Sugar Cookie Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Wow, the best Hannah Swensen ever!!!
Review: Being a schoolteacher in a small town in Utah, I am always eagerly awaiting the next Hannah book. This series by Joanne Fluke always has the power to transport me into the heart of Lake Eden, Minnesota and right into the "Cookie Jar" for a few tasty treats. This book fills the bill perfectly. This latest offering by Ms. Fluke has really good recipes galore ( perfect for any potluck supper) and a murder mystery that glued me to my chair until I finished every last word. Great stuff!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Half Mystery, Half Recipes, All Fun
Review: For months, Hannah has been working on the Lake Eden Cookbook. Now it's time for the final test, tonight's potluck at the community center. With a winter storm blowing outside, everyone is inside enjoying all the delicious food and feeding the gossip mill about Martin Dubinski and his new wife, Brandi Wyen. Seems the two got married when Martin was in Vegas and she's a dancer from the famous city. Meanwhile, Andrea is finally off bed rest, and Hannah finally gets to meet her mom's new boyfriend.

But when Hannah finds Brandi stabbed with her mother's antique cake knife, things take a turn for the worse. With a full blown blizzard raging outside, everyone is trapped at the community center with the killer. Hannah sets out to help Mike solve this crime while the trail is still fresh. But can she do it without letting everyone else know what's going on?

If you're a fan of this series, you need this book. The series character's storylines take a step forward, and you won't want to miss what happens to them. Plus, as always, there's a good mystery. Personally, I didn't have it figured out before the end.

This entry in the series is really only a novella. The second half of the book features the recipes from the cookbook. Naturally, there are a few awkward paragraphs listing the dishes, but everything mentioned makes an appearance in the back. As with any cookbook, there are some wonderful sounding recipes and some that don't appeal to me (like the fish), but considering I bought the book for the mystery, I'm really not complaining. (And a side note, there's an error on a recipe in this book as well. For the Not So Swedish Meatballs, you really only need one 50 ounce can of cream of mushroom soup, which should be fairly obvious.)

It was nice to pop in and visit these friends for the holidays. I'm looking forward to seeing them again in a few months with the next book.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Short Read
Review: I am a huge fan of the Hannah Swensen Mysteries. But I guess I was so excited to order this book that I didn't read that half this book is a cookbook this time around and was sorta disappointed when I learned it was. But was happy to learn a new one is on it's way for early 2005, so this is just a little book to hold us fan over until then. Sugar Cookie Murder while good is only around 150 pages long. It's a nice quick read for the holidays and the cookbook has wonderful things in it with more then just cookies this time around. What I do think is that this could be a very nice idea for a HOLIDAY GIFT for someone that loves to cook with a quick story to read as a bonus! I don't know where to keep this book, with my other books or in the kitchen with my cookbooks!

Rating:
Summary: A SWEET Mystery
Review: I consider myself a gourmet chef. Normally I only read western novels or cookbooks. My wife talked me into reading this Hannah Swensen book. It took a lot of arm-twisting, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it. I was surprised to find some good recipes too. I didn't plan or reading any of the other books in this series, but the wife kept shoving them under my nose, so I'm about half way through The Chocolate Chip Murders. Another good one. I'm getting hooked. Ms. Fluke writes an entertaining novel. Personally I liked Sugar Cookie Murder because the story was the perfect length. Long enough to provide a great introduction to the characters, and develop a plot that kept me guessing as to who the villain was, all the way through. The "cookbook' portion was frosting on the cake (or sugar on the cookies.) If I can manage to go slowly, by the time I read the first 5 books, Peach Cobbler Murder should be in the book stores. I'll probably be first in line to buy it. 5 stars Ms Fluke.

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: 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".

Rating:
Summary: This cookie recipe is missing something!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Surgar Cookie Murder...What a treat!!!
Review: I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! I'm not one for mysteries,but when this one crossed my lap,just from the looks, I was pulled in.What a fantastic read.I was very impressed and can't wait for the saga to continue.Keep it up Joanne!!!!!!! Wonderful,absolutley wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Read
Review: I was a little disappointed that this had such a short story. The recipes are great though, but this is almost more of a cookbook than a mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: spend your money on sugar cookies!
Review: 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.