Customer Reviews

Cherry Cheesecake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Living in a small town has certain advantages and disadvantages. Right now, Hannah Swensen would list among the disadvantages everyone knowing her business. Ever since both town dentist Norman and police detective Mike proposed to her, she has been getting lots of phone calls from people telling her whom to marry. The phone calls start even before she leaves for her shop, The Cookie Jar, early in the morning.

All that gets set on the back burner when Hollywood comes calling. Director Dean Lawrence chooses Lake Eden as a location for the independent movie he's making, using many of the locals as extras or giving them bit parts. Hannah's niece Tracey lands the part of the main character as a child, and even Moishe finds a roll as the movie's cat.

Hannah is shocked to discover old college friends among the cast and crew. The script's writer is Ross Barton, a man Hannah had secretly had a crush on back then. When they begin spending lots of time together, the rumor mill starts up and both Mike and Norman are seeing red.

The movie is not without controversy, however. Mr. Lawrence wants to move a statue to film one scene, and the sculptor's sister will have none of it. He is generally rude to the locals and hits on every woman in sight. He's demanding of those under him. At least he does love the cherry cheesecake Hannah made especially for him and jumps at the idea of using mini cherry cheesecakes in one scene.

Then the unthinkable happens. Dean Lawrence is demonstrating a scene for an actor who is having a hard time grasping how he should play it when the prop gun goes off and Dean is killed. There's no way it was an accident and little likelihood is was suicide, so the police begin to investigate. Never one to ignore her curiosity, Hannah begins her own investigation. But was it a local or someone from the movie? There's certainly no shortage of suspects or motives to sift through.

This series has developed a loyal fan based because of the characters, and this book will be sure to please them. The entire cast is their usual charming selves and spending time with them is always fun. Tracey really gets a chance to shine in this book. She may not behave like a normal seven year old, but watching her campaign to get the part in the movie was wonderful. As always, Moishe manages to steal every scene he is in. That cat has a mind of his own and it shows.

Many readers are getting tired of the Mike/Norman/Hannah love triangle. They will find this book disappointing. While I realize the on going story line is completely unrealistic, I also find it fun and really don't care. It provides lots of laughs in the first two chapters and several more over the course of the book.

The only strike against this book is the pacing of the story. While we seen the murder in the prologue, it doesn't take place in the story until after the half waypoint. While there is still plenty going on to keep the reader entertained, it begins to drag before the murder takes place. Once Dean dies, the story picks up the pace again and leads to a cleave solution. I do wish the murder had come sooner and the sub-plots woven in after it happened, however.

This book features fourteen new recipes. I've only tried the title recipe (that's right, I'm finally trying them). Trust me, if you like cheesecake you need to get the recipe. It's worth the price of the book alone.

This series has always been light and fun, and the eighth book continues that tradition. It's best to start with the early books because the half the fun of the series is the characters and the more you know about them the better you appreciate them.

I have read all of the Hannah series, and the last three novels have begun to strain my patience. I find both Andrea and Tracey increasingly annoying, and am frustrated by the so-called love triangle between Hannah, Norman and Mike. There needs to be some resolution of the proposals and Hannah's relationship with both Norman and Mike. No person would have a "ready to marry you" relationship with two people at the same time.

This story moved slow, only picking up pace 2/3 of the way into the book after the murder occurred. This, in my opinion, occurred too late in the story and the last third, the part with Hannah investigating, seemed rushed and almost an afterthought. This is what I usually read this type of book for, the mystery.

While I will give the author another try in her next book, there may need to be some major shake ups for me to continue with this series that continues to struggle.

Joanne Fluke's latest offering, Cherry Cheesecake Murder, was a mixed bag for me. I absolutely adore the cover and will leave this book sitting out for a while because it looks good enough to eat. The cover on Amazon or elsewhere does not do it justice. The bright cherry red foil is stunning!

The story has a lot of fluff in it, which is typical Fluke. It also has fourteen scrumptious cookie recipes. I like the fact that they were dispersed throughout the novel and not lumped all at the back (Sugar Cookie Murder).

I do wish Fluke would give the reader more credit for a brain. As others have frequently noted, she has a strong tendency to explain everything to the reader as if he/she couldn't figure it out his/herself. Sometimes it detracts from the flow of the scene. For example, on page 315, the statement is made that an actor could do the part if the makeup artist can "age him down." I get that, but Fluke proceeds to explain what that means as well as what "aging up" means. The story itself is a mildly entertaining whodunit, but could be more intriguing if some of the fluff and unnecessary explanations (of every little thing) were left out.

The story surrounds a movie crew which has come to town to film some small town scenes for a movie entitled, Crisis in Cherrywood. The director is a real meanie and ends up dead as the last scenes are being filmed (opening pages). Then, we backtrack over the few weeks leading up to the event until we find out who did it. Hannah Swenson, Cookie Jar shop owner and snoop extraordinaire, has added a third beau to her stable. That also gets a little tiresome, but, in spite of it all, Fluke's characters are loveable, and one can see some big screen entertainment possibilities here. Besides, as an almost entirely unknown author with, as yet, only one published book, who am I to argue with the writing style of Joanne Fluke's considerable literary success!!!

Carolyn Rowe Hill

The characters in this series are getting to be less and less believable (and less and less enjoyable). The niece does not "speak" like a typical little girl (even for a genius IQ). The men are WAY out of character. Mike is macho, and macho would never put up with Hannah's BS. Norman may be somewhat nerdy, but he has self-respect and should be past fed up with Hannah's indecisiveness!

The murder seemed secondary to the ridiculous relationship issue. This is supposed to be a murder mystery, but I felt as though I was reading a poorly plotted/written romance novel!

Also, if the author REALLY thinks most of her readers do not know the definition of simple words... what age group is she writing for?!

Overall, the flaws noted above wreaked havoc on the actual story. I spent so much time annoyed that I didn't enjoy the book.

The recipes as always are a plus, but that's not a reason to buy/read this book!

If you are new to the author, pick up one of the earlier books in the series. It will be a much more enjoyable read than the last couple!

Sadly, this series has been in decline and has hit a new low with the Cherry Ceesecake Murder. A movie company comes to film in Lake Eden on the recommendation of Hannah's college-age sister, Michelle. Of course, Hannah, both her sisters, her neice, her mother and both her boyfriends are all either cast in the movie or are working for the production company. And let's not forget that that the producer and the lead actress are Hannah's old college buddies whom she hasn't been in contact with for years. That puts the old improbablilty drive into high gear. Then there are other glaring improbables, like Tracy, Hannah's kindergarten-aged niece getting a major role in the movie playing a spohisticated third grader. And doesn't anyone think it odd that this role wouldn't have been cast more than a day before the shooting began? Talk about a strained plot!

Too many things in the book about filming the movie are just plain wrong or so unlikely as to be unbelievable that it is hard to suspend disbelief and stay in the story. But the book's worst flaw is that the prologue tells who will be murdered, but the actual murder doesn't take place until page 203. The preceeding 200 pages of back story give us plenty of tedious details about Lake Eden and Hannah's life, while only minimally advancing the plot. Meanwhile, Hannah continues to be a doormat for her mother and her dentist boyfriend's mother while she wavers between the dentist boyfriend and the law enforcement boyfriend. Frankly, I would have cheered if she had run off with the old college friend and the series had died a natural death.

Yikes! 200 pages into the story, we finally get to the crime. Since the book isn't that much longer, you can imagine that the solving of the crime isn't the focus of this books. Why not?, is my question. I really like this series, love the recipes, love the characters, but this was definitely the weakest of the series to date. I kept wondering when a crime would be committed, and couldn't believe I was 3/4 through the book by the time it happened.

Still, the writing is good, the characters are well developed and there is humor peppered throughout.

Was it just me or did any other readers find the tone of the writing style a little condescending to the reader? The need to explain the meaning of amorous, etc.? And Tracey was just a tad over the top in precociousness in this one. I still like the setting, the characters, and the recipes but I am frustrated with the triangle (and really can't relate to it especially with marriage in the picture). I think both men should dump Hannah! If the situation isn't resolved by the next installment, so am I.

The last book was a cliff-hanger on Hannah and her two boyfriends...and this one does NOT answer that question. Hannah needs to make a decision...this is ridiulous! And she needs to choose Norman...yes, I definitely have an opinion on this matter!

This book is actually mostly lead-up to the murder...it starts with the murder and then goes back and does all the lead-up to the murder. The actual murder doesn't really occur until about halfway through the book (maybe more) while Fluke's other books started with the murder. This gives you plenty of time to dislike the deceased, though. I managed to figure out the murderer a little early (quite proud of myself actually), by the same clues that Hannah notices later.

The characters and plot are as fun and interesting as ever. If you are new to this series, though, you might want to go back and read a different first - if nothing else, so you understand the Norman/Mike tangle.

I started reading cozies a few years ago and started with Diane Mott Davidson's Goldie stories. I loved the idea of recipes and murder! I picked up the Hannah Swenson books a couple of years ago and got hooked; Hannah was charming, the recipes were delicious, and Lake Eden seemed idyllic.

Unfortunately, the books have become almost a parody of themselves. Everything is simply too... precious. The naivete of the denizens of Lake Eden baffles me- no one seems to do anything vaguely carnal, except indulge in Hannah's baked goods and occasionally murder the random person. Hannah's relationships with Mike and Norman are beyond silly, without a shred of realism. The only saving grace is Moishe!

I'm going to stick with "real" heroines, I think- crime and love triangles are so much more fun with Stephanie Plum than with Hannah Swenson!

I am an avid reader, but this book is so out of sync with human nature I could not force myself to finish even half of it. I read an average of two books a week and the last time I put a book down without finishing it was two years ago. I read everything from "real literature" to mysteries to non-fiction. As a lifelong Minnesota resident, I am always eager to find writers who set their books in "my" state. I grew up in a very small Minnesota town (1,500 people) and I can promise you that none of us were this stupid (and we had our share of dim bulbs). Ms. Fluke has been in California too long; she is writing about a Minnesota that disappeared around 1950. Also we have other seasons besides winter. In fact, where I live the average temperature in the summer is in the mid 80's. Please, Ms. Fluke stop the inanity! It is as if Ms. Fluke read Keillor's Lake Woebegone as fact!

I have read many cozy mysteries (the all the books in the series composed by M.C. Beaton, Mott Davidson and Lilian Jackson Braun ) and I do not believe that I have unrealistic expectations as far as plot, or character development. Hannah's response to her suitors' proposals is such an obvious cop out and an insult to readers of cozy mystery fiction across the globe. Either Ms. Fluke intends us to believe that Mike and Norman are masochistic or she has completely given up attempting to add any realism to her books relying on her skill in the kitchen and the popularity of "recipe" mysteries to bolster her sales. I do not know of a single man in this world who would tolerate Hannah's refusal to choose between them and happily return to their status as dual paramours of this obviously self-centered and inhumane woman. The recipes may be good, but if that is what you are looking for do yourself a favor and buy a cookbook, because there is little else to recommend this book.