The little town of Lake Eden gets caught up in a blur of excitement when a famous Hollywood director decides to film on Main Street. Local baker and amateur sleuth, Hannah Swensen finds herself drawn into the mix when an old college buddy turns out to be the film's writer. But it seems that the real drama concerns the film's director, womanizer and perfectionist, Dean Lawrence. When a murder occurs on the set, it's up to Hannah to put her best snooping skills to use and solve the mystery.

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Other than a few Miss Marples, I haven't read many mysteries. My selection was based entirely on the cheesecake illustration on the cover. I had no idea what I was getting into but the idea of a mystery with recipes was enough for me.

I did not realize at the time that this is the 7th volume in Fluke's Hannah Swenson series, but I had no trouble becoming familiar with the characters and the main plot did not require continuity within the series.

Overall, the novel was an enjoyable, quick read and just what I expected--a light and fluffy read that made me want to bake every time I came across a recipe.

Much of the novel explored the relationships between Hannah, her family, her beaus, and the people of Lake Eden, so much of the novel didn't seem to be a mystery. The whodunit plot was a bit predictable, but no less enjoyable because of it.

Gricel @ things-she-read.org ( )

Very good series, with this book being one of the better. ( )

That's what keeps this mystery series interesting and exciting. In a lot of ways the goings on in the small town of Lake Eden are not realistic, but who cares? Hannah and her friends are just so much fun. It took awhile for this book to get going, and the actual murder doesn't occur until over half-way through, but the pacing after that is pretty good. I figured out who the murderer was right away since it seemed to me only one could have done it, but it was fun to find out the motive and to watch Hannah and her crew discover the clues that they needed to put it all together. The book has a Hollywood movie being shot in downtown Lake Eden, and this puts the whole town in a state of excitement. I also loved the parts of the book with Moishe (Hannah's cat) in them. And of course there is lots of food and recipes to keep things going. Altogether not a bad effort in this wonderful cozy series. ( )

This time, Hollywood is coming to Hannah! A small movie crew comes to town to shoot an indy film with an A list director, who happens to also be a real jerk. There are plenty of suspects because almost everyone has a reason to want him dead! Hannah finds a couple of links to her past college days and that leads to some funny sub-plots. I totally adore these characters, and the book was as enjoyable to me as the others. I still think visiting my friends at Lake Eden make for a good time. However, I have some complaints! To start, the mystery doesn't come into play until the last third or so of the book, which I personally don't mind, because I enjoy so much the regular antics of these characters. I'm only mentioning that point because I'm sure not every mystery lover would be as patient with that fact as I am. I was disappointed by Hannah's choice of marriage proposals and I felt like Fluke really dropped the ball for a chance to pursue something good here. And also this was the first of the mystery's where I guessed the murderer from the start. I kept waiting for the curveball that would knock my suspect back off the suspect list but it never happened. I like to think that I'm just good, but I think more likely the handling of this mystery could have been worked out better. I think Fluke does do a great job of keeping the previous murderer's out of the books so that these books can probably be read out of order. I am still waiting for these characters to evolve a bit. I think it could be helpful to the overall series if that happens. Overall this book was still a delight- a lite delight. Don't expect anything too heavy here and you won't be disappointed. ( )

Cherry Cheesecake Murder was one of the first culinary mysteries I read. Although I enjoyed the cozy descriptions I was a little let down by the story, I did not like the way the book wrapped up at the end, some of the main story lines were ended a bit too quickly as if the author needed a quick ending.
I had looked forward to trying the recipes, although I noticed at the end of a recipe it would talk about alterations and that it may need to be changed to turn out the way the recipe described. Which put me off trying them , if you could not just follow it as written.

I did enjoy the setting and the idea was a good one but it was so drawn out and tried too hard. I will maybe try her other books in the hopes they are a bit more solid....... ( )