Gingerbread Cookie Murder

When Hannah Swensen finds her neighbor dead in his condo, she has a perfect excuse for snooping into the police investigation. Mike, her sometimes beau as well as a police officer, asks her to prepare snacks for the crime scene investigators. She goes all out and fixes an entire meal, figuring she can eavesdrop while they eat. All of the evidence is circumstantial, and when the police believe they have enough to make an arrest, Hannah is convinced they've got the wrong person. With the help of her other boyfriend, Norman, will Hannah be able to find the true murderer?

In another novella, part-time journalist Lucy Stone is upset when a cute 4-year-old boy is kidnapped right before Christmas. She has a soft spot for little Nemo. When she show more finds little Nemo's father's body in his car, with evidence that Nemo had been with him, she becomes very alarmed. Is Nemo still alive, and if he is, can she find him before Christmas?

The Hannah Swensen mystery isn't bad if you ignore the fact that Hannah and her sister tamper with police evidence, as is their habit. It's a wonder that Mike and Hannah's brother-in-law, Bill, still have jobs with the police department. They'd be in a heap of trouble in real life. The Lucy Stone mystery wasn't as well plotted as others I've read in this series. However, I really like Lucy and her family and I like to check in on them occasionally. I'm quite upset with her son, Toby, and his in-laws. What kind of son plans to take his parents' only grandchild on a Christmas cruise for the first Christmas he's old enough to appreciate? The families live close enough that, if the in-laws had stayed home, they could have all seen little Patrick on Christmas day. And to wait until just days before Christmas to tell your mother you won't be home? Well, that's just thoughtless.

I decided not to read the third novella in this collection. I haven't cared for the other Jaine Austen mysteries I've read. Why make myself read something I probably won't enjoy? Usually I'd feel compelled to read it anyway. This time I was able to talk myself out of it. show less

Christmas present (apropopos of the Gingerbread man theme.) Generally light-hearted and quick reads. Liked the inclusion of some recipes -- although most people will likely have their own favorites already in hand. As discussed by earlier reviews, the last story of the three is darker in tone than the other two. Also disliked that ending as being too deus ex machina for my tastes.

This is an extremely short murder mystery with many of the pages dedicated to recipes. Fluke does a wonderful job with the recipes; each recipe has specific instructions and many hints. The murder centered on a winning lottery ticket and the rightful owner of that ticket. Hannah, the owner of a cookie shop, loves to solve murder investigations. Hannah juggles dating between a policeman and a dentist, and both men aid in Hannah's jaunts. The series by Isis Crawford contains better characters and plot, but Fluke's recipes are more down-to-earth. Fluke constantly reminds the readers of the absolute cold of Minnesota, whereas Crawford presents the different seasons of New York. Crawford presents a better story.

I loved all of these Christmas novellas featuring gingerbread cookies. In the first, Hannah Swenson searches for a murder suspect after her condo neighbor is found with his head bashed in next to her box of gingerbread cookies. Since he had been putting on an extremely obnoxious Christmas music and laser light display show (which seems to be a thing in the Midwest) he had plenty of annoyed neighbors to pick from as suspects. This was classic, wonderful Hannah Swenson, with great characters in every scene, and I enjoyed it immensely.

In the second, Jane Austin is picked to help with a play at her parent’s retirement community. Unfortunately, the deceased had many jilted lovers and the suspect list is long. This one was delightfully show more snarky, had a great mystery, and I will definitely be checking out more books by the author (the other two are already on my must-read list.)

In the third novella, Lucy Stone is preparing for Christmas, lamenting the fact that not all of her children will be able to come home for the holiday, when a young boy is kidnapped outside his home. Nemo, (who we’ve met in previous books) had just chatted with Lucy at the supermarket and begged his parents for a cookie. But something seems fishy (other than Nemo’s name) about his parents’ living situation and as the town grows increasingly frantic trying to find the lost child, Lucy takes action.

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

This book is the combination of 3 short stories starring familiar characters. Each has gingerbread men central to the tale. Joanne Fluke's story is about the murder of one of her neighbors, Laura Levine's account tells of her character visiting her parents in a Florida retirement community and coming across a murder, and Leslie Meier's narrative of a kidnapped child. The first two were amusing - the last a bit too dark for the group.

This was a fun holiday collection of three stories featuring gingerbread cookies. written by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, and Leslie Meier. I am familiar with Ms. Fluke's books,but I had never read anything by Laura Levine and Leslie Meier before. After reading this book, I have decided to read both of these authors.

The first story in this collection by Joanne Fluke finds Hannah's neighbor Ernie with his head bashed in and her gingerbread cookies on the floor of his condo.

The second story is by Laura Levine whose character Jaine Austen, is visiting her parents retirement community in Florida, which I found absolutly hilarious at times.

The last story by Leslie Meier finds Lucy Stone helping in the search for a missing five year old named show more Nemo. One of the clues to Nemo's disappearance is a trail of gingerbread cookie crumbs.

Overall, I found this collection to be a nice, quick paced read. In each case the "whodunit" is almost obvious, but that is not the point here. The point is to enjoy the season and try some of the yummy recipes! show less

This was a collection of three holiday themed cozy mysteries from different authors.  One author I had read and enjoyed previously and two new authors.  Each mystery revolved around a gingerbread cookie theme and were the usual cozy reads that I enjoyed very much.  The best story in the lot, IMO, was The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies" by Laura Levine.  I had not read any books in the Jaine Austen series before but definitely will find others.  The story was hilarious because of Jaine's parents.  Her family dynamic was similar to my own and the antics of her parents reminded me of the antics of my own parents. I really enjoyed reading all three stories, but that one bumped my rating up to four stars."