Following characters through a series sometimes feels like trying to keep up with your distant friends' latest news. Some of the ongoing characters make you laugh. And some will amaze you with the changes in their character or their latest hobbies. But they feel like old pals that you want to spend some more time with. And when it comes down to it - that is the work of the talented skills of the author, who makes her readers enjoy these fictional friends.
Joanne Fluke who writes the Hannah Swensen mysteries series manages to keep her series fresh and full of life with her engaging characters. Hannah is still baking away at her bakery business, The Cookie Jar, and she is still the one most likely to find a dead body in her tiny town of Lake Eden, Minnesota.
In the Key Lime Pie Murder, she finds the dead body at the local county fair and has to waste a lovely Key Lime pie in her discovery. (Disclosure here - I love Key Lime pie and to have it fall to the ground! What a tragedy! What a waste! Sigh!) And she has to sleuth while being a judge for the various baked goods contests, supplying goodies for another booth and getting hooked into being a magician's assistant.
During the Carrot Cake Murder, she's just helping out a friend at one of the biggest family reunions in area. And she manages to find the prodigal relative who reappeared for the reunion, dead in the main building where the festivities are taking place. Talk about problems with the relatives. There are more than a few suspects here.
The latest outing for Hannah is the Cream Puff Murder. She's on a diet with a vengeance - she's trying to fit in a dress her mother ordered for her - and she finds the fitness instructor dead in the gym's jacuzzi. The instructor (a reoccurring character) had a lot of male fans but basically most of the females and wives in town did not care for her. But who took their threats to the next level? And how come most of the police force had to be taken off the case?
Amidst the sleuthing, comes the latest tidbits about Hannah's family, who help her hunt out the latest gossip on the deceased. And we get the updates on her love life (Will she ever make a decision between Norman and Mike? This last book may have a clue!) and her beloved fat cat Moishe. And then there are the recipes. One word. YUM! Can you tell that I like this series? A very good read.
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