Book Review: Red Velvet Cupcake Murder

Author:  Joanne Fluke
Title: Red Velvet Cupcake Murder
Publisher: Kensington
Publish Date: Feb 26, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Book Blurb: 

This summer has been warmer than usual in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen is trying to beat the heat both in and out of her bakery kitchen. But she's about to find out the hard way that nothing cools off a hot summer day like cold-blooded murder. . .

It's a hot, muggy evening, and the last thing Hannah wants to do is squeeze into a pair of pantyhose for the Grand Opening of the refurbished Albion Hotel. But with Hannah's famous Red Velvet cupcakes being served in the hotel's new Red Velvet lounge, she can't bring herself to back out.

The party starts off with a bang with the unexpected arrival of Doctor Bev, a Lake Eden legend who left town in shame after she two-timed her fiancé one too many times. Bev's splashy appearance on the arm of a wealthy investor is the talk of the night. But the gossip comes to a screeching halt when a partygoer takes a mysterious dive off the hotel's rooftop garden.

The victim is the sheriff's secretary, Barbara Donnelly, and she is barely clinging to life. The question is, did she fall--or was she pushed? As the police investigate, the only one who isn't preoccupied with the case is Doctor Bev. She's too busy trying to stir things up with her old flame Norman, who's reunited with Hannah.

Just as Hannah's patience with Bev runs dangerously thin, her rival is found dead at the bottom of Miller's Pond. The only clue the police have is the Red Velvet cupcake Bev ate right before she died--and the tranquilizers someone seems to have baked into it. To everyone's shock, Hannah is now the unlikely target of a murder investigation--and she's feeling the heat in a way she never has before.

Review: Red Velvet Cupcake Murder is book 16 in the Hannah Swenson Mystery series. I have to admit, I read these books for the recipes and I'm never disappointed. I wish the same could be said for Hannah and Co.

After 16 books there's still a love triangle between Hannah, Norman and Mike. I think it is time for her to make a choice. I'm Team Norman, because I think Norman is just the nicer of the two guys..but that's just me.

I've never quite understood the chasteness of Hannah either. I could possibly accept this if this series fell in the Inspirational/Christian fiction genre, but it isn't. How can you be dating these guys and not have sex with them EVER?

I shake my head at that, but relationship weirdness aside, I've always found the books to be light, satisfying reads, and this one was no different. I also have to admit when your mom can decide on a husband faster than one of her daughters...well it is time to take a look at things.

I really liked the first mystery that dealt with Barbara's accident. I almost thought that there wouldn't be a death in this book, though truthfully if anybody needed killing in a book, Doctor Bev was the one I thought was the one you wanted to bump off the most.

As for the whodunit, I was pretty surprised at who off-ed Bev, so for me, this book worked. Now to make some of the cookies!

Rating: 4 flowers