Cream Puff Murder [Review]

Stats:
#11 in Hannah Swenson series
353 Pages [Kindle]
Published 1 February 2010 [Kindle]
ASIN: B0031W1EK4
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Synopsis:
Winter in Lake Eden, Minnesota, is the perfect time to curl up by a cosy fire with something - and someone - sweet. But while bakery owner Hannah Swensen can provide herself with the confections, cuddling will have to take a back seat to sleuthing when her sometime-squeeze becomes a murder suspect ...

With the launch party of her mother's novel around the corner, Hannah has a dress to fit into and a date with her sister, Andrea, at Lake Eden's new health club, Heavenly Bodies. Dragging herself out of bed on a frigid Minnesota morning for exercise, of all things, is bad enough. Discovering a dead body floating in the gym's Jacuzzi?

Okay, that's worse. Nor does it help that there's a plate of The Cookie Jar's very own cream puffs garnishing the murder scene. The fact that they were purchased by none other than Hannah's part-time flame, Detective Mike Kingston, is simply the icing on what's shaping up to be one very messy cake ...

Mike may be the prime suspect in the murder of man-eating bombshell Ronni Ward, but he's by no means the only one. Ronni, a fitness instructor at both the Sheriff's department and Heavenly Bodies, made a nasty habit of throwing her own heavenly body at every man, eligible or not, who crossed her path. Plenty of Lake Eden's ladies won't miss Ronni, including her ex-fiance's former girlfriend, the angry mother of one of her would-be conquests, and even the mayor's wife. Could any of them have wanted her gone badly enough to make it happen?

Mike's recruited Hannah to find out, and, as any suspended, suspected detective would, he's micromanaging her every step of the way...Between trying to narrow the list of Ronni's enemies down to fewer than half the town's female population and resisting the urge to remove Mike from the running by throttling him herself, Hannah has her plate full. Trouble is, when it comes to cookies - and to murder - there's always room for one more.


My Thoughts:
I was worried after the last few Hannah books that I was going to end up putting them down and calling it a day. However, this book gave me hope.

Ronni Ward is back and she's bringing along all her promiscuity back too - pissing off girlfriends and wives all over town. Hannah is working on losing weight to fit into a dress for her mother's book premiere party and Ronni has taken up a job at the local gym destroying all the girls' self-confidence and boosting all the guys' egos. Then Hannah finds Ronni face down in the gym's jacuzzi.

Many of the police officers are taken off the case because of personal involvement with Ronni, including Bill, Mike, and Lonnie (the Swenson sisters' significant others). Stella Parks, a cop from a nearby town, steps in to lead the investigation - while all the officers of Lake Eden feed Hannah information and encourage her to find the killer.

This one brought back my interest because the murder was a satisfying one and the whodunit surprised me. Mike was a total sleeze and Norman was awesome...although Hannah STILL hasn't just picked Norman. Moishe also had a major part in this book which is always amazing :)

Recipes in the book include: Blueberry Crunch Cookies, Bonnie Brownie Cookie Bars, Brownies Plus, Candy Bar Bar Cookies, Carrot Cake Cookies, Cherry, Blueberry, and Apricot Sauces, Chocolate Chip Mega Cookies, Chocolate Dip, Don't Ask Don't Tell Chocolate Cookies, Emmy's Vanilla Custard, Great-Grandma's Chocolate Pudding, Guilt Free Parfait, Hannah's Very Best Cream Puffs, Lazy Potato Pancakes, Lois Brown's Lemon Cookies, Mini Cheeseburger Cookies, Minty Melts, Mocha Icing, Norman's Egg Salad, Pistachio Winks, and Triplet Chiplet Cookies.


Previous Review:
Bad Kitty Meets Baby by Nick Bruel [here]

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