Customer Reviews

Sugar Cookie Murder

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

This is my first book in the Hanna Swensen series and I'm not sure I will look for others.

I didn't realize what a huge genre of "cookbook mysteries" are out there! I picked up a bunch of paperbacks at a rummage sale and there were a half-dozen of these types of stories all by different authors. That said, "Sugar Cookie Murder" wasn't one of the better ones.

Since I haven't read any of the previous books in this series, I have only this book to base my opinions on and that might be unfair. However, this is supposed to be a stand-alone book.

Anyway, as several reviewers noted, the "mystery" was hardly a mystery at all. The climax was horribly disappointing -- a quick confession and bang, end of mystery. Apparently the cops did nothing but guard the doors and the detective sat in an office being cranky while Hannah and her sisters ran around and solved the "mystery". Almost all the action -- such as it was -- took place in the banquet hall and focused on describing food. Lots of food. With a few million references to how cold it gets in Minnesota and how everyone there can drive through a blizzard like it was a warm sunny day. Obviously there is a history between all the residents which, fortunately, wasn't too heavy-handed although it did get kind of confusing now and then.

I didn't particularly like the characters, either. Again, the shallowness of everyone might have been because it's part of a series and there was more character-building earlier on. But Hannah came off as a bit whiney, controlling and indecisive. She has two guys on a string -- one is too good to be true but kind of ordinary, the other is an obnoxious, self-serving cop who is apparently hot for his secretary and Hannah both making him a class-A jerk, but he's a hunk so Hannah seems to cozy up with him moreso than the other guy. But she uses the other guy whenever it suits her so she's not much better than the cop. The sisters seem two dimensional, the mother is a ditz and the rest of the cast are mere shadows on the wall.

The reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 (too bad sometimes you can't give 0 stars!) was because I am hoping/assuming the earlier books were better and this was just a filler book. If I run across more of Joanne Fluke's books at a rummage sale I might buy them but I'm sure I won't be spending full price -- paperback or hardcover -- for any of them.

This weekend we completed the new Joanne Fluke book, The Sugar Cookie Murder, and I've got to be honest.... it was a real disappointment. She's losing her edge. It looks like a thick book, but half of it is recipes. Now that wouldn't be so bad if they were good recipes, but there may have been two out of the whole lot that interested me at all. Yuck! So then I had hoped that the story would make up for the bad recipes. No such luck.

This is the first book where the entire story revolves around a town Christmas party that takes place one night. Yes, the entire book is about one night. While Dan Brown can pull off a tome that takes place over 24 hours, Joanne Fluke cannot. There is very little movement in the book, making it very slow. And the murder doesn't even happen until you are ONE THIRD of the way through the book!!! She should know better than that! I only hung in there because I thought it was going to get interesting at some point in time. It never quite made it.

While I have read every one of Fluke's books and loved them, this one is a definite exception. And I am very tired of Fluke keeping Hannah in technology limbo--not even a cordless caller ID phone, much less a cell phone! Come on!! Even rural Minnesota has cell phone and caller ID technology!!!! Hannah can't be THAT backwards! I am also tired of Fluke stringing us along with this whole Norman/Mike thing. Mike is way too sexist for Hannah (for ANY woman, for that matter!), and Norman is wonderful. Stop yanking our chains, Fluke, and move on with the story line!!!

So Joanne Fluke fans, this one is fine to pass up. You won't miss a thing that won't be summarized in detail many times over in her next book. And the recipes are not worth it either! Trust me on this one.

I've read all the books in the Hannah Swensen series, and this one is a huge disappointment. Look, I LOVE to cook. But I do not read these books for the recipes. I like the fact that she included the cookie recipes in past books, but come on! Over half this book is recipes! I was shocked when the story ended on pg. 168. (The book has 341 pgs.) And the plot just didn't work. It was all so contrived, and Hannah was annoying. I would not recommend this one at all. I'd give it zero stars, but the system won't let me!

Hannah Swenson owns the Cookie Jar Bakery in Eden Lake, Minnesota. Currently she is working her buns off (pun intended) to get ready for the Christmas party and food competition at the community center. Hannah is compiling a book of recipes that the townsfolk are renowned for. Everyone seems to want to be included in the cookbook so Hannah is struggling not to ruffle any feathers by showing every dish entered at the party. She also looks forward to spending time with her date police investigator Mike Kingston.

Hannah knows that Martin's new wife Brandy Wyn Dubrinksi will make his mother Babs and his former spouse Sherry uncomfortable. However everyone gasps when they see Brandy as she is wearing a $25,000 mink coat that Martin just bought her. While Hannah toils in the kitchen she notices that the door to the back parking lot is ajar. She goes outside only to find Brandy dead with her mother's jewel encrusted Regency serving cake knife in the victim's chest. Hannah begins searching for the real killer.

There should be a warning not to read this book on an empty stomach because the descriptions of food throughout the novel and the recipes at the end will send the pickiest eater on a gorging frenzy. This warm cozy amateur sleuth tale is well plotted and has a sweet eccentric small town support cast, but the main ingredient remains Hannah as she takes another bite out of crime. SUGAR COOKIE MURDER is a delicious lighthearted mystery.

Harriet Klausner

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".

This book is a disappointment. The mystery is pretty lame and the constant romantic "tension" between Norman and Mike and Hannah is getting old.

The first half of this book is the story, and the second half is recipes. I will say most of the recipes look pretty good, just be aware that if you buy this book, you are buying a cookbook with a story attached, rather than a substantial mystery with a few recipes in the back.

The Hannah Swensen books started off so well, now they are just annoying. Hannah is overbearing, over-critical and plain not likable anymore. This book was sold as a mystery novel when in reality it was a second rate cook book.

Joanne Fluke has had a few good books, but this was not her best. Typical sparks fly between Hannah, Mike, Norman and Shawna Lee, but nothing to stay up for. Book was deceiving....lots of recipe's at the end made the book appear larger. I will continue to read Fluke books, but will not waste my good money on a purchase. Sorry Joanne, better luck next time.

I've enjoyed Fluke's other baking mysteries but this one wasn't much of a mystery--but may be a good cookbook, I've not tried any of the 174 pages of recipes yet.

Fluke fell into the most hated of all mystery novelists' sins--she didn't give you the clues in advance, just let them "pop up" when it was time for the exposition and announcement of the killer. I've read 5 of her other mysteries so I was pretty well versed in the characters that are standard in her novels. However, if you pick this up as a first read, you'll have no idea about the dynamics of the family or the town (or the love triangle which, by the way, is getting pretty old--Hannah just needs to make up her mind and go with it) because they are given no depth at all in this book but are nothing more than one-dimensional cut-outs used to decorate what is obviously a holiday cookbook.

Don't waste your time or money on this one.

I have read all of this series and they have ranged from good to great. I was looking forward to this new book. When I came to the middle and the recipes, I couldn't believe the that was the end. I kept thumbing through the pages looking for the rest of the story and the twist in the tale. Humm, maybe THAT is the mystery that needs to be solved. As Hannah might say, it's like ordering a chococherry bomb and instead getting a picture of a cookie.