Barb's Book Reviews: Review of "Raspberry Danish Murder: A Hannah Swenson Mystery with Recipes!" by Joanne Fluke

Monday, October 15, 2018

Review of "Raspberry Danish Murder: A Hannah Swenson Mystery with Recipes!" by Joanne Fluke

In this 22nd book in the 'Hannah Swensen' series, Hannah investigates the death of a television station employee. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the characters is a bonus.

Warning: If you haven't kept up with the series this review will contain a minor spoiler.

*****

Hannah Swenson, owner of 'The Cookie Jar' confectionary in Lake Eden, Minnesota, is a talented baker and experienced amateur detective.

As the story opens, Hannah's new husband, Ross Barton, has disappeared, taking nothing but his condominium keys.

The police - and Hannah - are looking for Ross, but have no clues as to why he left or where he went. The mystery only deepens when Hannah pays a routine visit to the bank and makes a startling discovery.

Shortly after Ross vanishes, his assistant at KCOW-TV, P.K. Aylesworth, is poisoned by chocolates left on Ross's desk....which P.K. has been using. The police don't know whether Ross or P.K. was the intended victim, but P.K. is dead - so the official investigation centers on him.

Hannah and her sister Michelle take up the cudgel as well, and make inquiries about P.K.'s co-workers, family, girlfriend, etc.....to see who might have wanted him dead.

In between her sleuthing activities, Hannah is running her bakery; testing new recipes with Michelle.....

.....having her former boyfriends (and current best buddies) dentist Norman.....

.....and police detective Mike over to dinner;

going to restaurants with Norman and Michelle; worrying about her cat Moishe - who's sleeping more than usual; getting Michelle a reliable used car; manning a cookie booth at the 'Holiday Gift Convention'; and more.

That's the gist of the story, which takes up about half the book. The other half of the book is composed of recipes - for cookies, pastries, and savory foods (see below). I like recipes in novels, but this book has too many.....and it feels like serious padding.

I have other issues with the book as well: much of the dialogue is stilted and unnatural; there are excessive descriptions of common things - like traveler's checks, yearbooks, and safe deposit boxes - that most people are familiar with; and Hannah and Michelle would have to be in the gym for half their lives to work off all the cookies they eat.

Cookies for breakfast; cookies for snacks; cookies for dessert; and frequent cookie-tasting to try out new recipes. This would put the average person into sugar shock! And anyone who drank as much coffee as these folks would never fall asleep.

My biggest problem, however, is with Hannah's demeanor. Considering that her husband Ross is missing, Hannah is unusually cheerful, happy, and busy.....when I would expect her to be sad, depressed and worried. One could almost imagine that Hannah is happy Ross is gone (and maybe she is 😉).

This book seems out of sync with previous novels in the series, and I wonder if a ghostwriter was involved. Still, I'd recommend the book to devoted Hannah Swenson fans, and to people interested in the recipes, which sound yummy.

Partial list of recipes in the book:
Raspberry Danish
Cherry Chocolate Bar Cookies
Pineapple Crunch Cookies
Light Fandango Cookies
Mixed Berry Muffins
Blueberry Shortbread Bar Cookies
Pineapple Raisin Whippersnapper Cookies
Ultimate Fudgy Chocolate Bundt Cake
Upside Down Pear Coffee Cake
Maple Crunch Cookies
Sweet and Salty Strawberry Bar Cookies
Chocolate Cashew Bar Cookies
Butterscotch Marshmallow Bar Cookies
Chocolate Caramel Bar Cookies
Piccadilly Mini Cheese Muffins
Omelet Squares
Jambalaya
Pizza Dip (appetizer)
Asparagus Rolls

Raspberry Danish

Pineapple Crunch Cookies

Mixed Berry Muffins

Ultimate Fudgy Chocolate Bundt Cake

Maple Crunch Cookies

Chocolate Cashew Bar Cookies

Piccadilly Mini Cheese Muffins

Omelet Squares

Pizza Dip (appetizer)

Asparagus Rolls

Rating: 3 stars

2 comments:

Carla Loves to ReadOctober 17, 2018 at 2:51 PM
I have not read them all, just a few here and there. Interesting that you felt it was out of sync. I often wonder how they come up with that many viable stories in one series. I think I have this one on my tablet already, but I understand your concerns for sure.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Barb SafferOctober 17, 2018 at 9:37 PM
Thank you for your comments Carla. I think the author attempted a change of direction with the series, which didn't work that well. 😊
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Featured Post

The story opens in 1966, when thirty-seven year old Maddie Morgenstern Schwartz is a beautiful Jewish housewife with an attorney husband named Milton, a teenage son called Seth, and a lovely home in a toney Baltimore neighborhood. Many women of Maddie's generation would be happy with this life, but Maddie has ambitions for a career, so she moves out to follow her dreams. Living in a small apartment - and barely making ends meet - Maddie decides to report her diamond ring stolen for the insurance money. This acquaints Maddie with an attractive black cop named Ferdie, with whom she embarks on a TORRID affair. Given the racially charged times, Maddie and Ferdie's relationship is confined to Maddie's apartment save one 'date' at an Orioles game, where the duo pretend to be strangers making conversation. While Maddie is struggling financially, an 11-year-old girl named Tessie Fine goes missing from Maddie's former Baltimore neighborhood. Maddie joins the search and stumbles on Tessie's body near her old high school make-out spot. Afterwards, Maddie strikes up a correspondence with the prime suspect in Tessie's death, who's in jail, and unearths a clue about the crime. Maddie parlays this correspondence into a job at the Baltimore Star, assisting the consumer helpline columnist......

Featured Post

This book, about a VERY dangerous volcano, is a collaboration between Michael Crichton and James Patterson. In the backstory, Michael's wife Sherri explains that Michael was interested in volcanoes, and had begun a book, whose working title was 'The Black Zone', before he died. Sherri found the partial manuscript in Michael's archives, and felt the book should be completed. Sherri considered various collaborators, and when she met James Patterson, she knew she'd found the right guy. The result is 'Eruption.' ***** As the story opens, the Mauna Loa volcano - one of the five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii - is heating up, causing earth tremors, and getting ready to erupt. Volcanologist Dr. John MacGregor (Mac), head of the Hawaiian Volcano Institute, determines the volcano will explode in about five days. A volcano eruption is dangerous enough, but Mauna Loa is especially treacherous. Mac learns this when he's summoned to a meeting with some military brass, one of whom is Colonel James Briggs. Briggs takes Mac to a huge lava tube (like a cave) in Mauna Loa, which is filled with storage receptacles containing radioactive herbicides.......

Featured Post

London printing company saleswoman Sam Kemp was given a one-day gift pass to a high-end gym. Since the pass is about to expire, Sam decides to use it one morning before a series of sales calls. At the facility, there's a mix-up in the locker room, and Sam grabs a lookalike gym bag on her way out, leaving her own gym bag behind. Riding to to her first meeting with several colleagues, Sam reaches into the gym bag for her shoes, and instead of her sensible black pumps, Sam finds red Louboutin sling-backs with four inch heels. Sam can't go to a sales meeting in flip-flops, so she dons the Louboutins and finds that the sexy shoes fascinate clients and help with sales. This is important to Sam because she has a new boss, a nasty misogynist named Simon who's ALWAYS on Sam's case. Simon constantly says Sam can't do anything right and insinuates she's dispensable. Sam can't lose her job because she's currently the family's sole breadwinner. Sam's husband Phil - who recently lost his father and his job - just sits on the sofa and watches television. Phil is clinically depressed, but he refuses to take medication or get help......

Featured Post

Donald G. McNeil Jr. was a New York Times science and health reporter for twenty-five years. In that time, McNeil became an expert on pandemics, and he shares his insights in this book. The treatise is divided into four parts: Initial Reflections on Pandemics; The Tangled Roots of Pandemics; The Human Factors That Spread Pandemics; and Some Ways to Head Off Future Pandemics. 🧬 Initial Reflections on Pandemics Since it's so recent, the Covid pandemic is well-known around the globe. Many plagues have come and gone, however, most of which are not in the world's collective consciousness. McNeil is more conversant with global contagions than most, his first 'up close' experience being in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1998, at an orphanage full of HIV-positive children doomed to die. South African AIDS Orphanage Triple-therapy antiretroviral cocktails for HIV were available, but they were expensive, and South Africa couldn't afford them. There were negotiations and patent wars and so on, and in time, pharmaceutical companies were (essentially) pressured into selling the drugs to poor countries for reduced prices. McNeil observes, "The world was changing its attitude toward the dying poor." This is important for many reasons, one being that - in our interconnected world - ANY reservoir for contagious diseases is a potential threat to everyone......

Featured Post

In this 7th book in the 'Chet and Bernie' series, the detective team investigates a murder far from their home turf. ***** In the Chet and Bernie stories, Bernie Little and his hundred-plus pound dog Chet run the Little Detective Agency in Arizona. The books are narrated by Chet, whose somewhat limited vocabulary, unfamiliarity with idioms, doggie logic, and tendency to get distracted set the stage for plenty of smiles. Bernie is a West Point graduate, war veteran, former police lieutenant, and talented private detective. Chet is Bernie's invaluable partner, always ready to clamp his jaw on perps and drag them off by the pants. As the story opens, Bernie decides to visit his journalist girlfriend Suzie Sanchez, who relocated to Washington DC for a better job. In the capital, Suzie lives in the carriage house of a political insider named Lizette, who hosts fund raisers for candidates running for office. When Bernie and Chet arrive at Suzie's home, an urbane English gentleman named Eben St. John is just leaving, and he calls out 'bye love' to Suzie......

Featured Post

In this 21st book in the 'Charlie Parker' series, the sleuth investigates the disappearance of a child. This supernatural mystery thriller works fine as a standalone. When two-year-old Henry Clark disappears from his toddler bed in Portland, Maine..... .......suspicion quickly falls on Henry's mother Colleen. Colleen's husband Stephen - who was on a business trip when Henry vanished - tells the police that Colleen had post-partum depression and anger issues. When Stephen finds a blood-stained blanket in the trunk of Colleen's car, that clinches it. For her part, Colleen says she had a glass of wine, fell asleep, and woke up to find Henry gone. Colleen further claims to know nothing about the blood-stained blanket in her car, but the authorities don't believe her, and prepare to make an arrest. Colleen is represented by attorney Moxie Castin...... ......who works with private detective Charlie Parker. Colleen, who's distraught about her missing child, believes Parker will understand her plight because he lost his daughter years ago. Little Henry's disappearance galvanizes the public, and journalists, vloggers, amateur detectives, web sleuths, and would be podcasters, along with protesters of various types haunt the Clarks' neighborhood.......

Featured Post

Isaac Mizrahi, born in 1961, is probably best known as a fashion designer, and that is indeed one of his many talents. But Mizrahi is an entertainer at heart, and has been since childhood. In this memoir Mizrahi writes that seeing Stephen Sondheim's Broadway show 'Follies' at the age of nine inspired him to set up a puppet theater in the family garage. A scene from Follies Isaac constructed the stage as well as the puppets, and sewed "over the top costumes" for his animated performers. For materials, Isaac got scraps of cloth from his fashionista mother Sarah, who edited her store-bought clothes and gave Isaac the remnants. The young producer also tiptoed into his parents' bedroom when they were asleep, and sneaked cash to buy fabric and extras - like feathers and sequins - from the textile store. Isaac Mizrahi with a puppet of himself Isaac periodically put on puppet shows for the neighborhood kids. He named his puppet reviews Follies, though they were original creations - not knockoffs of the Broadway show. Mizrahi's puppetry went on through the early years of high school, when he'd schlep a mobile puppet theater to children's parties across Brooklyn, to earn spending money......

Featured Post

Each of the Sparrow women of Unity, Massachusetts has an unusual ability which manifests itself on her 13th birthday. In this book - due to a confluence of circumstances - three generations of Sparrow women find themselves living together in the family's vintage "cake house" - which has the shape of a giant wedding cake. Brought together are: - Elinor - who can detect liars; - Elinor's daughter Jenny - who can see people's dreams; - and Jenny's daughter Stella - who can see how people will die. At the beginning of the story Jenny, her husband Will, and her daughter Stella are living in Cambridge, Massachusetts when 13-year-old Stella 'sees' that a woman is going to be murdered. Stella insists her father tell the police and when the woman is killed, Will - having 'suspicious knowledge of the crime' - is arrested for the murder. Stella's parents ship her off to Unity to protect her from the real killer and Jenny soon joins her there, where they remain......

Featured Post

Patrick Stewart, born in 1940, is an English actor whose career has spanned seven decades in theater, film, television and more. Stewart is perhaps best known for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies. Stewart grew up in the town of Mirfield, in the north of England. Mirfield was an industrial and agricultural enclave, and most of its residents - including Patrick's family - struggled financially. Stewart's father Alfred was a decorated army officer, and his mother Gladys worked in a textile mill. Mirfield After leaving the military, Alfred Stewart had a hard time adjusting to civilian life, and he drank and beat his wife, behavior that profoundly affected Patrick and his older brother Trevor. Still, young Patrick was a tough lad. Stewart writes, "I was not a softy as a boy. I couldn't afford to be. Where I came from, if you weren't tough on the playground, you became a target for bullying." Young Patrick Stewart (right) with his mother Gladys and brother Trevor.....

Featured Post

Betty Jean (BJ), an African American hotel employee, lives in a middle-class, mixed-race neighborhood in Los Angeles with her husband Lee David, who has Alzheimer's disease. As the book opens BJ's drug-addict daughter Trinetta drops off her two school-aged sons, Luther and Ricky, 'for a few days' while she 'applies for a job'. Trinetta then takes off for Atlanta with her new guy, leaving the kids behind. BJ also has other things on her mind. Her oldest son Quentin, a wealthy chiropractor who's distanced himself from the family, has just married his fifth blonde Caucasian wife. BJ's middle son Dexter is in prison and constantly sends letters complaining about his wrongful conviction for carjacking (he did it), talking about his big plans for the future (delusional), and asking for money (which BJ doesn't have). BJ has Dexter's number though, and she lets him know it. BJ is also concerned about her two sisters: Arlene - proud of her psychology degree - is a single mother.....

Barb's Book Reviews

Monday, October 15, 2018

Review of "Raspberry Danish Murder: A Hannah Swenson Mystery with Recipes!" by Joanne Fluke

2 comments:

Blog Archive

Netgalley

Netgalley Challenge

Goodreads

Contact Form

Netgalley

Netgalley

Blog Archive