Caramel Pecan Roll Murder
Embracing a sweet escape from her usual routine at The Cookie Jar, Hannah gets asked to help bake pastries at the local inn for the fishing competition with big prizes and even bigger names. But the fun stops when she spots a runway boat on the water and, on the boat, the lifeless body of the event’s renowned celebrity spokesperson.
Famed TV show host Sonny Bowman wasn’t humble about his ability to reel in winning catches, and no one knew that better than his tragically overworked sidekick, Joey. Did Joey finally take bloody revenge on his pompous boss, or was Sonny killed by a jealous contestant?
With goodies to bake and a mess of fresh challenges mixed into her personal life, it’s either sink or swim as Hannah joins forces with her sister, Andrea, to catch a clever culprit before another unsuspecting victim goes belly up.
The Details
Series: A Hannah Swensen Mystery – Book #25
Author: Joanne Fluke
Genre/Category: Cozy – Amateur Sleuth/Culinary
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 1496736087
Page Count: 304
Rating: 
The Review
I like Hannah; I really do! However, I find myself asking if this series should end? Caramel Pecan Roll Murder is filled with a lot of wonderful treats, and most of the recipes are delightful. Hannah is still Hannah. She is curious, constantly busy, and easy to like. The other characters, such as her sister, Andrea, and their mother, are, as usual, getting into trouble with Hannah and “trying” to help.
When a fishing competition comes to town, Hannah helps do the baking to feed the hungry competitors. She spends her time with Norman in between baking, and of course, they find a body and not just anybody’s body. It looks like someone has murdered a famous fishing show TV host, and if Hannah isn’t careful, she could be next. Her caramel pecan rolls may be a favorite of the fishing competitors, but they can’t help her solve a murder. Suspects abound throughout the story. Evidence tells the tale of revenge, jealousy, and heartbreak. The red herrings keep readers distracted.
Now we come to the part of this review that I hesitated to write. Most fans of the “A Hannah Swensen Mystery” series may well enjoy this book, just as they did all the others, but I did not. There is so much wrong, I am not sure I can list all of it and not sound like a whiny jerk who hates the series and the author. This could not be further from the truth. I will give it a try nonetheless.
To start, the writing throughout this story was not what I would have expected and does not hold up to earlier books in the series. Readers may well believe that this book was written by a ghostwriter who had never learned how to write a book and who definitely never read any of the others in this series. There are parts throughout where Hannah is talking about something, and then the narrative jumps to some conversation or action that was never described in the story. The conversations are stilted, and the constant use of the character’s formal names all the time is just plain irritating. The fishing and the caramel rolls just didn’t add much to the plot, if anything.
This story seems to be primarily filler with no substance. Even the caramel pecan rolls didn’t sound all that appetizing. The fishing competition didn’t play a genuine part in the story other than a means of giving the victim some occupation and a way of finding the body. The killer was not introduced quickly; the motive was so obvious I almost threw the book across the room. All in all, I did not want to eat the caramel rolls or go fishing, and honestly, I can’t recommend Caramel Pecan Roll Murder to anyone. I am just hoping this was not a look at things to come in the series, but if it is, maybe it’s time for Hannah to close up shop and move on to something new.
The Author
Like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke grew up in a small town in rural Minnesota where her neighbors were friendly, the winters were fierce, and the biggest scandal was the spotting of unidentified male undergarments on a young widow’s clothesline. Nevertheless, she insists that there are 10,000 lakes, and the mosquito is NOT the state bird.
While pursuing her writing career, Joanne has worked as: a public school teacher, a psychologist, a musician, a private detective’s assistant, a corporate, legal, and pharmaceutical secretary, a short-order cook, a florist’s assistant, a caterer, and a party planner, a computer consultant on a now-defunct operating system, a production assistant on a TV quiz show, half of a screenwriting team with her husband, and a mother, wife, and homemaker.
She now lives in Southern California with her husband, her kids, his kids, their three dogs, one elderly tabby, and several noisy rats in the attic.
readers who want to try another of Joanne Fluke’s books in the “A Hannah Swensen Mystery” may want to read Christmas Cupcake Murder. It’s never too late or too early to read a holiday story!
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