joanne Fluke. Her characters are great and the recipes are wonderful! I do wish that Hannah would stop dating two men and choose one, though. I find this very annoying!
Rating:
Summary: Fun and well written
Review: When cookie caterer Hanna Swensen's brother-in-law becomes a murder suspect, Hanna throws herself into the investigation. Bill was running for Sheriff against the victim and he might lose the race because of the suspicion. What Hanna finds is that Sheriff Grant had plenty of enemies, including both Bill, his own wife, and just about every deputy in the Sheriff's office. Still, she doesn't need more suspects, she needs evidence to clear Bill and, she hopes, to find the actual killer. Of course, an amateur sleuth has more to do than follow clues. Hanna has her cookie business to run, a pregnant sister to take care of, a mother who's continually demanding that she settle down, get married, and start producing children, and two boyfriends to balance. One of the boyfriends, Mike, just happens to be the acting sheriff who put Bill on suspension. So, unless she can clear Bill, she's also cut herself off from the man who sends her hormones into overdrive. Author Joanne Fluke writes a breasy and page-turning mystery filled with character, co-dependent family life, and a number of cookie and desert recipes--including the Fudge Cupcakes of the title. Although the solution to the mystery is telegraphed a bit obviously, Fluke manages to stage a thrilling rescue and even hints at a way out of the boyfriend mess. FUDGE CUPCAKE MURDER is a fun and well-written mystery.
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