In this 19th book in the 'Hannah Swensen' series, the baker/amateur sleuth is finally getting married - but she has to solve a murder first! 😲 The book provides enough background to be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the characters is a plus.
*****
Hannah Swenson, owner of 'The Cookie Jar' bakery in Lake Eden, Minnesota, has a lot going on in her life. Right after she competes in the Food Channel's 'Dessert Chef Competition', which is scheduled to take place in a couple of weeks, Hannah is marrying her fiancé Ross Barton - a college friend who recently re-entered her life.
This breaks the hearts of Hannah's two longtime beaus, Norman Rhodes (the dentist)....
and Mike Kingston (the cop), but c'est la vie. 😪
While Hannah is baking cookies for her shop and preparing for the contest with her sister Michelle, who will be her assistant......
......Hannah's mother Delores and sister Andrea are planning the hasty nuptials.....including the venue, guests, decorations, refreshments, flowers, dresses, and so on. (Can you imagine a bride being this hands off?)
Hannah is a talented home baker but her competitors are professional chefs, so Hannah badly needs an edge. As it happens a Lake Eden resident is acquainted with the contest's head judge Alain Duquesne (nee Alan Duke), and tells Hannah that - as a schoolboy - Alan loved Jello and butterscotch pudding. So Hannah plans to make a Jello-infused rainbow wedding cake and butterscotch cookies as two of her entries in the competition.
Since this is a cozy mystery there has to be a murder victim, but the body doesn't appear until about halfway into the book - when Michelle finds the corpse in a walk-in refrigerator. By this point in the story, the dessert competition.....
......and wedding plans are well under way.
The deceased is closely associated with the baking contest, so Hannah makes it her mission to uncover the killer. Hannah obtains police reports and coroner's findings, questions people, examines videotapes, etc., until she zeroes in on the murderer - who's not about to go down easily. This leads to a dramatic climax that would give a wedding planner a coronary.
Favorite recurring characters appear in the story, including: Hannah's cat Moishe - who likes to eat shrimp and sleep on Hannah's pillow;
Norman Rhodes' cat Cuddles - who comes over to play; and Hannah's business partner Lisa - who's the 'town crier' about Lake Eden's murder victims....attracting extra customers to 'The Cookie Jar'.
I was especially intrigued by groom-to-be Ross, who seems to be unusually flush with money. Ross routinely 'upgrades' Hannah's travel arrangements for the contest: from van to limousine; from coach to first class; from ordinary hotel room to luxury suite; and so on. I think Ross bears watching. 👀
In the course of the story Hannah and her sister Michelle prepare and eat about a billion calories of cookies.....as well as waffles, pancakes, pizza, burgers, desserts, etc. (Really? And these gals are not only svelte but getting ready for a wedding?) A good part of the book's dialog is chitchat about baking and eating cookies, which feels forced and unrealistic. On the upside recipes are included.
Sadly, the last few mysteries in the series have sacrificed 'plot and characterization' for 'cooking and eating' and this novel follows the trend. I'm hoping for a course correction in future books.
Still, I'd recommend the novel to avid Hannah Swenson fans, who'll be interested in this (presumably) new direction in her life.
Rating: 3 stars
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