Product Description

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 recipes Hannah has collected for the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet Cookbook.

The recently divorced Martin Dubinski arrives at the buffet with his new Vegas showgirl wife?all wrapped up in glitter and fur. His ex-wife, however, seems as cool as chilled eggnog. And when Hannah?s mother?s antique Christmas cake knife disappears, its discovery in the d?colletage of the new?and now late?Mrs. Dubinski puts the festivities on ice.

With everyone stranded at the community center by a blizzard, Hannah puts her investigative skills to the test, using the ingredients at hand: half the town of Lake Eden?and a killer. Now, as the snowdrifts get higher, it?s up to Hannah to dig out all the clues?and make sure that this white Christmas doesn?t bring any more deadly tidings?

?Wacky and delightful characters, plus tempting recipes from appetizers to desserts, make this lighthearted offering sure to please the palate of any cozy fan.??Publishers Weekly

?Fluke?s talent for spinning a mesmerizing tale carries on in this sixth book, and its holiday recipes are an added treat for readers.??Times News Record

?A clever and delicious treat for Christmas.??Mystery Lovers Bookshop News

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18667 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780758206824
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
In her first holiday mystery, Fluke (Fudge Cupcake Murder, etc.) takes her series heroine, Hannah Swensen, amateur sleuth and owner of the Cookie Jar bakery in Lake Eden, Minn., through a delectable culinary romp. Hannah has compiled a cookbook of the locals' favorite recipes, which are to be featured at the Christmas party at Lake Eden's community center. All the residents gather for a festive evening, including Martin Dubinski and his wife of two days, Brandi Wyen, a Las Vegas dancer who's decked out in a new fur coat and antique emerald ring. The couple provide much food for thought and speculation, especially for Martin's mother, ex-mother-in-law and ex-wife. Cleaning up after the dinner, Hannah notices her mother's silver cake knife is missing; soon after, she finds the knife stuck in the chest of the new Mrs. Dubinski, who's lying dead in the parking lot. With her sisters and friends, she goes into action to help Det. Mike Kingston solve the case. Wacky and delightful characters, plus tempting recipes from appetizers to desserts, make this lighthearted offering sure to please the palate of any cozy fan.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Not Much Mystery
This is my first book in the Hanna Swensen series and I'm not sure I will look for others.

I didn't realize what a huge genre of "cookbook mysteries" are out there! I picked up a bunch of paperbacks at a rummage sale and there were a half-dozen of these types of stories all by different authors. That said, "Sugar Cookie Murder" wasn't one of the better ones.

Since I haven't read any of the previous books in this series, I have only this book to base my opinions on and that might be unfair. However, this is supposed to be a stand-alone book.

Anyway, as several reviewers noted, the "mystery" was hardly a mystery at all. The climax was horribly disappointing -- a quick confession and bang, end of mystery. Apparently the cops did nothing but guard the doors and the detective sat in an office being cranky while Hannah and her sisters ran around and solved the "mystery". Almost all the action -- such as it was -- took place in the banquet hall and focused on describing food. Lots of food. With a few million references to how cold it gets in Minnesota and how everyone there can drive through a blizzard like it was a warm sunny day. Obviously there is a history between all the residents which, fortunately, wasn't too heavy-handed although it did get kind of confusing now and then.

I didn't particularly like the characters, either. Again, the shallowness of everyone might have been because it's part of a series and there was more character-building earlier on. But Hannah came off as a bit whiney, controlling and indecisive. She has two guys on a string -- one is too good to be true but kind of ordinary, the other is an obnoxious, self-serving cop who is apparently hot for his secretary and Hannah both making him a class-A jerk, but he's a hunk so Hannah seems to cozy up with him moreso than the other guy. But she uses the other guy whenever it suits her so she's not much better than the cop. The sisters seem two dimensional, the mother is a ditz and the rest of the cast are mere shadows on the wall.

The reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 (too bad sometimes you can't give 0 stars!) was because I am hoping/assuming the earlier books were better and this was just a filler book. If I run across more of Joanne Fluke's books at a rummage sale I might buy them but I'm sure I won't be spending full price -- paperback or hardcover -- for any of them.

spend your money on sugar cookies!
This weekend we completed the new Joanne Fluke book, The Sugar Cookie Murder, and I've got to be honest.... it was a real disappointment. She's losing her edge. It looks like a thick book, but half of it is recipes. Now that wouldn't be so bad if they were good recipes, but there may have been two out of the whole lot that interested me at all. Yuck! So then I had hoped that the story would make up for the bad recipes. No such luck.

This is the first book where the entire story revolves around a town Christmas party that takes place one night. Yes, the entire book is about one night. While Dan Brown can pull off a tome that takes place over 24 hours, Joanne Fluke cannot. There is very little movement in the book, making it very slow. And the murder doesn't even happen until you are ONE THIRD of the way through the book!!! She should know better than that! I only hung in there because I thought it was going to get interesting at some point in time. It never quite made it.

While I have read every one of Fluke's books and loved them, this one is a definite exception. And I am very tired of Fluke keeping Hannah in technology limbo--not even a cordless caller ID phone, much less a cell phone! Come on!! Even rural Minnesota has cell phone and caller ID technology!!!! Hannah can't be THAT backwards! I am also tired of Fluke stringing us along with this whole Norman/Mike thing. Mike is way too sexist for Hannah (for ANY woman, for that matter!), and Norman is wonderful. Stop yanking our chains, Fluke, and move on with the story line!!!

So Joanne Fluke fans, this one is fine to pass up. You won't miss a thing that won't be summarized in detail many times over in her next book. And the recipes are not worth it either! Trust me on this one.

Very Disappointing
I've read all the books in the Hannah Swensen series, and this one is a huge disappointment. Look, I LOVE to cook. But I do not read these books for the recipes. I like the fact that she included the cookie recipes in past books, but come on! Over half this book is recipes! I was shocked when the story ended on pg. 168. (The book has 341 pgs.) And the plot just didn't work. It was all so contrived, and Hannah was annoying. I would not recommend this one at all. I'd give it zero stars, but the system won't let me!