Summertime has finally arrived in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen, owner of The Cookie Jar bakery, is happy to help her business partner, Lisa, prepare for a big family reunion. Everyone is delighted when Lisa's long-lost uncle, Gus, makes a surprise appearance. Well, almost everyone. When Gus is found dead with two slices of Hannah's infamous carrot cake by his side, Hannah sets to work to uncover the secrets from his past. She'll have to sift through a long line of suspects to find a killer--and it could prove to ...
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Summertime has finally arrived in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen, owner of The Cookie Jar bakery, is happy to help her business partner, Lisa, prepare for a big family reunion. Everyone is delighted when Lisa's long-lost uncle, Gus, makes a surprise appearance. Well, almost everyone. When Gus is found dead with two slices of Hannah's infamous carrot cake by his side, Hannah sets to work to uncover the secrets from his past. She'll have to sift through a long line of suspects to find a killer--and it could prove to be a recipe for her own demise...
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A LA MODE with recipes! It is a ok light mystery read.
milly2004
Jan 18, 2010
BRILLIANT
great book,never want it to end,if you like baking it is also great as you will not find the receipts in any british cook books.
BeckyJG
Jul 12, 2009
Murder Most Sweet
Hannah Swenson owns and operates the Cookie Jar, a small bakery in a tiny town called Lake Eden, Minnesota. She also solves mysteries. Carrot Cake Murder is about as light and fluffy as Hannah's Lemon Fluff Jell-O (recipe on page 174). Everybody is really, really nice in Lake Eden...even the bad guys and murderers are more quirky and annoying than downright unpleasant. Hannah herself is squeaky clean--she juggles two boyfriends, but if she does anything more than bake cookies for them and kiss a little, we never know.
If you like cats and cookies, if you don't like bad language or graphic sex, this is the book for you. Oh, and although I don't bake, I bet the recipes scattered throughout the book (there are 21) are phenomenal. I met Joanne Fluke when she was being driven around town by an author escort to sign stock in bookstores, and she came armed with a gift of the most divine--almost literally divine, mind you--chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted in my life.
LadyPI
Jun 8, 2009
Review of Carrot Cake Murder
Hannah Swenson has been one of my favorite female-sleuths. I say 'has' because up until this book I really enjoyed the series. But Carrot Cake Murder didn't quite jell for me. I felt like everything was forced, like author Joanne Fluke was rushed for time to get this book out. At times I felt like I was reading a play, rather than a novel. There was so much dialog going on. I suppose because the setting is a family reunion and there are quite a few more characters than usual. And it didn't make sense to me that Hannah's sisters AND her mother are starting to get involved in her 'cases'.
I would also like to see a resolution to the Hannah/Norman/Mike relationship. I vote for Norman!
www.female-sleuths.blogspot.com
momoftwoinva
Apr 15, 2009
Fabulous!
This is a wonderful read...especially if you're a baker. It combines two great loves of mine, baking and reading mysteries. It is an easy, interesting read. Other Joanne Fluke books are independent so that you can read them out of order but it's not detrimental to read them out of order.