Customer Reviews

Strawberry Shortcake Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Following up on the success of The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, this is the second volume in the Hannah Swenson Murder Mysteries. Here again, we find Hannah coping with the brutal Minnesota winter when the unthinkable happens. Hannah finds a body! The local high school coach and secret wife beater is found dead face down in Hannah's strawberry shortcake. His wife certainly has a motive, but is she the real killer? The police are inclined to think so, but Hannah certainly does not. With the aide of her sister, Andrea, she sets out to find the real killer. Many suspenseful twists and turns follow as Hannah and Andrea proceed on their relentless mission to free an innocent woman. Will they succeed and find the real killer? Only in the last few chapters will you find out the answer to this riddle.

Once again, author Joanne Fluke has surpassed herself with another excellent novel. The cozy and inviting atmosphere found in the first novel continues here against the backdrop of the cruel Minnesota cold. Many delicious recipes are included so you can share the experience right along with Hannah and her friends. Her strained relationship with her mother continues as her friendship with Norman grows and her closeness to her sister Andrea deepens. The novel keeps you in suspense right up until the very end providing an exhilarating mystery ride. This is a novel not to be missed. Very highly recommended.

Smash B

Veteran author Joanne Fluke has produced another winner in the Hannah Swensen series. This time the cookie baking sleuth finds her friend Danielle standing over the dead body of her abusive husband, a local high school coach. Never doubting Danielle's innocence, Hannah, with the surprisingly able assistance of her ever so feminine sister, Andrea, tackles a private investigation of the murder. The twists and surprises don't stop and neither do the mouth-watering references to dinners and desserts.Part of the charm of this series is that Hannah is surrounded by nice people and loving, supportive family members. She also has two competing admirers, one, a fix-up by her mother and his, the other a police officer who works for her brother-in-law. Hannah thoughtfully debates the virtues of each since one is movie star handsome and the other is bright and kind. There is no question we'll see Hannah exploring her options next time around. The series is set in Minnesota where the weather is cold but the people are not, but don't start with this book. Please read "The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder" first so you can meet Hannah, her friends, her family and her suspects and not miss a single detail. You won't be sorry, and you'll wait anxiously for next year's book.

This was my first Joanne Fluke novel, but will definitely not be my last. It was entertaining and informative. There were seven recipes contained within.

Just when you think you've figured it out- more evidence leads you in a different direction.

Warning!!! Read the recipes first and have the ingredients on hand. Reading this book may cause the urge to bake!!!

The citizens of Lake Eden, Minnesota are very proud of hosting the first annual Hartland Flour Dessert Bake-off. Bakery owner, Hannah Swensen is the head judge and even makes it on the evening news, showing how to bake strawberry shortcake. The first day of judging is not quite as smooth as the pre-event setup. Showing no tact, last minute replacement judge, Coach Boyd Watson accurately but viciously rips the desserts of four of the contestants, irritating everyone.

That night Boyd's wife Danielle calls Hannah pleading with her to come over quickly. Hannah does only to find someone murdered Boyd in his garage. All the circumstantial evidence points towards Hannah. She was a battered spouse and even now sports a black eye. Her fingerprints are on the murder weapon, a hammer. Finally the victim's blood is all over her clothing. Hannah believes Danielle did not kill Boyd, but she worries that even her best friend, police detective Mike Kensington, thinks the wife killed the abusive husband.

Having solved a previous homicide (see CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MURDER), Hannah decides to investigate because she also realizes that in this election year, the sheriff, re-running for office, will want a fast solution.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE MURDER is an entertaining amateur sleuth tale starring a person who seems more like a neighbor than a character in a book. The story line is fun and Chef Joanne Fluke, who proves with this tale that she is not a one-book fluke, bakes the who-done-it to a tasty morsel.

Harriet Klausner

Another light read from a very cute little series.

However, the author really needs to work on character development a bit so that Hannah isn't quite so unlikeable. The way she kept sticking her nose into the investigation and determining what was and wasn't important for the police to know just left me wondering why she hadn't been arrested for withholding evidence, witness tampering, and several other charges.

I also wish the author would get out of the annoying habit of having the characters use each others' names in every sentence they say to each other (Hi Hannah. Hi Lisa. How are you Hannah? I'm fine Lisa, how are you? Fine Hannah. That's good Lisa.) This drove me nuts during the first book, and it didn't get any better this go-round. The story isn't hard to follow at all, so this really isn't necessary, and makes for a very distracting read.

Hannah Swenson is back and ready for more action. When her friend Danielle Watson calls and asks Hannah to come over, she is surprised to find that Danielle's husband Boyd has been murdered in their garage. The police suspect Danielle because of Boyd's abusive history. But Hannah is convinced that she's innocent and starts her own investigation. While staying a step ahead of the police, Hannah finds blackmail, town secrets, and a second body. But can she find the killer before he or she decides Hannah knows too much?
I was slightly disappointed with this book. I saw several plot points coming long before they did. Also, I would have liked to see more of Hannah's family and friends. These wonderful characters helped make the first book for me, but they had a significantly smaller roll here.
Still, the overall mystery and motives were great. And I loved seeing the relationship between Hannah and her sister Andrea mature. These two provided some great laughs and smiles. The setting, Minnesota in December, was so vivid it made me shiver from cold. And it includes 7 more delicious sounding recipes including some I wished were in the first book.
I recommend this book and am looking forward to the next in this wonderful series, hopefully with a little more character development for the wonderful cast of supporting characters.

I've become hooked on this mystery series, although I can't figure out why! The writing is repetitive; there are pages and pages of irrelevant detail; and the recipes (although they sound great) are written in a very patronizing way! But the characters and the setting are appealing (even if Hannah is too self-congratulatory and not very insightful -- it's the others who make the books worthwhile), and they are fun, quick reads.

After the treat of Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, I decided to plunge ahead with number two in the Hannah Swensen series.
The first annual Hartland Dessert Bake-off is being held in Lake Eden with Hannah Swensen, the owner of The Cookie Jar, acting as head judge. But the initial round is barely over before one of the judges, Coach Boyd Watson, is found in his garage bludgeoned to death. The first suspect is his wife, Danielle, whom he had been abusing for years. But Hannah does not believe that her friend could possibly have killed her abusive husband and starts an investigation to find out who killed Coach Watson.

Good:
In the last book, Hannah investigates a murder because her brother-in-law, a "good" detective, asks her for help (because Hannah heard a lot of gossip? Please). That was a terribly poor reason to investigate, and Joanne Fluke must have realized that because she gives Hannah a much more plausible reason for investigating this murder. Having Hannah investigate to clear her friend's name is much more logical and requires less suspension of imagination (which isn't bad, but if overused...).
The mystery is a good one and has plenty of twists and turns. Just when you think Hannah has the identity all figured out, a new obstacle is placed in her way. We see how Hannah uses deductive logic (some of which I don't agree with, but them I am quite skeptical) and photography to unearth clues of the killer's identity. The killer is certainly not the first one you might suspect.
It was pleasant to see Hannah and Andrea work together in this mystery to find the killer. The two sisters have a good relationship and rapport with each other and seeing them interact so well is very "cozy".
Other fun characters are Lisa and Norman. Lisa is a sweet character that you just can't help but like. While her boss is investigating the crime, Lisa is willing to come in early, work late and go the extra mile for her boss. And it is always interesting to learn more about the townsfolk of Lake Eden. Norman is a good humored dentist with a pleasant personality. Definitely a good friend for Hannah!
Although brief, I enjoyed how Hannah taught Craig English Literature. She made it so interesting that I was intrigued (and I have no aptitude or interest in English Lit!).
And one of the most important reasons to buy this book is for the seven delicious recipes. I enjoyed how Joanne integrated each one into the plot and am definitely making plans to try them out (but be warned as you read--you will be hungry!).

Bad:
I don't know if there was any one thing that made this book worse than the last, but, somehow, I found it less pleasant than Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. The things that bugged me about this entry were multiple little quibbles:
1. Four year old Tracey talks like she is about ten.
2. Lucy is such an unlikeable bad character that you have to look at the front cover to make sure it doesn't say "Nancy Drew" on the front.
3. Mike, the sexy hunk, that just happens to be dating Hannah, the average woman, is aggravatingly arrogant and caustic and certainly not appealing to this woman at all.
4. Hannah is not beyond stealing, breaking and entering into someone's home, lying, and pretty much anything all to solve a crime. And all she gets is maybe a slap on the wrist while the cops, Bill and Mike, look the other way and snatch up her tainted evidence. Definitely would not happen in the real world.
5. When a certain woman does not make a dental appointment, it takes almost 100 pages before people think that something might be wrong (i.e. the woman is dead). The moment Norman called saying the woman did not make her appointment, I thought, "She's dead". It seems ludicrous that Hannah and Andrea took almost a whole day to come to the same conclusion.
6. I started noticing what other reviewers had mentioned about how Joanne Fluke includes a characters name in a dialog very frequently ("Andrea, what did you do with the sugar?" "I don't remember, Hannah" "Could you look again, Andrea?" "Of course, Hannah"). Some of it makes sense, but others sound clunky.
7. Instead of describing something in a narrative, Joanne will have characters describe in dialogue what they are seeing/doing.
8. It's amazing how much time Hannah and Andrea can take off from their respective workplaces to solve a murder. Wish I had that flexibility at my workplace.
9. I don't know how Andrea could eat a huge lunch of Stroganoff and then down three fattening Pecan Chews and still be oh, so slender (a size 5 or something from what I recall). When you get down to it, Andrea should be the size of a blimp with the number of cookies that she downs in a day. In fact, I don't see how most people in Lake Eden aren't the size of Betty (aka a size 26, a disparaging comment that is mentioned each time that she is) in this book with the number of cookies that Hannah passes out.
10. The ending is reminiscent of something from a children's mystery story (the stereotypical face-off and learning all the missing details of the mystery--been there, grew out of that).

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Occasional use of da** and he**. Hannah chides Andrea for toning down her language.
Several double entendres pass between Mike and Hannah. Two characters are having an affair. Brief comments about Hannah's prior relationship to a man in college.
A woman is shot in the back of her head (no details fortunately). Coach Watson is murdered by a blow to the head with a ball peen hammer (and if you've ever seen one, you can just about imagine--as I did--how this hammer damaged the coach's head). Danielle has bruises from her abuse.

Overall:
The first book in a series is usually the best, but it will often have "first-time" author flaws. The second book in a series is not usually as good, but the writing is often much better. This is probably the best way to categorize my feelings toward "Strawberry Shortcake Murder". On one hand, the writing is clearer (although still far from perfect) and the story tighter, but the cute character flaws from Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, Hannah's illegal solving antics, and the conclusion reminiscent of a child's book have now begun to get annoying. Perhaps, I should have let my stomach settle before going for seconds.

Brought to you by
*C.S. Light*

Hannah is a great sleuth with an entertaining plot. The characters are enjoyable and very believable. In addition, the recipes are delicious and easy to use. I just fed my husband the Strawberry shortcake last night (albiet with frozen strawberries not Lisa's fresh grown ones) and he raved about it. Definitely a winner, as is the entire series!

What a cozy mystery and wonderful recipes. Two things I love! Baking and reading! This is my first book by this author and I loved it! I read another review about you could see where the book was going, but somehow I wondered if Norman had some part in it.

I will be getting other books by this author. Her recipes were awesome and the book in itself was wonderful! I love a little romance, and also a little bit about family, and how important they are was thrown in the mix.

Bravo!