I didn't know where Joanne Fluke could go with the endless is it Mike or Norman A Hannah Swensen Mystery series. I was delightfully surprised to find that with the clever technique of going back in time that I was treated to a wonderful Christmas story in 'Christmas Cupcake Murder'. It was fun to go back to a simpler time without so much angst and enjoy the characters as they develop. The mystery of 'Joe' had just the right touch and showcased many opportunities for characters of Lake Eden to exhibit their innate kindness. I felt like the ending was perhaps a bit abrupt, but that was followed by delightful recipes which I am anxious to try. I'd highly recommend this to those of us who are devoted fans, as well as to newcomers who can get in near the beginning.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I love a good Christmas cozy mystery and this was awesome. Perfect for both fans of the series and those who re looking for a fun entry point.

Thank you a for allowing me to read and review Christmas Cupcake Murder. Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson’s series always makes me feel as though I have returned to Lake Eden and I am having a reunion with some very close friends. Many recipes and light on the mystery, but an enjoyable read.

I have read ever one of the Hannah Swensen mysteries. This was a treat because it occurred before the love triangle who will Hannah pick story. It told the story of a minor character and had a great ending. As always, lots of recipes and a Midwestern charm. I will recommend this to my cozy mystery readers!

Who is John Doe? And why is someone trying to murder him? Christmas Cupcake Murder is a sweet treat for the Christmas Season. Hannah Swenson is at it again, trying to solve a mystery and keep a man safe. She is also baking lots of delicious cupcakes and cookies. Recipes are included at the end of each chapter. I enjoyed the puzzle that led to the revelation of who John Doe is and the interaction of all the quirky characters. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am happy that this book is a prequel of sorts and takes place before the debacle of the last few books in the series.
I wish that that the recipes were collected at the back of the book instead of at the end of each chapter. It breaks up the flow of the story.
The story was great but the title is misleading. Did I miss something? There was no murder.
I will gladly read the next book if the series continues in this vane.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Kindle Copy for Review from Net Galley and Kensington Books.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

It’s a busy time for Hannah as she deals with extra baking for the holidays and her sister helping out at the Cookie Jar to stave off the blues and Michele’s love life becomes complicated.

A dead body is found in an abandon storefront near her bakery that will keep her busy as she gets involved once again. She also has to deal with a mysterious Jon Doe who does not remember anything but is good at restoring antique furniture.

It is an enjoyable holiday cozy. If you don’t enjoy the story you can always try the numerous cookies recipes that are included.

Like a Hallmark Christmas Movie with recipes!
The story is less mystery and more about the main character Hannah and her life in a small cozy town, baking and cooking (100 pages of recipes) and just a general, overall sweet getaway.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

#26 in the Hannah Swensen - it takes us back to the early days of The Cookie Jar, Hannah opens the bakery door to a young man who is looking for work in exchange for food. She later finds him unconscious in the store her Mother Delores and friend Carrie want to use as storage for their antiques, The young man has amnesia, so Hannah and her friends band together to identify him. A quick read with recipes.

I do wish the recipes were placed at the end of the book rather than at the end of each chapter.

This was a good cozy story but it felt like a novella. It's another prequel in the series. There wasn't the twists and turns I loved about these stories. With an abundance of recipes and the familiar camaraderie of the characters, the pages flew by and it was an easy read. I received an advanced reader's copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

A light, fluffy mystery. A good read. The characters were warm and fully fleshed out. The plot was inviting and cute. Not super-serious until the end but a light, fun mystery. This book was totally worth a read as a prequel to the series. I enjoyed and couldn’t guess the ending. Truly fun and worth a read.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corp. for the opportunity to read the "Christmas Cupcake Murder" by Joanne Fluke in exchange for my honest opinion. This was book #26 in the Hannah Swensen series.

While this story included all the characters that we are used to: Hannah Swensen (owner of The Cookie Jar), her mother Dolores Swensen, Winnetka County Sheriff Department's Chief Detective Mike Kingston, dentist Norman Rhodes and his mother Carrie - this was a very different story to the ones that we usually see in the series. My favourite character is still Moishe the cat who provides a lot of excitement in this story. Hannah, Dolores and Carrie find a "body" in an empty building that they are hoping to rent to store their antiques in. Hannah immediately recognizes him as the incredibly polite young man who came into her shop offering to work in exchange for some food and a chance to warm up.

This is a fun book for the Christmas season but the only problem was that there were many mistakes that made the reading choppy and parts of it were impossible to figure out, especially if you wanted to try out some of the recipes.

Page 23 - "Where you do think you stored those decorations?" is a very awkward sentence.

Page 45 - "Wait" Delores grabbed Hannah's arm. "I thought I saw something over there." "Over where?" Carrie asked her.... "It must have been my imagination," Carrie admitted, and Hannah heard ... - I had to read it several times to understand that the character of Delores and Carrie were mixed up in the sentence.

Page 65 - "The recipe for Cinful Sugar Cookies is give on page XX." - there is no such page in the book.

Page 86 - "(that consists of four 1/45 minute segments)" - instruction doesn't make sense.

Page 105 - "12-ounce (by weight) bag of white chocolate or vanilla baking chips (1/41/4-ounce package will do)" - again the 1/41/4 instruction doesn't make sense.

Page 137 - 1/$ cup, 1/$ tsp, 1/$ peeled apples, 1 can blueberry 1/$ pie filling - none of these measurements make sense.

Page 148 - "and it was a thoroughly profession job" - professional would make more sense.

Page 185 - "and she going to marry Jake!" - she is going to - would make more sense.

Page 189 - again lists the "(1/41/4-ounce package will do)" - measurement is hard to follow.

Index of Recipes lists all recipes as follows "page 00" or page "000" - there are no such pages in the book.

Christmas Cupcake Murder is the 26th book in the Hannah Swensen cozy mystery series by Joanne Fluke. Yes, I've read all of the previous ones, including several short stories about Hannah's investigations in a collection with other authors. And... though this one comes out in about a month, the next one, #27, is already confirmed for early 2021 and I can't wait to read it! Why, you ask? Keep on reading...

In this caper, Fluke rolls us back a good decade to the year Hannah first opened her cookie store. We've done a trace back to history before, learning how and why Hannah chose to open a store, but this time, we look at what happened when a seemingly homeless man shows up asking for a cup of coffee and some work. Hannah, of course, helps him out... only to find him knocked unconscious several days later in the building that her mother eventually buys to open her antiques business. Talk about learning a lot in this book!

As usual, the story is less about the mystery and more about Hannah's life and her various family and friends. The books are about 250 pages, of which 100 are dedicated to recipes, and in the remaining 150, at least 75 pages focus solely on how to bake or what's happening around town with relationships and town business. So... the mysteries are always light. In this one, it's not who killed someone but who is this homeless man that has amnesia. We know he'll be connected to someone in Lake Eden, one of the many (250+) characters we've met in the past... and it's always a joy to revisit some old faves.

Warning... if you want a series with great mysteries, this will not be the right set of books for you. This is more about relaxing in a cozy town, getting to know hundreds of fun people over decades and ~30 books of food heaven. I like this aspect... and while I wish the murders and mysteries were about twice as complex, just to give us enough meat, I still enjoy them for what they are... and I can honestly say, once I'm done, I feel like I want to move there. I miss the people, and they sometimes feel all too real. So... in that respect, kudos to the author for creating such a magnificent sense of connection and longing.

When we do find out who the John Done / Joe Smith is, we also learn how to make German Chocolate Cupcakes, so it's a win all around.

I have seen the Hallmark version of some of the books in this series, but this is only the second book I’ve read by Joanne Fluke. She is, indeed, a wonderful, engaging author. This is a very cute Christmas book. It’s a prequel showing the early days of Hannah's bakery, the birth of her mother's new business, along with some drama with an exciting host of characters. Per usual, there are tons of exciting recipes to try when you are finished reading.

I feel like the ones that go back and are books that happen before the first book in the series should be numbered that way. I thought the first book that went back in time and told about Hannah getting the bakery was good to learn how it happened, but this one was sort of pointless. It was nice to have a quick mystery, but the ending seemed to throw a lot at the reader and it just kept getting more and more far-fetched.

I have loved this series since book one! It has such an engaging cast of repeat characters and the recipes Hannah comes up with are yummy!!! I am partial to the Christmas ones in this series though so I couldn’t have loved this mystery more. Keep it up Ms. Fluke!

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

Christmas means loads of new recipes from Hannah. This book is a prequel to early in Hannah's career with her shop and her mother's new business. There are always so many recipes I want to try, but need to keep track of all the calories!

It has been a while since I've read a Joanne Fluke book, but I was able to dive right into Christmas Cupcake Murder with Hannah Swenson and the characters I remember. I love the recipes included in each chapter. Christmas Cupcake Murder was a solid, quick read with good characters and a good mystery.

I enjoyed escaping for a few hours and reading this book and savoring the recipes!

#ChristmasCupcakeMurder #NetGalley

Christmas Cupcake Murder
Joanne Fluke
September 29, 2020

Joanne Fluke gives us her 26th Hannah Swensen novel. It’s a Christmas holiday adventure with plenty of new recipes. This is an introduction to Hannah Swensen. You thought the Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder was her series start? Fluke has added this new beginning to the Swensen murder sequence. Hannah starts her usual early baking this time of year it is exceptionally busy due to the holidays. She has had it in her mind to make German chocolate cupcakes. Her first batch is in the oven when she hears a knock at the back door. Odd she thinks, that is an unknown rap. She usually recognizes the tap of her family and friends’ knock. Each has their own sound and pattern. Upon opening the door she finds a young man, probably in his 20s. He appears to be shabby, possibly homeless. He doesn’t look well. Mike Kingston the local Chief Detective would be unhappy with her just answering the door but she invited him in, inquiring how she could help. He wanted to do work for something to eat. Hannah commented on the cold and thought the first item should be coffee and perhaps a freshly baked cupcake. Thus begins the relationship with John Doe.
The entire book is centered around Christmas and all the trimmings. Finding out who John Doe is and working on returning him to his family is the crisis that she, her family, and friends need to resolve. A note to the reader, this book is set before Delores and Carrie open the antique store. Family matters that have transpired in subsequent novels have not happened as yet. If you have read the entire series (or most of it) the plot can sometimes feel like you have read the book before, not so. I rather liked Fluke’s method of giving us a glimpse of Hannah’s life as it began in the early stages of The Cookie Jar. It is also a good one to pick up if you have not read any of her Swensen mysteries or perhaps watched them on the Hallmark Channel. Each has been a pleasant and a fun story to read. If recipes are good as well as the read this one has many as well.
Christmas Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke will be released by Kensington Books on September 29, 2020. I am appreciative of Kensington for allowing me to read and review #26 in Fluke’s Swensen series. I look forward to each new selection.

Christmas Cupcake Murder is the 26th book in the Hannah Swensen Mysteries by Joanne Fluke. This offering goes back in time before Delores opened her antique shop, it is the first Hannah Swensen mystery that I could not put down in ages.

I do not understand why this titled the Christmas Cupcake Murder because this time no one dies. Instead, Hannah is helping a man who has memory loss find his true identity. Having no murder victim was a pleasant change. It was nice to see Hannah’s friends and family come together to help Joe Smith, who did not want to be a John Doe. I enjoyed this book very much.

I reviewed Coconut Layer Cake back in February, and I struggled with finishing the book. Minus Ross or anything that happened since Hannah married him, Christmas Cupcake Murder was much more enjoyable. Many long time readers felt fed up with the longstanding love triangle between Mike and Norman. Then Fluke added Ross into the mix, removed him and brought him back. When Fluke tried to fix the issue, she made some bad choices that made it harder for me to read the series. There is none of that in Christmas Cupcake Murder.

In this flashback we see Hannah, Mike, and Norman before the love triangle. I think Christmas Cupcake Murder not only reaffirms that Norman is the best suitor for Hannah, but that Fluke can drop the love triangle for a few books and that all three can work together. Without the strange three way dates.

Another issue that made reading these books hard on me was Delores makes comments about Hannah’s weight. I cannot recall Delores making any rude remarks to Hannah at all. Christmas Cupcake Murder is a pure mystery with a few subplots and some filler. I felt some scenes lasted longer than needed once or twice, but this did not detract from the book.

As usual, Hannah’s recipes take up at least a quarter of the book. Christmas Cupcake Murder is a lighthearted, quick read. I rated it four stars on Goodreads and I hope that Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder will be just as enjoyable. I wish it were coming out sooner and recommend Christmas Cupcake Murder!