Book Review: Carrot Cake Murder

Author: Joanne Fluke
Title: Carrot Cake Murder
Publisher: Kensington
Publish Date: March 2008
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Between baking up a storm for The Cookie Jar and unravelling the mystery of her cat Moishe's recent strange behaviour, Hannah Swensen has a lot on her plate. But she'll always make time for her business partner, Lisa, who's in the midst of preparing for a big family reunion. Everyone is delighted when Lisa's long-lost uncle makes a surprise appearance. No one has heard from Gus in twenty-five years. Uncle Gus is immediately the hit of the reunion. He's almost as popular as Hannah's scrumptious carrot cake, which is also Gus' favourite dessert. But the next morning, as the whole family gathers for the group photo, one person is missing. Hannah offers to track down Uncle Gus, but her search leads to a shocking find. Over by the bar at the pavilion, she spots two slices of her infamous carrot cake, frosting-side down on the floor - and Gus' corpse with an ice pick jutting out of his chest!Now Hannah's got to sift through a long list of suspects to find a killer - even if it could mean a recipe for her own demise...
Review: I'm in love with this series. It doesn't matter which book, they are really fun reads, and if you like cooking, there are some great recipes included.

Carrot Cake Murder is book 10 in the series. I'd say of the three that I've read, this one was definitely one of the best.

Here are the reasons this book is so great.

1. Not a lot with the love triangle in this one. Its hard to deal with the whole Hannah, Mike and Norman thing, and in this book it wasn't such a huge issue.

2. The mystery was really intriguing. The victim, as usual, is someone that deserves to be dead, but you still want to find out how he ended up that way. There were a lot of twists and turns at finding out who did it.

3. Awesome recipes that make you want to run to the kitchen to try them. OMG Red Velvet Cookies!!!

3. Moishe! I absolutely adore Hannah's cat, and he had a big part in this book.

4. Lisa's dad, Jack, who has Alzheimer's. He plays a big part in all of the Hannah mysteries, but he actually was a suspect in this one. He's truly a lovable character, one of my favorites in this series.

Now for the cons,

1. Hannah's mom, is just too much sometimes. I'd like her to be more accepting of her daughter.

2. Andrea. I love when characters share my name, but I hate when they are ditzy, can't cook to save herself..etc. Do my name some justice!

3. Mike and Norman. Ah the love triangle. Like I said, this book isn't as much about Hannah and the two guys, but I still can't help but wonder why she'd want either of them.

If you haven't tried a Hannah Swensen cozy yet, you should. They are quick fun reads that make a quiet afternoon go buy so much faster.

Rating: 5 flowers