{"id":19611,"date":"2022-01-23T19:21:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T00:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=19611"},"modified":"2024-02-05T20:58:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T01:58:28","slug":"christmas-dessert-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19611","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Dessert Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas Dessert Murder<\/a><\/em> (2021) Joanne Fluke (A Hannah Swensen Mystery)<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>This is actually two novellas:<\/p>\n

\u201cChristmas Caramel Murder\u201d (2016)
\n\u201cChristmas Cake Murder\u201d (2018)<\/p>\n

The first story is Hannah (the main character) telling a friend with whom she is out to dinner, the story of a murder she get involved in the previous winter.<\/p>\n

The second story is set further back in time. Her father has recently died, so she has returned home–at loose ends–and his helping her mother while trying to decide what to do with her life.<\/p>\n

Hannah is a young woman who owns a local bakery, and somehow repeatedly ends up involved in murder investigations.<\/p>\n

I liked how the stories gently poked fun at themselves.<\/p>\n

Life in Lake Eden was very good if you didn\u2019t consider the murder rate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I liked that Hannah and her mother and sisters were close. Admittedly at times it felt a little too close, but in the first story they were dealing with the grief of losing Hannah’s father.<\/p>\n

The second story had a story within a story, which I’d pretty quickly figured out what was happening. It also has Hannah making the decision to open a bakery instead of returning to graduate school.<\/p>\n

Both were interesting, but the second story meandered a lot more, and I did a fair bit of skimming.<\/p>\n

I read this because I hadn’t read one of her mysteries before, and for me, short stories and novellas are a good way for me to dip my toe in to see how I feel about the author’s writing and the characters.<\/p>\n

Despite not loving the second story, I think I will read another, because both stories stood on their own, and being holiday stories, I don’t always except them to be as good as “regular” stories.<\/p>\n

The recipes were interesting, but I’m not sure if I’d make any of them so far.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Kensington Cozies
\nRating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas Dessert Murder (2021) Joanne Fluke (A Hannah Swensen Mystery) This is actually two novellas: \u201cChristmas Caramel Murder\u201d (2016) \u201cChristmas Cake Murder\u201d (2018) The first story is Hannah (the main character) telling a friend with whom she is out to dinner, the story of a murder she get involved in the previous winter. The second […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[190,292,48,24,8,196],"tags":[402,738,590],"class_list":["post-19611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cozy","category-ebook","category-female","category-food","category-mystery","category-novella","tag-baking","tag-holiday","tag-joanne-fluke"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-56j","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19984,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19984","url_meta":{"origin":19611,"position":0},"title":"Strawberry Shortcake Murder","author":"Michelle","date":"May 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Strawberry Shortcake Murder (2001) Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen) It doesn't seem like 2001 was that long ago, but it was really a different world. \u201cYes, Mother.\u201d Hannah stretched out the phone cord and walked over to the cupboard that held Moishe\u2019s food. Once the warm-up was complete, Vera used Lucy\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Strawberry Shortcake Murder","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Strawberry-Shortcake-Murder.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20038,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20038","url_meta":{"origin":19611,"position":1},"title":"Sugar Cookie Murder","author":"Michelle","date":"June 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Sugar Cookie Murder (2004) Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen) This was a locked-room of sort, with everyone (mostly) trapped in a single location due to a blizzard. It also had a lot more recipes than previous books--including non-desserts. As always, I was amused by how dated the technology made parts of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cozy"","block_context":{"text":"Cozy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/cozy"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sugar Cookie Murder","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Sugar-Cookie-Murder.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20048,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20048","url_meta":{"origin":19611,"position":2},"title":"Peach Cobbler Murder","author":"Michelle","date":"June 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Peach Cobbler Murder (2005) Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen) This is the 7th Hannah Swensen book. I think I'm going to drop this series for a bit. I like the mysteries--and I very much liked the set-up for this one. But her romantic dilly dallying is grating on my nerves. To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cozy"","block_context":{"text":"Cozy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/cozy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Peach-Cobbler-Murder.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Peach-Cobbler-Murder.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Peach-Cobbler-Murder.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Peach-Cobbler-Murder.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Peach-Cobbler-Murder.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Peach-Cobbler-Murder.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20033,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20033","url_meta":{"origin":19611,"position":3},"title":"Fudge Cupcake Murder","author":"Michelle","date":"June 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Fudge Cupcake Murder (2004) Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen) Book 5. When the sheriff turns up dead, Hannah's brother-in-law is accused of killing his political opponent and since Andrea is stuck on bed-rest, it's up to Hannah to find the killer quickly--before her brother-in-law drives her sister crazy. I\u2019ve got some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cozy"","block_context":{"text":"Cozy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/cozy"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fudge Cupcake Murder","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Fudge-Cupcake-Murder.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20018,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20018","url_meta":{"origin":19611,"position":4},"title":"Lemon Meringue Pie Murder","author":"Michelle","date":"May 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (2003) Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen) This is the 4th book in the series and since I couldn't find it on sale, I borrowed it from the library. First, this book is almost hilarious not set in current times. You really need a cell phone, Hannah.\u201d \u201cI\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cozy"","block_context":{"text":"Cozy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/cozy"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lemon Meringue Pie Murder","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Lemon-Meringue-Pie-Murder.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19988,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19988","url_meta":{"origin":19611,"position":5},"title":"Blueberry Muffin Murder","author":"Michelle","date":"May 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Blueberry Muffin Murder (2002) Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen) A cute cozy mystery with lots of delicious baked goods. The heroine has a major \"not like other girls\" feel, but it is an early book. 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