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    Christmas Cake Murder
    Christmas Cake Murder
    Christmas Cake Murder
    Audiobook6 hours

    Christmas Cake Murder

    Written by Joanne Fluke

    Narrated by Suzanne Toren

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    It's Christmas many years ago, and topping young Hannah Swensen's wish list is becoming the go-to baker in Lake Eden, Minnesota. But as Hannah finds out, revisiting holiday memories can be murder . . . With her dream of opening The Cookie Jar taking shape, Hannah's life matches the hectic December hustle and bustle in Lake Eden-especially when she agrees to help recreate a spectacular Christmas Ball from the past in honor of Essie Granger, an elderly local in hospice care. But instead of poring over decadent dessert recipes for the merry festivities, she instantly becomes enthralled by Essie's old notebooks and the tale of a woman escaping danger on the streets of New York. Hannah's surprised by Essie's secret talent for penning crime fiction. She's even more surprised when the story turns real. As Hannah prepares to run a bakery and move out of her mother's house, it'll be a true miracle if she can prevent another Yuletide disaster by solving a mystery as dense as a Christmas fruitcake . . .
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 25, 2018
    ISBN9781980007630
    Author

    Joanne Fluke

    JOANNE FLUKE is the New York Times bestselling author of the Hannah Swensen mysteries, which include Chocolate Cream Pie Murder, Raspberry Danish Murder, Cinnamon Roll Murder, and the book that started it all, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. That first installment in the series premiered as Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel. Like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke was born and raised in a small town in rural Minnesota, but now lives in Southern California. Please visit her online at www.JoanneFluke.com.

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    Reviews for Christmas Cake Murder

    3.5/5

    113 ratings18 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved it that you went back to the very beginning! We now know the history of Hannah!!
    • 5/5
      I think this one is my favorite one of all.
    • 5/5
      I am a huge fan of Fluke and loved this installment. It was a fun look into Hannah’s past, showing readers how she started her bakery. The unique format of the women reading a short story as the premise for the mystery was a fresh approach. Still a fan and will always be.
    • 3/5
      This is a "prequel" to the Hanna Swensen series. It gives the background of how Hannah was able to open her cookie shop after dropping out of college and returning to Lake Eden.It is shortly after her father passed away. The whole family is dealing with the loss, each in their own way. Her mother, Delores, seems to have withdrawn from all her activities and this worries the girls.Delores is asked by Grandma Knudson to help put together a Christmas Ball for Essie Granger, one of the Lake Eden elders, who is in hospice. This is something that Delores excels at and it is just the thing to bring her out of her mourning. She also recruits Hannah and her sisters to make this recreation of times past an elegant and successful event.When Hannah and her mother go to Essie's rooms, where she used to live, to find a particular ball gown and beaded purse, Hannah also finds a stack of notebooks. They contain the story of a young girl. Essie was know as a wonderful storyteller, so Hanna and Delores wonder if these are a book Essie has written. This is a mystery of its own.I've read almost all the books in the series and was not really interested in how Hannah got her shop started. It seems a little late in the series to bring this in. I'm more interested in what was happening in the last book.I did enjoy the mystery of the notebooks and what the solution was.
    • 3/5
      I have not read Joanne Fluke for quite a while and I enjoyed Christmas Cake Murder. Joanne Fluke constantly discusses food that lead me to believe that life revolved around food. I must applaud Joanne’s recipes for being extremely thorough in the directions. My biggest complaint is that no pictures accompany the recipes in either the novel or in the cookbook. I always enjoy seeing what the recipe should be in living color. The mystery happens in the end of the book, and quickly comes to resolution. Joanne Fluke employs much conversation in the story, but still presents a basic amount of setting and characterization. Lars Swensen, Hannah’s father, must have saved bundles of money for his 3 girls, because Delores always buys each of her daughters expensive gifts. Money seems to grow on trees.
    • 3/5
      Being different from the others in the Hannah series, Christmas Cake Murder tells of the origins of Hannah and her bakery while also telling a story of a woman looking for safety. This book lacks the murder aspect of the rest of the series but focuses on a mystery. Due to this fact, the reader sees how everything always works out for Hannah and that her family has a lot of money and they all eat a lot especially full meals including desserts everyday. All in all the story leaves some questions uncovered as these parts are rushed in the book yet is a good and easy read.
    • 3/5
      This story is not your usual cozy mystery. Oh sure, someone does get killed (as the title would suggest) but not anyone you might have expected. The book's real charm (not that one would consider murder "charming") lies in its story within the story. This 23rd installment in the Hannah Swensen Holiday Mystery series is actually a flashback to the early days before Hannah opened her bakery café. She's dropped out of school and come home to Lake Eden licking a few wounds of the romantic persuasion. She settles into a routine at her mother's home where baking and cooking are Hannah's new normal. Her mother is a disaster in the kitchen whereas Hannah is a whiz and quite creative. A dear older friend, Essie, has ended up in the local hospital after an unfortunate altercation with a flight of stairs. While looking in Essie's "home" for a few personal effects to cheer her in the hospital, Hannah comes across some of Essie's writing of what appears to be the start of a book. Hannah's reading aloud of the story is the point at which the mystery truly begins. Not wanting to give away the plot, just know that baking plays a large role in the story and Hannah is a champ when it comes to trouping out the desserts. It's a sweet story (literally, with all the dessert recipes contained therein). Pour yourself a cup of egg nog, grab 2 cookies and a plate and curl up for a cozy few hours in Lake Eden with Hannah and her family.I am grateful to author Joanne Fluke, Kensington Publishing Corps and Goodreads First Reads for having provided a free copy of this book. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.Synopsis (from book's dust jacket):It’s Christmas many years ago, and topping young Hannah Swensen’s wish list is becoming the go-to baker in Lake Eden, Minnesota. But as Hannah finds out, revisiting holiday memories can bemurder . . . With her dream of opening The Cookie Jar taking shape, Hannah’s life matches the hectic December hustle and bustle in Lake Eden—especially when she agrees to help recreate a spectacular Christmas Ball from the past in honor of Essie Granger, an elderly local in hospice care. But instead of poring over decadent dessert recipes for the merry festivities, she instantly becomes enthralled by Essie’s old notebooks and the tale of a woman escaping danger on the streets of New York. Hannah’s surprised by Essie’s secret talent for penning crime fiction. She’s even more surprised when the story turns real. As Hannah prepares to run a bakery and move out of her mother’s house, it’ll be a true miracle if she can prevent another Yuletide disaster by solving a mystery as dense as a Christmas fruitcake . . .
    • 4/5
      This book was so fun because it was a prequel to the Hannah Swensen series, showing how Hannah came to open the Cookie Jar and start her cookie business. We also see younger Dolores, Michelle, and Andrea pregnant with Tracy. There is no romance dilemmas so it was just a fun read. I do like books that have a story in the story and this one had that too, actually it was the mystery within.Great addition (or was it the start?) of this series.
    • 3/5
      I've read other books featuring Hannah Swensen, but I had to go back and see when this one was published because it seems to fall at an earlier time than other books I've read in the series. My only explanation for that is that this is billed as a "Hannah Swensen Holiday Mystery" which may be different than the Hannah Swensen series.In the last book featuring Hannah that I read, she already owned The Cookie Jar and already lived in a different location than her mother. Michelle was a college student (not a high school student as she is here). And I don't remember mention of Dolores's husband Lars in the books I've read in this series prior to this. So this book goes back to fill in some of the history: why Hannah left college, how she came to own her business, etc. At the same time, it presents the story of Essie. I liked the notebooks telling a story within Fluke's story. I also liked the idea of the Christmas Cake parade though the constant references to it throughout sometimes did get a bit repetitive.I also missed Moishe's antics (Hannah's cat in other books) as well as not having Norman and Mike hanging around. And it does bother me some that every recipe Hannah makes is delicious--she never seems to burn cookies or make something that doesn't work for some reason--yes, sometimes there are tweaks that are suggested, but not usually because whatever they're tasting tastes bad, just because they think it might be interesting to try.I was interested in a couple recipes from this book but upon reading them don't think they'll fit into my low salt diet for medical reasons since the pork roast one starts with canned soup (very high in sodium) and, of course, most baked goods have salt in the recipe too.
    • 3/5
      This book takes us back to when Hannah's father had just died and she had completed six years of college and just broken up with her professor boyfriend who married someone else. Andrea is pregnant with her first child and is a happy homemaker. Michelle is a high school student acting in the school plays who is friends with Lisa. There is, of course, no Mike or Norman as they haven't moved to Lake Eden yet.Dolores, Hannah's mother spends most of her time in bed weeping and Hannah and her sisters are worried that she'll follow their father to the grave in her grief. Grandma Knudson whose grandson is the local Luthern minister and Annie who runs the orphanage are powerhouses at getting things done. They come by once again to visit Dolores and Hannah tells them of her worries. But they have just the thing to pull Dolores out of her depression. A project to help Essie, a local woman who owns the rundown, now shut down hotel who used to have storytime for the kids which gave the mothers a chance to get things done.Essie fell down the stairs of the hotel and broke her hip and can't stay at the hotel to recuperate so she is staying at hospice until she can get better. But Essie has declared that nothing would make her happier than to have a Christmas Ball like the one where she met her husband Alton all those years ago at the hotel. Complete with a Christmas cake walk and a dessert buffet. The problem is the hotel is in disrepair and needs to be fixed up and they need someone to spearhead the project. Would Dolores agree to take on this monumental task? Of course, she does and immediately feels better when she does.Hannah, Michelle, and Lisa agree to make the cakes and desserts. But Hannah will need a big freezer to hold the cakes they make in advance. Dolores agrees to buy one. However, Michelle and Andrea and Hannah are talking about what Hannah wants to do with her life and she says that her dream is to open up a coffee and bakery shop. Dolores hears her and lets her know that there is still money left in her college fund to put down on the old bakery that is being rented to buy in town if she is serious.When Delores and Hannah go to the Hotel to get some things for Essie to have in the hospital they stumble across some old notebooks written faintly in ink. Essie tells them they can read them if they want that she was trying her hand at fiction but that she didn't finish the book because she couldn't figure out an ending. The story is about a young pregnant woman who works for her cousin, a mobster, and how she and her husband plan on turning him in and escaping the life. He stays behind to face them like nothing is wrong because they shouldn't suspect and she sneaks out and mails off the evidence to the authorities, then gets on a train and heads off to Minnesota where no one will find her.This book is alright in that it explains how Hannah got her start, but its a murder mystery series and there's no murder. There's a tiny bit of a mystery at the end that she's kinda been stringing you along throughout the book if you've been wise enough to pick up on. Overall, it was a bit of a disappointment. Some of the recipes included are Cocoa Crunch Cookies, Ultimate Lemon Bundt Cake, Bacon, and Sausage Burritos, Chocolate Hazelnut Bon-Bons, and Minty Dreams Cookies. I give this book three stars out of five stars.
    • 4/5
      This cozy is a flashback to an early time in Hannah’s life. If you’ve wondered how she acquired her cookie shop, the answer is here. This delightful Christmas tale is a light and happy mystery, and has a story within the story. It also contains several mouth-watering recipes. Both stories have their own mystery, but eventually converge. It was interesting to see this young Hannah before she is caught in the throes of undecided romances, in this heart-warming and entertaining novel, perfect for the Christmas season.
    • 5/5
      Hannah Swensen, home from college to help her newly-widowed mother, decides not to return to college and to open a bakery and coffee shop in Eden Lake instead. But first, she must bake cakes for the Christmas Cake Walk at the Christmas Ball they’re recreating for beloved hotel owner Essie Granger. But an unexpected guest creates havoc and may change everything for the Eden Lake folks.The twenty-third book in this cozy series includes a more than a dozen recipes, the majority of which are for sweets, not a surprise since Hannah’s business is cookies. Calling for ingredients most readers will have on hand in their pantries [or that can be found at the local supermarket], they’re easy to put together and promise to be tasty. And all the non-cereal readers may commence cheering for the delicious, crunchy cookie included here that gets its crunch from something other than corn flakes! Thank you!In this narrative, the author takes a step back, fondly recalling Hannah’s first steps in opening The Cookie Jar. It’s a sweet remembrance, but one that is tinged with mystery. A clever story within the story sets up the mystery and, although astute readers are likely to guess the secret before its reveal, it’s a heartwarming story that fans of the series are sure to appreciate. Readers new to the series will have no problem determining who’s who with this cast of well-defined characters. The sweet story is relatively straightforward, but readers will appreciate the unexpected events in the unfolding mystery and are certain to find themselves looking forward to the next Eden Lake installment.
    • 4/5
      Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke is the twenty-third novel in A Hannah Swensen Mystery series. It has been three weeks since Hannah’s father, Lars passed away. The three Swensen girls (Hannah, Andrea and Michelle) are worried about their mother, Delores who is spending her days in her room. When the girls run out of ideas, Grandma Knudson and Annie Winters stop by with the perfect project for Delores. Essie Granger who owns the Albion Hotel fell down the steps and broke her hip. Essie used to entertain the children of Lake Eden on Saturday’s at the hotel with her stories. Essie wishes she could go back and revisit the splendor of the first Christmas Ball she attended at the Albion Hotel where she met her deceased husband, Alton. There was also a Christmas Cake Parade at the event. Grandma Knudson and Annie want Delores to recreate the ball for Essie. Delores has the organizational skills plus the needed charm (to coerce donations from local business owners) to pull off the project in two weeks. Delores agrees if Hannah will bake the cakes and desserts. In Essie’s rooms at the hotel, Hannah finds a stack of notebooks that contain an intriguing story. With Essie’s permission, Hannah reads the stories to Delores, Michelle and Lisa about a woman, who is pregnant and on the run, who finds a safe haven in Minnesota. They discover that the story is unfinished. Hannah is on a break from college, but she does not wish to return in January. When the family asks what she would like to do for a living, she tells them about her idea for a cookie and coffee shop. Soon, with the help of her family, Hannah’s dreams are coming true. Come along for a Christmas adventure in Lake Eden with the Swensen family in Christmas Cake Murder. I found it delightful to go back and see how The Cookie Jar came to fruition. I found the Christmas Cake Murder to be well-written and engaging. It has a steady pace and a conversational writing style that makes for an easy to read story. All our favorite characters are in the book (Delores, Hannah, Michelle, Andrea, and Lisa). It was nice to get to know our main characters a little better. Delores has suffered a devastating loss and must find a way to move forward with her life with her husband, Lars. Hannah is at a crossroads in her life. She is given an opportunity to make her dream come true. We also get to know more about Lisa, Michelle’s friend. There is plenty of cooking and baking (as usual). The recipes for the delectable desserts and meals that Hannah creates for her family are included. I wish the publisher would put them at the end of the book instead of between chapters (it messes with the flow of the story). I liked the story from Essie’s journals. It captured my attention and intrigued me. We get a story inside of a story. It is easy to keep track of the two storylines. The mystery is one that plays out instead of one that readers can solve (just go with the flow). The dialogue is off. I find it awkward at times, but I was enjoying the story and just let it go (it was the middle of the night and I was wide awake). I am giving Christmas Cake Murder 4 out of 5 stars. Christmas Cake Murder is a charming book that reminds me of the earlier novels in A Hannah Swensen Mystery series.
    • 4/5
      Thanks to Netgalley, Kensington Books and Joanne Fluke for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.So you know when it is a Saturday afternoon, it’s quiet outside and you’re in one of those moods when you just want to curl up in front of the TV. A Hallmark movie or some such comes on and for the next two hours you surrender yourself to pure saccharine. Ahhh bliss…First let me say - you have to be in the mood for this type of novel or don’t bother. It is formulaic, the writing accessible, the characters stock. Usually set in a small town where everyone knows your name. They are always super happy, not a serious care in the world, supportive - a real community. There will be a mystery to solve, but nothing violent and sans any twisty turns. Don’t look for high literature, descriptive flowy scenes, deep and thoughtful statements on life. You know what you are getting. But in the mood I was, and Fluke delivered, yet again. Pure escapism and I loved every bit of it. If you are familiar with the Hannah Swensen series, you will feel right at home. We go back in time to when Hannah has left school and returned to Lake Eden to help console her mother, after her father recently passed. Hannah is baking up a storm and realizes that this might be her path after all. You get to witness the opening of “The Cookie Jar”. If you can’t tell from the titles of these novels, baking is very much a part of each and every one. Hannah has a passion for baking and as a bonus, each chapter has her amazing recipes that you make yourself, at home. The premise this time is that they are trying to recreate the Christmas Cake Parade. Essie, an elderly woman beloved by all, has had an accident and is laid up. She has also fallen on hard times but has been too proud to say anything. She remembers the Christmas Ball fondly and would love to see it one more time. This will be a great project for Hannah’s mother to get involved in to get her back in the swing of things. Hannah has been tasked with baking all the cakes for the parade. The whole community will need to pitch in to get the old Hotel ready for the ball. While getting some things from home for Essie, Hannah comes across these boxes full of pages of what looks like a manuscript. It turns out Essie was writing a book! This is where the mystery comes in. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything when I tell you everything works out amazing for everyone. All the ends are neatly tied up and I wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, I’m counting on it. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a little fluff in my life. It is what I love about reading. There are so many different types of books out there, each like a different dessert that Hannah makes, and if it tastes good - don’t we all enjoy it? Who cares if it is a cookie, cake, meringue, brownie - bring it on. The best things about reading is - no calories! Fluke has done great job, yet again, with this latest instalment. I enjoy spending time with daughters who love mothers, mothers who are nothing but supportive, friends that care for each other and a community that reaches out to help those in need. It’s a world I like to live in, even if it is just for an afternoon. So if that is what you are in the mood for - this one takes the cake! (I know, I know, I couldn’t resist)
    • 3/5
      Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke is a prequel to her Hannah Swensen Mystery series. The story begins three weeks after the death of Hannah's father (not by murder in case you're curious) and explains how she became the owner of her coffee shop. After the death, her mother's grief has caused her to give up all her many interests and take to her bed. Since three weeks is much too long for grieving apparently, Hannah, her sisters, and friends devise a plan to snap her out of it. Another woman who was injured while trying to navigate the steps in the abandoned inn in which she lives has fallen and is now in a hospice. She has talked about the heyday of the inn and the Christmas Ball that had occurred there some twenty years ago. Hannah and friends will have her mother help organize a ball.In fairness, cosies like this one are more a holiday treat for me and I rarely follow a series. This is, in fact, the first book I have read by Joanne Fluke. I did think it was well-written overall although the dialogue was a bit stilted. But I guess I was hoping for more felonious Xmas cheer and less details about baking,cooking, eating, and other domestic details of life in the Swensen household. The most interesting part of the book for me was a book-in-the-book written by Essie, the woman who fell at the inn. Hannah reads the story in small installments throughout the novel and she and her family wonder if it's fiction or based on reality. Unfortunately, Essie hadn't finished the story and it is only at the end, we learn the answer.Anyway, for me, this book was just okay but I suspect, judging from other reviews I have read, that it works very well for fans of the series. For anyone else, I would suggest either give it a miss until or unless you are planning to read the series. For me, Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
    • 5/5
      Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne FlukeHave read most all of other books in the series, can be read as standalone also.This one starts out when Hannah is just in college and they've lost their dad. Delores, their mom is taking it bad spending a lot of time in bed, napping.One day her friends come up with a suggestion that might help get her going again. Only she'd be able to handle the huge event.She accepts and we learn about how it all came together and what she has to do to make the event a huge accomplishment.What I like also is that Essie has notebooks of stories she had written and it's played out by other characters. Love getting two stories in one book.Love hearing how the cookie shop started-had no idea after 25 books. Like hearing of the regular day when their dad was alive and how he'd spill food on his clean shirt-reminds me so much of my husband also.There are many components to the Christmas Ball and a cake parade is one of them, sounds so yummy and colorful. Loved lerning new things: spray Pam in spoon before measuring molasses! it won't stick!Quite the mystery surrounding Essie, glad it got solved! Conversion tables at th eend of the book. Recipes included after every other chapter that relate to the topics in those chapters.Received this review copy from Kensington Books via Netgalley and this is my honest opinion.#ChristmasCakeMurder #NetGalley
    • 3/5
      This book actually tells of an event which took place early in Hannah Swensen's cookie-baking career. Hannah and her sisters charge their mom with recreating a Christmas Cake Parade like the one an older lady named Essie discusses. They discover a manuscript written by Essie. Hannah purchases the building which will become the Cookie Jar. We finally reached an "attempted murder" near the end of the book, but most of this is simply back-story. While the descriptions of eating the baked goods is quite good, I'm always frustrated by the "extra comments" in the recipes which make them difficult to use in a real kitchen. As a reader, I wish I'd been alerted in some manner this book, written as the 23rd installment of a series, is chronologically first (or wherever it may actually fall since it's been so long since I read the first installments). I received an advance egalley from the publisher through NetGalley with expectations of an honest review.
    • 4/5
      This is a prequel to the other books in the Hannah Swensen series. The story provides the background to the rest of the novels, telling how Hannah opened her bakery. This needed to be made clearer to the reader at the outset, as it seemed a little confusing to me at first. There was no introduction to let the reader know the date or timing of the story. This would be key for those who have read all the other novels in the series, since this one is out of sequence and almost seemed like an afterthought.I like her sisters and her mom Delores, but I do not always like Hannah. I also enjoyed the "story within a story" which is a key feature of this novel. As a Christmas cozy, it was a fun read, but the murder happened too late in the story for me to classify it as a murder mystery.Having read all the other books in the series, I was getting really tired of the love triangle thing. This story does not include that aspect of the novels, thankfully. I do enjoy the recipes, although the "impeccably clean hands" remark got old after awhile. I also skimmed and scanned over the many minute descriptions of how to bake things--I am perfectly capable of reading the recipes myself. I felt like this was filler and the story needed to move forward without the details. I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.