The book: Worth reading if you enjoys mysteries and fattening foods
The author: Worth reading again
Review:
This is the third Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes that I have had the pleasure of reading, although it is the first one that made me realize there is a chronology to Joanne Fluke's stories. One would think I have learned by now not to start a mystery series somewhere in the middle and then jump around to books both before and after, but you'd be mistaken. At least with this series, I believe the books do exist as stand-alone reading. If you're only interested in reading one book in a series, it should not be too difficult to pick up any of these books and just read the one. If you prefer to read through the entire series of books, do a little research and start at the first one. A quick google search tells me that Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder should, in theory, be the first one in this series.
Hannah Swensen is a delightfully pudgy, sarcastic, amateur snoop whose main occupation is running her bakery, The Cookie Jar. Some of the things I like about these books is that Hannah does not lack in the dating department and she seems to deal with the same weight woes as I do, including the reason for such woes: the love of baking and eating cookies, cakes, and pies. This particular book opens with Hannah having to make a decision about which of the two gentlemen who proposed to her, presumably in an earlier book, will be accepted. Having read a couple other books, I already knew the answer, but I did struggle with the suspension of disbelief in how these romances blossomed. I, personally, would never have been able to date someone seriously enough to propose marriage if I knew that individual was still dating other people, yet two men did exactly that with Hannah.
In Cherry Cheesecake Murder, Hollywood comes to Hannah's small town and sets up shop for a week. The director is killed when the prop gun is somehow replaced with a real one, and it's up to Hannah to save the day and find out Whodunnit.
Spread throughout the book are various recipes for the delectable goodies that Hannah and her friends bake, along with commentary about which characters prefer which types of variations. I have yet to try any of these recipes, mostly because my family has a dairy allergy and these recipes seem positively slathered in butter and cream. They sure look like they would be yummy and fairly simple to create.
All in all, I enjoy both the pacing and solutions to these Hannah Swensen Mysteries. Hannah is perhaps one of the more realistic personalities I have ever read in a murder mystery, although I might feel that way simply because I can relate well to her. In this book, the men are not nearly as realistic as the women, in my opinion, but that could simply be because I do not believe their situation could have occurred in my own life. In any case, I plan on reading more of these books in the near future.
Other books I have read in this series:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
Fudge Cupcake Murder
Key Lime Pie Murder
Cream Puff Murder
Apple Turnover Murder
Devil's Food Cake Murder
Lemon Meringue Pie Murder
Peach Cobbler Murder
Blueberry Muffin Murder
After reading more books in this series, I have determined that the main character exists solely for the creation of drama. There is no real point to Hannah otherwise. The further along in the series I go, the more frustrated I get with having to suspend my disbelief in order to finish each book. They are still enjoyable, but not nearly as much as they were when I first started reading them.
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