Sugar Cookie Murder (A Hannah Swensen Mystery)

I have read all of Joanne Fluke mysteries to date. I have been getting them from the library and then typing the recipes I like into my computer before returning the book. I enjoy Hannah Swensen and I really enjoy the recipes. I have adapted them to a diabetic diet and they are great! When I found there were over a hundred pages of recipes in this book I was so pleased and decided to buy this one for my cookbook collection. I highly recommend all of the Hannah Swensen books if you like good clean mysteries with great recipes. I hope she keeps writing forever...

I have loved all of the other Hannah Swensen books in this series and was excited to get this one. The story is short, and half the book is recipes that I will never cook. I found the story to be contrived - how convenient for the killer to confess!!! The least believable part had Andrea giving birth all by herself (except for the doctor and nurse), while her friends and family, including her husband, paced up and down the hall outside the delivery room. Has the author ever been in a modern day hospital? Fathers are no longer banished to a "father's waiting room"; they usually participate actively in the delivery room. I've loved all of the other stories in this series, so I will definitely buy the next one and just hope that this book is a "Fluke".

As reviews have noted, this book is half story and half potluck recipes. Both are yummy. I enjoyed the leap into the reality of my kitchen of Hannah's characters tweaking, testing the recipes which I knew I'd have available. The names and flavors of the recipes were (even more than normal) a part of the main plot. As I skimmed through them in the "cookbook" section after finishing the story, I recalled them fondly from the story, and each one became a unique, "history" laden treat.

Now I'm wishing I could also buy the hardback and am hoping copies remain available for a while; a hardback would allow the pages to fall open more easily than a small paperback, for reading or copying a recipe, all of which are easy, and above-board tasty enough even for a wild, hair-brained "cook" like me who rarely follows a recipe.

The opening to the story was a yummy, ingenious capture, featuring Hanna's dream, not of Jeannie, but of a huge, mushroom-scented meatball which rolled out of her closet and paused at the foot of her bed to read her the riot act, every word and page.

As usual, the plot spread out like melted butter, with the recipes, in a sense, becoming the setting, while the winter survival routines in Minnesota took a back seat this time (except in a few prime cases) to the surges of more recipes wanting to be added, with all those submitted "dying" to be included, and with all of them being prepared and tested at a Christmas gala.

Shawna Lee showed up in early plot schemes and Hannah was allowed to project her dark-side seething toward Shawna, which took some of the heat off Hannah's mother. In this one the early morning phone call from Dolores didn't even get a hiss from Moshie, though it did get spits of steam (well chewed down) from Hannah's habit. Poor Mother Dolores; she's such a well-staged, perfectly-designed character to be a scapegoat for heaping disgust and impatience upon, to allow readers a release in that common need.

Mike was a Fluky fool when it came to seeing through the machinations of a woman like Shawna Lee. It was easy for me to snicker with Hannah's hate there, and cheer in hiding. But, I still can't help but feel sad for Dolores each time Moishe hisses at her and Hannah makes it so painfully clear that her Mother is one of the most unwelcome persons in her life. In my darker moments (I have plenty of those, too), I'd wonder if Fluke might culminate this series with Dolores as murder victim, or, more likely, murderess.

Still, lots of followers of this series are probably busy women impatient with a mother's interference and neediness as the Mom grows older and feels less on top of her own life. Dolores is several steps above (below), though; she's been painted perfectly as a wrong Mom from the beginning of her career as mother.

In this one, Big D was painted as a fool in love and we were given pleasantly surprising hints that Hannah could be protective of her mother in that area, yet Hannah didn't seem to actually care about Dolores, as much she was being protective of what was hers, as Hannah met Dolores's Regency Romance, the British lord, Winthrop II. (Is that the right #?) Was he for real? (Dolores did get a short, truly heroic scene in this one, for which even Hannah admired and thanked her.)

Skipping onward and upward to the warm spots, I can honestly say I was hopeful for a delay of the murder, and was relieved that it didn't occur until the holiday event had gotten well into the phase of relishing many of the pot luck entrees. So much time and care by so many people had gone into the preparation of those recipes. I had visions of Sugar Plums going sour as characters' mouths watered in vain. Instead, each recipe was mentioned and described as it was placed onto the banquet tables. I was smug-ly happy knowing that all these taste treats were at my fingertips in the second half of the book. And, since the story part was 200 pages, it really wasn't that much shorter than the other stories in the series. The half-and-half measure of plot to pot luck recipe collection was deceiving in making the plot appear too short. It was just right in my book, even though I admit that I may have been disappointed if I hadn't known ahead of time that half the book was dedicated to the recipe collection.

From my perspective SUGAR COOKIE MURDER was an ingenious holiday offering, which would also be a satisfying read during off-holiday seasons. The abundance of descriptions of preparation and presentation of the food items was warming and yummy. Being snowed in under such high flavor was a great entertainment escape, especially for a reader who's a hermit and rarely attends holiday galas or any type of party gatherings, community or otherwise. I'm such a stick-to-myself I have a hard time going to family reunions; I enjoy family intimacy one-to-one. I don't do well in groups beyond 4 people. So, this book's a gift for me to "be" in this type of intimate community holiday event which is intensely difficult in real life, and to slide into recipes when I rarely have time or energy to actually cook from one. Many in this collection appear accessible even to me, given their simplicity, lack of hoards of off-beat ingredients, and sheer mouth-watering appeal.

I love the way the recipes take such a strong role in the plot they not only become setting (as mentioned above), they almost become characters.

I like the way the Cookie Jar community of Lake Eden condensed itself further from the small town boundaries, to the community center walls and parking lot, contained within that arena with food and a simple but thoroughly satisfying agenda of entertainment, most of it around the culinary concoctions, social interactions, and a school jazz band. It seems that Fluke has proven the point that small towns are very much NOT, as Brandi Wyen whines, boring; in fact they're the antithesis of that for people who aren't boring themselves.

I wondered if an investment to prove his point might have been one of the reasons Fluke had the murder occur midway into the plot instead of staging it closer to the beginning, to prove that Hannah's "Cookie-Jar-Town" didn't need murder and detecting to make it an interesting, satisfying read (is there a contrast to Sinclair Lewis here). Fluke perfectly piled on every small town charm, without making it too sweet or sentimental, interjecting plenty of spice and savory, even with the food expanding every-which-way beyond Hannah's basic but crafty cookies.

After Fluke accomplished her goal of dramatizing the luscious luxury of Lake Eden regulars condensed into a caring community carnival in their center for a holiday bash, THEN this mystery diva popped the murder and sizzled it perfectly (on ice), with a twist in the resolution which returned full circle to her original point of dramatizing The Good Life and The Good People.

Like a Partridge in a Pear Tree denouement, a new baby was brought into the fold as a delicious "line dance," floor-pacing was performed poshly without practice, in the maternity ward hallway.

As I've mentioned in prior reviews, Fluke is a genius, but she's so, so subtle. And that light touch enriches the reader satisfaction as we're fooled (while reading; but afterthoughts can be telling) into thinking her stories are mere confections for entertainment. How mere are confections? How potent is entertainment? Are those the questions?

As a bonus for me, in this plot I noticed the best hints about whom Hannah will marry, and I'm now 99% certain I know. Prior to SUGAR COOKIE, I honestly had no clue, and enjoyed that state of perfectly balanced confusion. I'm almost ready, though, to read the book which does the deal. Maybe after I've relished the Peach in the series (which I have; see my review and Listmania).

SUGAR COOKIE MURDER is a winner, a complex (much more than I would have imagined or anticipated), perfect gift to buy for yourself during any season when you need a lift into the inner warmth of a Minnesota winter holiday.

The before, during, and after effect is better than Prozac.

Take the small-town-sugar-pill! For whatever ails you, It's better for you than any type of "real" medicine.

Linda G. Shelnutt

I've enjoyed reading the Hannah Swensen series so far...so far being the key part of the review. This book had an abrupt ending to a lackluster mystery. What you are really buying here is the "Lake Eden Cookbook".

I read this to keep up with the series, but really think it was over priced for what you get. I'm giving the next book a shot, but it may be the end of me reading this series of books.

The love triangle is starting to anger me. Hannah has no problem stringing on 2 guys but when one of them even LOOKS like he's going to date another girl Hannah flips out and becomes a brat. Why is it OK for her to string 2 guys along, but not the other way around. Story line wise she's been doing it for a YEAR!

The books started out great, but they are getting increasingly frustrating.

I felt extremely cheated. I thought I bought a Novel, instead it turned out to be a short story with a cookbook attached. I wish the cover would have said something to the fact. It's cool to get a few recepies, but this book should be sold under the title cookbook not fiction. (The story was not even half the book)!

Shallow, predictable, dull, annoying. Pretty sure this wasn't written for adults, except most adolescents novels don't have a prostitute or recipes. I am a Minnesotan and the book rung every cliche Minnesota bell in existence.

This is my favorite cozy mystery series and I can never get enough of Hannah Swensen and the murder mysteries she always seems to get involved in! In this installment, it is christmas time and everyone is gathering together to test out the recipes that are being used in the Lake Eden Cookbook. But when someone goes missing, and then ends up dead it is up to Hannah and the police to find out who did it before the killer strikes again!

This book is a lot shorter than some of the authors other books and can be read in one sitting. In fact, even though the book is longer in page length, half of it is filled with all sorts of amazing recipes that are to be included in the cookbook. You can bet that I will be trying out many of them in the future! Joanne Fluke makes these recipes so easy to follow.

With that being said, this is another great addition to the series and it's so nice to see the characters grow though each book. Fans of cozy mysteries, this series would be PERFECT for you! Just be sure to read the books in order as that is how they are meant to be read (otherwise, you will be confused because each book surrounds the same character- amateur sleuth Hannah Swensen)

This is the second Hannah Swensen mystery I have read and I actually started this one (on audio) while I was already reading the Lemon Meringue Pie Murder on paperback. I liked the Lemon Meringue Pie Murder a little better than this one so I was glad I read them more or less together.

I really love the characters and I think the series is worth reading for them if nothing else. In this book, I didn’t really care for the mystery. I won’t spoil anything but basically I thought it was disappointing and the author could have taken it so many ways that would have been better. There were so many great clues but very few of them actually had anything to do with the murder.

I also don’t like the love triangle that Hannah is part of. She is casually dating Norman and Mike. Norman is this totally sweet guy who she is more friend than girlfriend with. Then, there is Mike who is totally hot and makes her crazy but who can really be a jerk at times. In this book particularly when she tries to tell him what she has learned and he shuts her down I really hoped that would help her see how great and supportive Norman kept being but it seems Hannah barely noticed.

If you are just starting to read the series DO NOT start with this book. If you are reading it as part of the series enjoy the characters but know ahead of time that the mystery was lukewarm at best.

Book Review of Sugar Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

From goodreads.com:
"The holidays are the icing on the cake for bakery owner Hannah Swensen. Surrounded by her loved ones, she has all the ingredients for a perfect Christmas until murder is added to the mix...
When it comes to holidays, Minnesotans rise to the occasion and the little town of Lake Eden is baking up a storm with Hannah leading the way. The annual Christmas Buffet is the final test of the recipes Hannah has collected for the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet Cookbook.
While Hannah is baking the day s goodies at The Cookie Jar, the evening s plans begin to jell. Start with the best Lake Eden culinary creations, add two of Hannah s sometime boyfriends, a pinch of her ready-to-pop pregnant sister, and a dash of her mother and new significant other, an actual British lord, and what do you get? A recipe for disaster, but the juiciest ingredient is yet to come...
The recently divorced Martin Dubinski arrives at the buffet with his new Vegas showgirl wife all wrapped up in glitter and fur. His ex-wife, however, seems as cool as chilled eggnog. And when Hannah s mother s antique Christmas cake knife disappears, its discovery in the d�colletage of the new and now late Mrs. Dubinski puts the festivities on ice.
With everyone stranded at the community center by a blizzard, Hannah puts her investigative skills to the test, using the ingredients at hand: half the town of Lake Eden and a killer. Now, as the snowdrifts get higher, it s up to Hannah to dig out all the clues and make sure that this white Christmas doesn t bring any more deadly tidings.
Includes over twenty-five original recipes for you to try! (less)
Paperback, 352 pages
Published October 1st 2005 by Kensington (first published January 1st 2004)"

Leona's Review of Sugar Cookie Murder
This was a fast read by Joanne Fluke of another mystery from the Hannah Swensen series. Hannah has once again found a dead body and begins to help solve the mystery. This is the 6th book in the series and I have read many of then but not in order. It is a quick read especially when the same characters are in the books. I have the hard copy book that I checked out from my library. There are 341 pages in the book but the mystery part of the book is 168 pages and the rest are recipes.
Today, I made the Rhubarb Bar Cookies I found in the book and the rhubarb is some I picked from my garden this morning. It is good.
I have enjoyed the books by Joanne Fluke and now living in Minnesota helps me relate to the many references to the state. The cold, getting stuck in the snow, hotdishes and potluck dinners are a few.
I loved it when Hannah says that "we" are not pregnant because only the woman is pregnant and I fully agree. We can be expecting a baby but the woman is the pregnant one.
I also loved it when they commented that people in Lake Eden did not steal but there is always a murder.
This is a good read as a cozy mystery. I will give it a 4 star as I enjoyed it very much.
Joanne Fluke may be reached at [...]. I have emailed her in the past and she did respond.
Leona Olson
[...]

This is one of the recipes in the Sugar Cookie Murder Book. Yes, there is also a recipe for a sugar cookie.

"Cherry Bomb Cookies

Preheat oven to F*, rack in the middle position.
This is my Grandma Ingrid's recipe. She used to make it for special occasions.

3 cups flour (no need to sift)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup white (granulated) sugar
2 jars (16 ounces each) maraschino cherries WITH STEMS (about 65 cherries)
small bowl with powdered sugar (confectioner's) sugar

Drain the cherries. Leave them in the strainer while you make the cookie dough.

Put flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir with a fork until throughly mixed. Cut in the softened butter with two forks, continuing to cut until the mixture looks like coarse corn meal. (You can also do this in a food processor with the steel blade, using cold butter cut in 1/2 inch chunks)

Beat the eggs in a medium-sized bowl and combine them with the sugar.

Add the egg and sugar mixture to the rest of the ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Extract small bits of dough with your fingers and wrap them around each maraschino cherry, leaving the stem sticking out. Press the bottoms of the dough-wrapped cherries down slightly on a greased baking sheet (4 rows of 4 cherries works nicely).

Bake at 350*F. for 10 minutes (Cookies will be white-if they start to brown, reduce the baking time). Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet. Then dip them in the powdered sugar so that the entire cookie part is covered, but not the stem.

Yield: 5-6 dozen cookies.

Kids love these because they can pick them up by the stem, pop the whole cookie in their mouths, and pull off the stem.

For Christmas, I make these with one jar of red maraschino cherries and one jar of green. Once they're arranged on a platter lines with a paper doily, they're really pretty."

((Leona's idea is I think these would be fun for the 4th of July using the red cherries))

Sugar cookie murder by Joanne Fluke
Have read all the other books in this series and was happy to find one I hadn't read.
This one we find Hannah of the Cookie Jar is competing in the Christmas party and providing some food. There will be a contest and she's compiling Lake Eden Cookbook of recipes from those who live there.
This is also the book Andrea, her sister is pregnant. Special knife is missing and they think the cake knife may be on another table of food. They soon find out where it is and then Hannah goes into investigation mode
with others to question those who might know something about the murder. The crowd also gets snowed in...
Lots of recipes at the end.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

This is the seventh Hannah Swensen murder mystery that I have read, but it is my least favorite for several reasons. Unlike the other mysteries in which the author really took her time to develop the characters and give you a good sense of the surroundings and what everyone was thinking and doing, in this one she focused almost exclusively on Hannah and almost the whole story takes place in the high school. So it just wasn't as rich a read as her other novels. The second reason I was disappointed was I thought this was a 374 page novel (paperback), but only 200 pages of it are the story. The rest is a holiday cookbook. Most, if not all, of the recipes are mentioned in the book, and some look really good, but that made for a short story. I enjoy the recipes sprinkled throughout the other novels, but this one is literally half recipes. The story is that the town has turned out for a Christmas dinner and dance party at the high school. It is actually a chance for people to sample all the recipes in the cookbook that Hannah is putting together. One of the middle-aged men in the town is recently divorced but shows up at the party with a new trophy wife on his arm. His ex-wife and mother are not too happy about that. Then the trophy wife ends up dead in the parking lot with a knife in her chest. Since a blizzard is raging outside, the police order everyone to just stay put and have fun; it is too dangerous to leave. This gives Hannah ample time to figure out what happened.

I'm really disappointed with this novel. :(
I've recently gotten into a bit of a mystery craze and the ones with some sort of food theme are my favorite! Unfortunately this one just wasn't nearly as interesting as I thought it would be. I strongly disliked the main character. She came off as extremely petty, immature and annoying. I of course understand that the point is that she's the detective but I also can't help but feel like there are parts where she oversteps her place and her jurisdiction. Such as a scene where... ***SPOLIER***
...she ends up deciding who should be informed of the murder when the policce tell her it's on a need to know basis. Which basically means that she tells practically her entire family about it and a few others who definitely didn't have any right to know! I feel like that would realistically be up to the police especially since quite a few of them are actually at the event too.
Besides that the book was very short and the crime doesn't even happen until halfway through the book! I really appreciate the amount of recipes but would have like to have a longer, more in depth story even more.
Ultimately it was the terrible main character and not very surprising mystery that have me convinced that this is my first and last book in this series.

This sixth installment of the Hannah Swenson murder mystery series is a bit of a departure from the previous books. Of course, author Joanna Fluke has a minor character meet with an untimely death, and as usual, title character Hannah--with a bit of help from her hugely pregnant sister Andrea and her visiting-home-from-college sister Michelle--takes on the role of sleuth. Furthermore, as with several of the preceding books (e.g., Strawberry Shortcake Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries),Blueberry Muffin Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries)), SUGAR COOKIE MURDER centers around an event, the Lake Eden Christmas party. The party is also a potluck dinner, a chance for the town's residents to try all of the recipes that have been submitted to the Lake Eden cookbook that Hannah has been editing.

But those recipes are part of what makes this installment different from the prior offerings in Hannah Swenson series, which is both good news and bad news. The good news is there are LOTS of recipes--over 50 of them! The bad news is that you'll find few of Hannah's famous cookie recipes here (there are only 7 total cookie recipes, one of which is a brownie recipe that Hannah included as a joke). Otherwise, the recipes fall under the categories of Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Breads, Entrees, Sides, and, within Desserts, Cakes, Pies, Cookies, and Other Sweet Treats. The other downside of having so many recipes is that the actual story part of this novel is quite short, just 200 pages. Fluke is always amusing, but truly, she can do better than this.

Although this was not my favorite Hannah Swenson book, I am still a fan of the series and am eager to move on to Peach Cobbler Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries).

Addendum, 6/15/11: I have made two recipes from this book. I made the Breakfast Muffins, which were a nicely spiced muffin with a subtle apple flavor, and the Blueberry Shortbread Bar Cookies, which my husband really liked (I made only a half a pan of these using the leftover pie filling from the Blue Blueberry Muffins featured in Blueberry Muffin Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries)).

What can possibly be better than being trapped inside a building with spinach quiche, cheesy spicy corn muffins, strawberry bread, salmon loaf, party potatoes, spinach souffle, sweet potato casserole, coconut green pie, Christmas sugar cookies, heavenly tea cookies, blueberry shortbread bar cookies, candied pecans, just to name a few of the delightful treats?

The whirling snow, coming down in sheets, causing one of Minnesota's worst snow storms, causes the town Christmas party goers to be trapped inside. The food, the snow descriptions, 3 dynamic sisters, a warm (not physically warm) small town . . . This book epitomizes coziness. This book is one of the coziest I've ever read. Most of the book takes place in one night in the Community Center, surrounded by delectable food, amiable friends and neighbors, outstanding Christmas music played by the local high school band, festive decorations. I would love to be in that cozy trap!

Meanwhile, a body is found. Hannah and her sisters, Andrea and Michelle, are determined to solve the mystery. The mystery plot and clues are really good and clever.

I immensely enjoyed this cozy book - one of the coziest I've ever read. Now I feel I must sing praises to this well-deserving book (and in response to the negative reviews it got). **It is smaller than most Hannah books.** A small book doesn't mean a bad book. I've read many drawn-out books with boring parts that could have been told have half as many pages. It's the quality and coziness of the book that counts, not the quantity of the pages. **Almost half the book was recipes.** The reader doesn't have to try the recipes, or even look at them. But they are there for those who want to try any of those mouthwatering treats that were served at the Community Christmas party. I think it is good that the recipes are there, because there is a lot of good-sounding food in the book, and it is enough to make you hungry enough to possibly try the recipes. Anyway, the recipes are there for whoever wants them. **The book takes place in one night.** Again, it's the quality of the book that counts - not how many days it takes place in. Anyway, I like variety. I wouldn't want all the Hannah books to have one style and formula. **The mystery doesn't start until late in the book.** Again, I like different formulas and styles. As long as the mystery is good - and the cozy atmosphere is good - I don't care where in the book the mystery starts, or what the length of the book is. I see nothing wrong with this book - it has such a cozy atmosphere and a clever mystery plot. It is one of the best of the best. If I were to grade it on a percentage scale, I would have to give it at least 120% (extra credit for being so good.)

Guess what? This yummy novella includes over twenty-five original recipes! Delicious :p!

Hannah Swensen Rocks! It's that simple. I love Hannah ~ what's not to love?!

Joanne Fluke's first holiday mystery is an enticing read. I devoured it in one sitting.

Sugar Cookie Murder is a well thought out mystery that isn't your typical cozy. Sugar Cookie Murder is an extremely tempting read that is half mystery & half cook book.

Sugar Cookie Murder is brimming w/ scrumptious recipes that would make Julia Child smack her lips & shout, "Whoa! Talk about mouthwatering goodness"!

Fluke's veritable brilliance simply glows in this delectably captivating series. Sugar Cookie Murder whisks up a little mystery, a murder, tasty recipes & a deeper look @ the fascinating characters that reside in the charismatic Hannah Swensen Mystery series.

Fluke has created an absorbing character in Hannah Swensen; she not only charms but warms your heart like a delicious cup of cocoa.

Lake Eden, Minnesota is a town that has a lot charm & the characters are irresistibly engaging.

Joanne is a gifted storyteller that electrifies Hannah Swensen w/ every book she pens.

Quick! Grab a copy of Sugar Cookie Murder.

WARNING SPOILERS....BUT DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS BOOK.

I love to bake, I love the holidays, I love murder mysteries, I love mysteries that are part of an on-going regular series....what could go wrong? I didn't think by any means that the menu for the Christmas party/cookbook testing thingy was going to be recited in detail constantly. Pages and pages of setting up the food on the buffet tables, pages and pages of surface conversations that taught me nothing about the characters, except that everyone thinks Hannah has no tact, her sister is very pregnant, everyone wants a recipe in the cookbook, and everyone loves every single food served. That's all I got out of the first 75 pages....no character building, no plot, no detail that wasn't related to a recipe-whose it is, if they can cook, who forced her to accept it, blah blah blah. Oh yeah, the guy she might kind of be dating is a cop. THAT'S IT! 75 wasted pages!
By the time someone was murdered, I already knew who was going to be killed and the weapon that would be used.There's only one person that anyone doesn't like and that person basically isn't liked by anyone - DING DING DING!!! OBVIOUS KILLER OR OBVIOUS VICTIM! THE WEAPON WAS EVEN MORE PATHETICALLY OBVIOUS. That's never happened in my worst ever murder mysteries.

But I was thrilled something finally actually happened other than searching for a place to put four too many side dishes etc. How to make extra table space? wow, that's really tough in a community center full of tables.......Are you serious? Then it actually got WORSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't think it could, especially after there was finally a crime committed! How could it get worse than no plot whatsoever? The police sitting in a closed door conference room somewhere while Hannah who is supposed to keep the murder a secret, under wraps, until they can investigate, so as not to tip off the killer, proceeds to tell EVERYONE she talks to that the person was murdered, what the weapon was,where and how it happened and that they are a suspect...and then sends them upstairs to the conference room to talk to the police - who have been sitting up there thinking she's being a hostess while they investigate behind closed doors with no dialogue or actual investigating going on and as she sends person after person up to the room to report their alibis and motives, no police ever come down and say "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Less than 40 pages later, I know who the killer is and I'm not reading any further, why bother, I might as well just go to the end of the book and then throw it away. Did I mention how stupid more than half the recipes are? Either nothing I would eat, so common it's in every cookbook, ugh!!!!! I give credit there's a gazillion recipes but the book is so bad I'm not sure I would try any of them, although maybe the catfish bait is something I never made before and would try being that we usually have to buy bait and that's time consuming. No, never mind, the book is so bad, I wouldn't trust any recipe.

I thought a great holiday murder mystery with recipes and baking etc would be great leading up to the beginning of the holidays and I could get some of her others and read all through the holidays. GAG, not a chance.

I don't recall having EVER given a book less than 3 stars.

While I was thinking about this book after I finished reading it, I had two distinct opinions about it. First and most prominent was the idea that this book was very disappointing. The murder was more boring than the previous entries. I did like the idea of all the suspects being together in a building during a blizzard where no one could leave. That felt all Agatha Christie to me. However Hannah felt more forced and less personable then usual. Even the secondary characters felt like caricatures of themselves. I didn't care about the victim or the suspects. Wow, this series is going downhill I thought. Half the book is recipes so it reads more like a short story or entry into an anthology then it did a regular Hannah Swenson murder mystery. Joanne Fluke for a fact, gets tons of comments and complements on her novels. It's almost like for some of her readers, the recipes are the best part. Everyone's always wanting more. I think Joanne wrote this book to do something different for her faithful readers. I think this is a Christmas gift to them, in a way. I refuse to make any judgements about this book not being up to par or going downhill until I read the next full volume in the series. Two stars given because the story is too short, too many recipes for my taste, and a plot that could have been planned out a little better. I'm also about sick of Mike snapping at Hannah and then being forgiven because his kisses are so "hot". Its time for Hannah to settle down with Norman, who would NEVER snap at her. I think together the two of them could make for some great future adventures. Hannah wouldn't suffer as a character at all for her marriage. All of Fluke's characters need to be evolved a little bit. Thanks for the gift here, but I think I'd prefer another full book any time.

I picked up the audio version of this book because I really needed something to listen to while unpacking boxes after a move. I like good mysteries, but find intelligent ones hard to come by these days; nevertheless, I thought I'd give it a try. One thing I demand in a good book is a protagonist I can either identify with or at least like. Imagine my disappointment when the main character, Hannah, in short order plays a petty revenge-prank on her boyfriend (IS he her boyfriend? Why the incessant antagonism and weird hostility?). Throughout the story, women kept being portrayed as catty, jealous, and shallow. Men were either slick, sleazy, or sexist - or dopy. I kept thinking, "Am I supposed to like anyone in this book?" I don't act in that vindictive, drama-queen fashion, and nor does anyone I know, so maybe I'm just not part of the target audience.
The second thing I expect is a plot. I waited and waited and waited for the murder to occur, but by the time it did I was so stuffed to the gills with loathing for everyone in the building I thought the victim the most fortunate one to have escaped from them! There was no mystery at all. The death of the poor woman (later contrived to have been deserving of her fate) was nothing more than an excuse for Hannah and her weird cohort to go around asking questions of the townsfolk (again, Hannah is determined to show up her boyfriend, the law officer, for having become strangely macho and hostile to her). I could not figure out why the people kept answering her questions! She had no authority. She wasn't even a nice person.
I also expect a measure of reality in a story: if it takes place in our here-and-now world, it should feel like it. Why, then, is there a lengthy letter, supposedly written by a five-year-old girl to Santa Claus, that's about two thousand words too long and reads like one end of a teenage telephone conversation?? And I know I'm not the only one who shouted, "what decade are you living in??" when everyone (including the expectant father) was pacing the hospital corridor, waiting for the cold-remedy-commercial avuncular doctor to come out and tell them the baby had been born! And then dad goes off to "celebrate with the men" so the women can go cheer up the new mother who is depressed because she had a girl.
Not my world.
Not my kind of story.
Oh, and being beaten over the head with food-talk and folksy advice got old quickly.
Not my genre!

As enjoyable as this Hannah Swenson mystery was, it was all about the food. The book has the recipes from the Lake Eden cookbook in it, so there are a lot more than cookies. The recipes look great, and I want to try some. The mystery was pretty good too. It's a holiday mystery, so Christmas is the theme. All the citizens of Lake Eden are caught at the Community Centre for a pot luck that is supposed to be a trial for the cookbook, and they get caught in a snowstorm. So we have all our favourite characters under one roof. And, of course, Hannah discovers another body, so her and her sisters are "helping" Mike try to solve the crime. The mystery isn't that difficult, but the story is still fun, and there are over 50 recipes to enjoy with the book! What more could you want?

Nothing evokes the holidays like festive parties, delicious desserts, and...murder? In a letter to Santa, Hannah Swensen's niece asks for help for her aunt, who, she writes, "has found another body. She does that a lot." Hannah has indeed discovered a body in her sixth culinary caper, following LEMON MERINGUE PIE MURDER and FUDGE CUPCAKE MURDER. For Hannah, baker extraordinaire and part-time sleuth, this year the holiday season is turning out to be an especially memorable one.

For starters, Hannah, owner of the Cookie Jar bakery, is cooking up a storm for Lake Eden, Minnesota's annual Christmas buffet to be held that evening. She has also made Mike Kingston, a local detective and her sometime boyfriend, a batch of "hot" brownies as revenge for a misdeed. They're laced with jalapeño peppers, but after she delivers the fiery gift she's plagued with guilt about what is sure to be an explosive reaction from Mike. And as the author of the Lake Eden potluck cookbook and head of the committee in charge of selecting recipes, Hannah is expected to act as hostess at the Christmas buffet.

Held at the town's community center, the buffet is the final taste test of the recipes Hannah has collected for the soon-to-be-published cookbook. (While you're reading, take note of the dishes mentioned. The story clocks in at 200 pages, but the second half of the book is bursting with recipes mentioned in the narrative.) The party takes a sinister turn when Hannah, searching for the thief who has made off with her mother's antique cake knife, ventures into the parking lot and makes a gruesome discovery. Brandi Wyen, a Vegas showgirl and new bride of local resident Martin Dubinski, has been murdered, and Hannah sets out to crack the case.

In a nod to Agatha Christie's THE MOUSETRAP, a blizzard prevents anyone from leaving the community center --- including the murderer. Hannah's list of suspects, which she scribbles on a crumpled paper napkin, includes Martin's ex-wife, his disapproving mother, his infatuated secretary, and more than one Lake Eden man who seems to have made Brandi's acquaintance prior to her appearance at the Christmas fête.

Aided and abetted by her two sisters, Hannah uncovers clues, juggles both of the romantic interests in her life, keeps the party running smoothly, and even manages to prevent her mother from finding out that the Regency-era cake knife she loaned Hannah for the evening doubled as the murder weapon.

In SUGAR COOKIE MURDER, Joanne Fluke --- along with sharing more than 50 original recipes --- makes mystery and mayhem a bona fide holiday delight. By the evening's end, Hannah and her sisters prove their superior sleuthing skills and cap off the night with a special delivery. And Mike's reaction to the brownies? Not at all what Hannah expects.

--- Reviewed by Shannon McKenna

I have enjoyed the previous books in the series. This series is kind of the ABC Family of murder mystery series. The characters are not often complex, and the mysteries are not complex. However, the books have been fun to read. At the end of many chapters there is a recipe for various desserts that show up in the story. So the series may be even more interesting for people who like to bake. I get the feeling with Sugar Cookie Murder that the author really wanted to concentrate on giving the readers the recipes for the large Christmas tasting party that is going on during the entire book. For that reason, this murder mystery was much too simple, and didn't involve any of the drama a murder mystery should provide. The result is a murder mystery that is quickly wrapped up in the first half of the book, and then the second half is detailed recipes for everything that was made for the tasting party. If you like to cook or bake, this might be a nice book for you, but if you are interested in the mysteries and character development, get this book from your library for your Kindle.

I love this series! Its like Murder, She Wrote meets the cooking channel. Its adorable. I would highly recommend this whole book series. This particular book was great. I was completely stunned at the end. With these books, sometimes I have my suspicions from the very beginning be correct, but this one was just a good twist. My mom and I enjoy reading the series together and we both were shocked! I love Hannah! I love all the carachters. I love the recipes! Do not read these if you're hungry! :)

I liked the mystery portion of this book. Yes, yes, the love triangle is very old, but I can't resist a holiday mystery. I read this book when it first came out and I realized I never reviewed it. The Christmas Sugar Cookie recipe is HANDS DOWN the best sugar cookie recipe I have ever encountered. Even if you hate the mystery, the book is worth buying for this recipe. IT IS FANTASTIC! I have made these sugar cookies every Christmas since I bought the book, and for a bunch of holidays and parties in between. People rave over them every time. I don't know where Ms. Fluke got this recipe or if its her own, but I cannot say enough about these cookies :)