Blueberry Muffin Murder

Preparations are underway for Lake Eden, Minnesota's annual Winter Carnival--and Hannah Swensen is set to bake up a storm at her popular shop, The Cookie Jar. Too bad the honor of creating the official Winter Carnival cake went to famous lifestyle maven Connie Mac--a half-baked idea, in Hannah's opinion. She suspects Connie Mac is a lot like the confections she whips up on her cable TV cooking show--sweet, light, and scrumptious-looking, but likely to leave a bitter taste in your mouth.
Hannah's suspicions are confirmed when Connie Mac's limo rolls into town. Turns out America's "Cooking Sweetheart" is bossy, bad-tempered, and downright domineering. Things finally boil over when Hannah arrives at The Cookie Jar to find the Winter show more Carnival cake burnt to a crisp—and Connie Mac lying dead in her pantry, struck down while eating one of Hannah's famous blueberry muffins.
Next thing Hannah knows, the police have declared The Cookie Jar's kitchen crime scene off-limits. She's a baker without an oven--and the Carnival is right around the corner. Hannah's only alternative is to cook up a plan to save her business--by finding the killer herself... show less

Another fun installment in this cozy mystery series. We get to see things slowly heating up on the romance front for Hannah (can anyone say “love triangle”) , but the story is still focused on the murder mystery and quaint small town living that drew me into the series in the first place. The mystery is a decent one in that I didn’t figure out who the suspect was right away. With a town full of visitors for the local Winter Carnival and a celebrity chef with a reputation for making more enemies than friends, the potential list of suspects (and motives) is high, leading me to make multiple guesses as to the identity of the murderer as clues are revealed. Hannah’s stylish real estate agent sister Andrea is an eager accomplice as show more Hannah snoops around for clues and yes, their on-going sibling banter adds to the charm this story holds for me. As for Hannah’s poised and polished mother Delores, I love that woman. When she is not trying to angle for a husband for Hannah, she is aghast at Hannah’s love for casual wear, wild hair and her habit of continuing to be the one to discover dead bodies in Lake Eden. Delores doesn’t pull any punches when she makes her opinion known through comments like this one:

“Hannah! You've simply got to stop finding bodies. I swear you attract them like a magnet. If you're not careful, everyone's going to get the wrong impression of you."

Just the kind of comment I would expect to come out of Delores' mouth, and brings a smile to my face.

Overall, another delightful, mystery romp filled with tantalizing goodie recipes. show less

It's Winter Carnival time in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah and her business partner, Lisa, are busy baking cookies to sell/serve at the various events. She's not the main attraction, though. A famous celebrity cook is the guest of honor. When the official Carnival cake that she baked meets with an accident, she commandeers The Cookie Jar kitchen to whip up another one. Hannah and Lisa leave her to it, and if you've read either of the first two books in this series (or are familiar with cozy mysteries in general) you know what Hannah finds the next morning when she opens up. Despite the presence of a remarkably capable (for such a small town) police force, Hannah once again decides to run her own investigation. She's stymied, though, show more when it turns out that pretty much everyone who ever met the famous Connie Mac has a reason to want her dead.

Amateur investigations can't help but verge on the ridiculous in a cozy like this, and either you decide ahead of time to suspend your disbelief or you just stop reading them. I tried to keep my eye-rolling to a minimum and found I didn't mind it as much as I have in other series. A love triangle that lurked in the background in the first two books threatens to burst onto center stage in this one, and if that's what has to happen to resolve it once and for all I say go for it. I'd like to see that particular plot thread wrapped up for good in the next book, because it's fairly tiresome. I enjoyed the rest of it, though, despite the emotional whiplash from sandwiching this cozy between two of the Duffy noir police procedurals. I'll read the fourth if I can find it at the library. show less

Ah, a return to cold, snowy Minnesota where Hannah runs a cookie shop, has a spoiled cat, and always seems to find herself in the middle of a murder investigation. I love these for their charming small town life, Hannah’s meddling mother, and the delicious recipes. In this one, a famous cooking show star comes to town, But when something terrible happens, and Hannah finds herself in the middle of it, she has to hurriedly find the real killer in order to get back to her normal life. The atmosphere and setting in these are brilliantly done, as always. A cozy mystery treat.

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

This was a really fun continuation of the Hannah Swensen series. From the first book there has been a small love triangle element and this one seemed to focus on it a little more than the past two books but overall this was still mainly a murder mystery.

When Connie Mac, the most beloved TV chef in America is found murdered in The Cookie Jar, Hannah's business is labeled a crime scene. With an important festival coming up, she needs to get some baking done and fast. The only way she knows she will be allowed to open her store again is if she solves the murder. With a long list of suspects, lots of dead ends, and a promise to Mike that she will leave the investigating to him, Hannah has her work cut out for her.

Not going to lie, I was not sad when Connie Mac was found dead, I did not like this character at all; very entitled and manipulative.

Joanne Fluke did a great job of keeping me guessing until the reveal. I love it when I am unable to guess who the killer is.

Looking forward to reading Lemon Meringue Pie Murder next.

The Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke is a 2003 Kensington publication.

This is the third installment in the Hannah Swensen series, and I think maybe I’m finally beginning to settle into it.

Gearing up for the Lake Eden Winter Carnival, Hannah is super busy doing her part- but the town is all abuzz over the celebrity lifestyle guru, Connie Mac, stepping in to bake the Carnival cake. But Hannah thinks the woman is a fake, entitled, uncharitable and difficult. Still, it comes as a big shock when she finds Connie Mac dead in her bakery….

I’ll admit I knew almost from the beginning who the murderer probably was- but I had no clue what the motive or connection might be- so it was still a mystery and a good one at that. I am show more starting to warm up to Hannah now that I understand her better and enjoy her little ‘love triangle’ musings, her cat, her sister, and her annoying mother, too- all of which is quite entertaining.

Overall, this was a quick, fun cozy- and I’m starting to enjoy the series more and more as I go!

4 stars show less