Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of CHRISTMAS DESSERT MURDER (Two Christmas novellas in the Hannah Swenson Mystery Series) by Joanne Fluke in exchange for an honest review. In CHRISTMAS CARAMEL MURDER, which I hadn’t read before, Hannah tells Ross a story about why she feels like caramels at Christmas are unlucky. One Christmas, Hannah and Lisa agreed to provide treats for a local play. When the woman portraying Mrs. Claus is killed shortly after publicly kissing Lisa’s husband, both Lisa and her husband become suspects in the woman’s murder. CHRISTMAS CAKE MURDER, which was familiar to me, is the tale how Hannah ended up opening the Cookie Jar. Hannah has just returned to Lake Eden following her father’s death and needs to get her mother to reengage in life. The plan to do so, helping out a recently hospitalized town elder Essie Granger, results in the family persuading the town to recreate the historic Christmas Ball, which was one of Essie’s happiest memories. As Hannah and her family prepare for the ball, they end up reading Essie’s personal papers, which contain an unfinished crime story. When the Christmas Ball arrives, Hannah finds out the story was true crime and that Essie planned to conclude the tale at the Yule event.

I liked the stories. I recommend this book to fans of the series and to fans of cozy mysteries featuring murder, Christmas time, family, and food.

#ChristmasDessertMurder #NetGalley

Book Review for Christmas Dessert Murder
Full feature for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

I received an advance copy of, Christmas Dessert Murder, by Joanne Fluke. This is a good mystery, Joanne Fluke is a great author, I love that she puts recipes in her mystery books.

Christmas Treat...
A Christmas treat for Hannah Swenson aficionados with this omnibus edition of two enjoyable tales - Christmas Caramel Murder and Christmas Cake Murder - taken from the author’s running series. Whilst many may have read these previous, both tales make an entertaining re-read, particularly at Christmastime. Complete with recipes.

Having two of my favourite Hannah Swensen stories bound together is a wonderful treat.
I’ll be honest, the Christmas stories in this series have always been my favourites. Adding the magic of the holiday season with the fun of the series and all of the delectable treats never fails to make me happy.

Christmas Dessert Murder is a reprint of two previous Christmas stories, Christmas Caramel Murder and Christmas Cake Murder. The regular series may make me a little crazy, but I will admit to enjoying the Christmas stories much more. In Christmas Caramel Murder, Hannah recounts a previous case to Ross. In Christmas Cake Murder, we are getting Hannah’s origin story; how she decided to leave college after her father died and how The Cookie Jar came to be. Even though I had read both stories before, I still enjoyed the re-read. The recipes all look amazing! Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

I didn't initially realize this was a reprint of some stories (#20 and #23), but they were ones I hadn't read, so it all worked out. It's an enjoyable read and will be perfect to help readers get into the holiday mood. As always, I enjoy Hannah and her friends, as well as the yummy recipes!

I love Joanne Fluke books, I have read every thing she has written. I feel as if i am part of Hannah, Michelle and Andrea's family! The fourth sister! This book had 2 short stories in it, and i was not disappointed, I love the antics that Hannah seems to get caught up in and the small town feel of where the book takes place.. I recommend this book as i patiently wait for the next installment.

I am always happy to re read this series and was pleased to revisit books 20 and 23 here with the Christmas theme. I have read this entire series and look forward to each new release. This is a series beloved by cozy readers since its inception over 20 years ago. These are two enjoyable books in the series with great receipes and lots of fun with Hannah and her friends. I highly recommend this book for your cozy reading enjoyment. All who are foodies will love these Christmas based receipes.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley .

I love Hannah Swenson books and was so excited to see more of the goings on in Lake Eden but it’s a reprint of books 20 and 23. Luckily for me, I can’t get enough of these books and happily will reread them over and over! The author is so descriptive of the characters and settings in a way that you can clearly picture it all. The recipes are always wonderful sounding as well. I can’t wait for the next book to come out!

This is a reprint of 2 previous books and even though I read both of these books, it was fun to catch up with some of my favorite characters.
It's always a pleasure to find myself in Lake Eden with Hannah and her friends & family.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC.

Christmas Dessert Murder is an anthology reprint of Hannah Swenson #20 and 23.

CHRISTMAS CARAMEL MURDER
Hannah and her good pal Lisa have agreed to provide all the goodies for the town's annual production of A Christmas Carol. However, the actress playing Mrs. Claus ends up dead and the suspects are adding up. Leave it to Hannah to figure out the mystery and bake some yummy treats in the process.

It was a surprise to revisit Ross as a character. (I wanted to smack him but if you've kept up with the series you know what happens)

CHRISTMAS CAKE MURDER
Hannah's agrees to help recreate a spectacular Christmas Ball in honor of Essie Granger, an elderly woman in hospice care. Hannah's surprised by Essie's secret talent for penning crime fiction. She's even more surprised when the story turns real. More murder and mystery in Lake Eden!

This is a prequel of sorts, so if you have read all the other books, much of this is repetitive but a nice recap of some characters.

It's a 2 for 1!

Christmas Caramel Murder
This wasn't my favorite of the series but it was still right up there; entertaining, humorous, and like solving a mystery with some of your closest friends.

Christmas Cake Murder
Joanne Fluke writes a fun, short, and easy read about the beginning of Hannah’s knack for solving mysteries. We get to visit Lake Eden before The Cookie Jar was a reality, get an introduction to the many cast of characters we have come to know and love, and see how Hannah solves her first mystery. We even get a mystery within a mystery? But you’d have to read the novel to find out how. It’s a perfect novel for longtime fans of this series to see how it all began, as well as introduce new readers to all the fun.

And, of course, there’s recipes!!

I'm thrilled this series is still around and I look forward to more.

I am finally caught up on the Hannah Swensen cozy mystery series by Joanne Fluke. I finished reading Christmas Cake Murder, the 23rd of 24 books, published in the last year. The next one is in ARC form and I'm hoping to get my hands on it soon as I'd rather not wait until early 2019 when it's formally published. Overall, I'd give it 4 stars as it had a lot of the traditional elements we normally love in these books, but the mystery was very different.

The book takes place before the first one in the series actually took place. It's the beginning tale of how Hannah got started at The Cookie Jar. The story is a reflection on all the major characters we've come to love and shows us what happened when Lars, Hannah's father, passed away. We also see how Delores reacted, what drove Andrea to become a real estate agent, and how Michelle was in high school. It was lots of fun and helped provide us with some wonderful and tender moments about this beautiful family.

It was also a bit repetitive for regular readers as we knew 25% of this content already. I can overlook that tho, as I like the setting and relationships. The other big piece of the book was a different sorta mystery where a local citizen, Essie, has an accident (truly, an accident) and is in the hospital. Hannah finds her journal and reads the book Essie had been writing. Is it about herself? Someone else in Lake Eden? Completely made up? We find out in the last chapter as the entire time we're meandering along, we're clueless, too. Once we find out, it's nice closure for this book but doesn't really connect to all the others in the series in terms of the mystery. Part of me was hoping to learn a fun fact about a new connection among the town's inhabitants. I sadly didn't.

That said, normal recipes look good. Everything else is spot-on. But it's just a re-cap book with a little bit of new content... I judge it on that merit rather than give it a poor rating because it didn't have a mystery. That was never what Fluke intended... and I'm glad I had this chance to read a bit more about Hannah's younger years. It's worth a read but not necessary to read in order. It could even be read first. Okay, off to find an ARC of the latest book. Wow... I completed another series (just about, don't deny me this fact please - LOL)!


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If you've been following my reviews closely for the last few months, you're probably thinking... how many baking murder books does this guy read? Or how many did that Joanne Fluke author woman write? Well... the Hannah Swensen series is up to ~25 in 2018. I've just finished reading #20 entitled Christmas Caramel Murder. I have the next three on my Kindle to read this fall, but I want to be fully caught up so I can get back to many other series I also enjoy. As for this one, it's a shorter novella version but still packs quite a little punch around Christmas season. It's a good one to read as you start thinking about the upcoming holidays, but for now, I'm still thinking about Halloween and fall so I wouldn't allow myself to totally immerse.

It's written as backstory which was a different kind of read. The first and last chapters are appended to the main story, allowing Fluke to use current relationships in Hannah's life without confusing readers. Essentially, Hannah's telling the story to her new husband about what happened the prior year's Christmas. I stopped myself from trying to find any timeline issues in case something happened in this book that was different since the last few, but the story on the whole is fun, so it wouldn't matter if it had.

Herb, Lisa's husband, is playing Santa Claus in the town Christmas play. Lisa is Hannah's best friend and partner at The Cookie Shop. Herb's ex-girlfriend has returned to town and is cast as Mrs. Claus, but the naughty kind. Serves her right, she ends up dead! Unfortunately, it looks like Lisa is the culprit because she was jealous when the ex kisses Herb in the play. Throw in a some high school memories, old rivalries, and teachers who want to help keep their students focused, and you've got a case full of shenanigans.

I enjoyed the read... less than 90 minutes as it was barely 100 pages once you remove the recipes. Someday I will cook a few from them. I do like caramel, but that's hard to get right. Next up is banana cream pie murder... my favorite kind of.... PIE. Did you think I'd say murder? Obviously you know me well. :)