Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Wonderful main characters (as always) and good mystery
Cons: One unbelievable story line and another dropped with no
resolution plus a confused day
The Bottom Line:
Definitely weak
But the characters kept me
Enjoying each page
Another Murder Unrolls
Well, it finally happened.
While I’ve been quick to acknowledge the weaknesses in the recent
entries in the Hannah Swensen mystery series, I’ve still been enjoying
them. Cinnamon Roll Murder, the fifteenth in the series, however, has
enough flaws that even I can’t ignore them.
As always, the book follows Hannah, who owns a cookie shop
in the small Minnesota town of Lake Eden Lake Eden
The Lake Eden Inn is hosting a jazz festival, and they’ve
brought in the Cinnamon Roll Six, a jazz band that is rising in Minnesota , to headline
the event. But an early spring freeze
leads to an accident on the highway, and the band’s bus overturns. Keyboardist Buddy Neiman hurts his wrist, but
when he’s taken to the hospital to be treated, he is murdered.
Believe it or not, Hannah isn’t the one to find the body
this time; it’s her mother Delores. And
Delores wants the murdered solved since she feels responsible. Hannah is distracted, however. Normal , her sometimes
boyfriend, has set a date for his wedding to Dr. Bev in just a week. Can Hannah break up the wedding? Will she be able to solve the murder with
this distraction?
As I said, there were serious issues with this book. Not the least of which is the Norman/Dr. Bev
story line. I get that it was supposed to
be a complication for the love triangle that’s been going on since book
one. And it might even be bringing that
to a conclusion. (I can hope.) However, I didn’t buy it for a minute. Norman just goes along
with things too easily. This book is
several months after the cliffhanger bombshell at the end of the last
book. Yet somehow, no one has thought to
doubt the revelation until a date for the wedding has been set? Giving Norman
a love interest to make Hannah realize how much she does love him could have
been interesting, but this stretched believability too far.
Then there’s an early plot point that gets dropped and never
mentioned again. While it doesn’t change
the outcome of the story at all, it would have been nice to see some resolution
to that.
Finally, there’s one very confused day that can’t quite
decide if it is a Friday or a Saturday.
Now, you’re probably thinking how could there be anything
good left in the book? Well, despite all
this, I still found plenty to enjoy. For
starters, there’s the mystery. I thought
I had this plot figured out after reading the end of the last book. I was wrong then, and my new theories (which
I gleefully announced to my roommates as I was reading) turned out to be
wrong. The twists were believable and kept
me interested.
As always, I love the characters. Hannah and her two sisters make for a great
detective team, and I just love seeing them in action. Hannah’s mother has definitely softened in the
last couple of books, and I loved her here.
And the rest of the cast is their normal charming selves. You can’t read fifteen books with characters
and not come to love them. As the
cookbook proved, I would gladly spend time with them even if a murder isn’t
taking place.
I did notice a couple typos in the book, but for the most
part the writing flowed well and allowed me to get lost in the story. In addition to the mystery, there are 20
mouthwatering recipes that I really need to find time to try.
Cinnamon Roll Murder certainly is not the best in the series, although fans will still want their Lake Eden
Looking for more? Check out the Hannah Swensen Mysteries in order.
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