Thursday, December 5, 2019

The Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

This is technically #23 in the Hannah Swenson Mysteries series, but this one takes the reader back to the beginning before Hannah has even decided to start a cookie shop.  Hannah's father has died and Hannah has come back to help with the funeral.  Hannah's mother is in a deep depression, and to help her get out of it, her friends ask her to organize a city wide Christmas Ball complete with a Christmas Cake Parade.  Hannah is recruited to be the head baker in the endeavor, which ultimately convinces her to take the leap and buy the Cookie Jar. 

You may wonder, after my summary, where is titular murder?  I was wondering the same thing myself.  The first 3/4 of the book consists largely of accounts of Hannah, her mother, and sisters organizing the Christmas party and feeding their faces with a wide range of rich deserts (all recipes included).  The murder doesn't even happen til the last few chapters, and Hannah doesn't really do much to solve it.  I am wondering if Ms Fluke is just running out of ideas.  After 23 books, who could fault her?

No comments:

Post a Comment