Cherry Cheesecake Murder (Unabridged) [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Joanne Fluke (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2006

Joanne Fluke continues her popular Hannah Swensen mysteries with this mix of crime and confection. Hollywood has come to Lake Eden and The Cookie Jar is snack central for the movie crew. And when the demanding director turns up dead after someone switches the movie's prop gun with a real gun, there's a baker's dozen worth of suspects.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Recorded Books, LLC (2006)
• ISBN-10: 1419383027
• ISBN-13: 978-1419383021
• ASIN: 1419383035
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,477,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joanne Fluke is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 novels. Like Hannah Swensen, she was born and raised in a small town in rural Minnesota, but now lives in sunny Southern California. She is currently working on her next Hannah Swensen mystery and readers are welcome to contact her at the following e-mail address, [e-mail], or by visiting her website at www.MurderSheBaked.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hollywood Comes to Lake Eden, April 5, 2006

By 

Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cherry Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

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.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An okay entry in a struggling series, April 9, 2007

By 

C. M. Mcmahon "Cathy Mac" (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cherry Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My favorite part of this book is the cover! Yum!!, March 19, 2006

By 

Carolyn Rowe Hill "author of 'The Dead Angel" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cherry Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

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