Christmas Cupcake Murder

This is my first Joanne Fluke book and the first I've read in this cozy mystery series. I am glad these can be read standalone as this is book 26 in the series. I didn't feel lost at all and that was a plus.

I also love the recipes but wish they would have been set together at the end of the book. Having the recipes after the chapters threw off the flow. I didn't enjoy this type of format.

Overall, not a bad read but also not a cozy mystery love either. I will definitely try another in this series though.

I sincerely appreciate Kensington Publishing for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

Hannah gives a homeless man some food in exchange for work only to find him later passed out and having amnesia. Hannah and her friends go about trying to figure out who the homeless guy is and what happened to him. Lots of Christmas spirit in this one. Lots of delicious recipes as well. It seems about a quarter of the book is dedicated to them. But that is what we expect from Joanne Fluke isn't it. LOL. Another winner as well as an uplifting story.

This was awful.

This should have been a short story in a holiday collection, not a full novel. There was no murder, there was barely a mystery. The book was focused mainly on all of Hannah's daily tasks, how she comes up with ways of altering boxed cake mixes and everyone eating. She barely spent any time with the mysterious stranger.

What was most annoying is that the book is full of repetitive or useless descriptions. One chapter will be about a conversation she has with the mysterious stranger and then after 6-8 pages of recipes, the next chapter is her recapping all of what Joe told her to her friends after preparing and explaining all the dishes she's serving them. Instead of a chapter, it could easily have been “Hannah relayed what Joe told her at the hospital”.

Then there were chapters like this: “It didn't take long to throw away the paper plates, wipe off the cafeteria table, and push in the chairs. Hannah cut the rest of the bar cookies and put them on paper plates for the nurses and other hospital workers. Then she washed the knife, put it back in the knife holder in the kitchen, and was about ready to flick off the lights when Doc came back into the cafeteria.

WHY??? Does Fluke think the majority of her readers don't understand “She cleaned up and was about to leave.”

Also, why place the timing of this book so early in the series? What difference would that make? Is it so she doesn't have to address the more recent mess Hannah has found herself in? Nothing about this book makes sense.