Cherry Cheesecake Murder

Hannah Swensen, professional baker and amateur detective, is on the case again in the 8th book in this fun culinary cozy series. This is my favorite cozy series, so when snow was in the forecast here in NC, I went right to my best cozy pal to help me weather the storm. Fuzzy socks. Hot tea. And Hannah Swensen. Perfect snowy weather combination for me.

In Cherry Cheesecake Murder a movie is being filmed in Lake Eden. The entire town is excited about the production. Hannah is hired to provide special desserts for the director and snacks for the production crew. She quickly learns that director Dean Lawrence is a letch and an all-around jerk. She tries hard to put up with his condescending and inappropriate behavior since the movie is show more important to others in Lake Eden. Things are going really well, right up until the point that Dean acts out a suicide scene during a dress rehearsal. His acting is perfect, right up until he pulls the trigger of the prop gun -- and shoots himself in the head. Who switched the prop gun for a real one? What motive is there to kill Dean? Sure, he's a jerk.....but is that a reason to make him shoot himself?

As usual, Hannah promises not to investigate......and then promptly investigates anyway. This is an enjoyable visit to Lake Eden, but most of the book is about the filming and background subplots because the murder doesn't happen until page 223. The book kept my interest pretty well despite Dean not kicking the bucket til the last third of the book. Hannah's little love triangle is still going on......Norman and Mike are still hanging around hoping Hannah will choose between then. Plus an old college friend, Ross Barton, is part of the film crew. Add him into the mix because he starts hanging around Hannah too. Geez, Hannah.....make up your mind already! At one point, all 3 men were at her house when she came home.....and she said she was tired and went to bed. LOL. Kinda rude? I hope she makes up her mind soon.....or that the constantly mopey males are shuffled to a less-more minor subplot. With the new book, Banana Creme Pie Murder, coming out in March, there are now 21 books in this series. Having just finished book 8, I am trying my best to avoid spoilers so I don't find out what her choice is, or if the guys just get sick of it and walk off, until I get to that particular book. It's rough avoiding reviews and comments that might tell me too much! :) I have most of the rest of the books on my shelf.....so I'm reading like a wild woman to get caught up so I know how her love life turns out. I am sort of hoping that both Norman and Mike grow a set and start dating someone else -- hopefully NOT the same woman this time. Hannah either needs to reel someone in or cut bait. After 8 books....either pick.....or cut 'em loose. No real man would ever put up with this......why should book boyfriends be expected to??

Personally if I was in her shoes, I would have a rough time picking too. Nice dentist. Good looking cop. Hmmmm. I think I would go for the nice dentist who really loves me. The handsome cop would work really long hours, his job is dangerous, and Mike seems to have a bit of a wandering eye. While Norman is totally in love with Hannah and is more stable. He is a bit of a momma's boy, however. Best choice might be to just pass on both of them, and see what else comes along. More fish in the sea and all that. Maybe the reason why Hannah can't pick is she really doesn't love either of them.

Oh well.....she will do what she does. I'm just along for the ride. On to Book 9 -- Key Lime Pie Murder! My favorite desssert!!

For those who haven't read any of the Hannah Swensen series, it really isn't necessary to read the series in order. Enough background is given in each book for a reader to just jump in and enjoy. But if you want the whole story on how she got the dentist and cop following her like a couple of puppies, better start at the beginning. The books are about 250-300 pages long.....but quick reads. There are lots of recipes and cooking tips included. All in all, fun reads!!

On to Key Lime pie!! mmmmm. show less

I am a fan of Joanne Fluke but felt like the solution to this was a little weak somehow. Plus I am in the camp of make up your mind already about which guy you want in your life. But I did enjoy the movie business details, and the recipes, as always are great. There were some fun physical comedy scenes, like when the sisters break into the barn and when the bones fall out of the sky. So I did enjoy this quite a bit and I will be reading the next one, if only to get all the details of the county fair...

A film is being shot in Lake Eden. Stage mothers. Walk on roles for extras and 25-pound orange cats. Oy vey! Hannah is reeling after being proposed to by two men. There may be a third suitor waiting in the wings. And her cherry cheesecake may be the only thing that can keep an overly picky and at times creepy director under control.

This mystery had at interesting format because it was one of those where the murder didn’t take place until most of the way through the book. Still there were lots of great scenes with familiar Lake Eden residents and Hannah’s personal life is always fun. Not sure I’m such a Ross fan. I think we’ve got enough men in Hannah’s life with just Mike and Norman. I’m having enough trouble deciding who show more to ship between the two of them… personally my money’s always been on Norman… hard to pass up a man who loves your cat! Bonus points for delicious recipes and the cow scene!

Trigger Warnings: sexual assault

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

Digital audiobook read by Suzanne Toren
1.5*

Book Number Eight in the Hannah Swenson cozy mystery series, featuring the Cookie Shop proprietor, her two sisters, and their mother, along with a regular cast of town residents. A movie is being shot in Lake Eden, and many of the townspeople get roles in the production. But a terrible accident on the set of the climactic scene results in a death, that is ruled a homicide.

This is bad on so many levels. I read it only to fulfill a challenge, because I had stopped reading this series a while back. I am completely over Hannah’s dithering over her two suitors, her mother’s constant interference, her sister Andrea’s histrionics, and Hannah’s penchant for correcting everyone’s grammar.

On show more the other hand, the cookie recipes are very good. Frankly, I’d rather that Fluke just published a cookie cookbook and forget about the tortured plots.

Suzanne Toren overacts every scene and character on the audiobook, making a bad thing worse. Unless, perhaps, she was purposely trying to make it campier than it already was. show less

Hollywood has come to Lake Eden and so have some of the people from Hannah’s past.

A production company has come to town to shoot scenes for the upcoming movie “Crisis in Cherrytown.” Main Street is shut down for a week to be used as a set for the scenes. The businesses have been compensated to be closed, but The Cookie Jar will be functioning to supply food for the cast and crew.

Citizens of Lake Eden are cast as characters and extras for the production. Even Moishe, Hannah’s cat, has a role! Lake Eden is excited and star struck.

Among the cast and crew are a couple of old classmates from Hannah’s college days, Ross Barton and Lynne Larchmont. Barton is the writer-producer and Lynne is the leading lady, and the three of them show more have a lot of catching up to do. Then there is also D.L., Dean Lawrence, the director. Lawrence is a big name director with an ego and eye for the ladies to go with it. After tasting Hannah’s cherry cheesecake, he demands one be delivered to his trailer twice a day.

Even though Lawrence is a genius at directing, he is not a genius in personal relations, and has made a number of cast and crew members not fond of him. This becomes very apparent when he demonstrates how he wants a part played and ends up dead on the set. It seems that the prop gun was switched for a real one with bullets.

Again, Hannah starts investigating, but changes it to snooping since Mike Kingston is acting sheriff and has told Hannah to stay out of it. Hannah just can’t do that, so her and her team do a little ‘snooping’ to see what can be found. And of course there is dirt to be found. show less

Okay... a bit of an improvement over the drama of the previous installment, but not by much. Even with the change of having a movie shoot happening in Lake Eden, Fluke tries to wrap everything up with a tidy bow by having two of the movie production team as Hannah's former university friends. That would have been okay except that we know have a new romantic interest to add to the love triangle already on the go. The fact that all three guys behave as they do (being overly accommodating, IMO) is just so darn fictional it really needs to been taken in with a huge grain of salt. Yes, my binge audiobook reading is probably starting to wear on me, but I cannot help but notice that Fluke has been imbuing our lead protagonist with certain show more behavior and personality traits that I am not all that keen on. As I noticed in the previous installment, continuity in details isn't Fluke's thing. At one point we learn that Delores (Hannah's mother) is the owner of a laptop computer and then later on we learn that Norman (one of Hannah's now three beaux) "hooked the computer up" for Delores. Really? She needed help with connecting the power cable to the wall power outlet? Little details like that can drive me bonkers. That, and I could have done without Fluke treating her readers like they don't know the first thing about a movie location shoot and explaining everything). Yes, the mystery angle was okay - it helps that there was a surprise mystery that gets revealed - but sometimes that just isn't enough to carry the story. Even the Lake Eden folks were not as fresh and inviting as in the earlier installments.

Overall, a cotton candy fluff cozy mystery fun with a movie shoot angle, so long as you don't mind Hannah's ever growing list of beaux and how she, yet again, decides that she needs to be the one to confront the suspect. I think I need to take a break from these stories. show less

The mystery part of this one was fine, but the dialogue borders on ridiculous and the love triangle (then square...) is just stupid. And Hannah's obnoxious "humor" is beginning to grate. Describing an anchorwoman as anorexic because she's very thin isn't funny. Hannah isn't funny. I get the feeling Joanne Fluke isn't funny. I've got 5 or 6 more of this series on my shelves, so I'm sure I'll read them eventually. If I didn't own them, though, I think I'd be done with Hannah.