Dexter is Dead

I got so tied up in the Hannah Swensen books I didn't get a chance to finish rereading the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay. I was nearly done with this one, so I just knocked it out. Dexter is in jail, accused of murdering his wife, Rita, his girlfriend, Jackie, and actor Robert Chase. Debs thinks he's guilty and won't lift a finger to help him, even though it's pretty obvious that Detective Anderson is framing him and falsifying evidence. Luckily, Dexter's brother, Brian, hires a high powered attorney to get Dexter out of jail on bail. Turns out Brian needs a little help: he stole a bit of money from Raul, a drug lord, and now Raul is sending hit men after him. Dexter is mistaken for Brian a few times and narrowly avoids losing his life. Then Raul has his and Debs' kids kidnapped (not that they have kids together, but their collective group of kids). Dexter and Brian kidnap one of Raul's men and discover the kids are being held on Raul's yacht. They hatch a bold scheme to get the kids back. I felt like the ending was appropriate: even though we like Dexter, he *is* a killer and shouldn't be allowed on the streets. It was hard not to root for him, though.

Gingerbread Cookie Murder

Okay, so this is *kind* of cheating: I didn't read the whole book, just Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen novella. I'm sure Laura Levine and Leslie Meier's parts were just as good, but I didn't read them.
I don't know why. It's not like I don't have time.
At any rate :)
Hannah is getting annoyed with her neighbor, Ernie. He won the lottery a few years back and bought a condo in her complex. He has an obnoxious holiday laser light show and plays Christmas songs at an insanely high volume. Hannah and Mike go to talk to him about turning down the volume, and his ex-wife lets them in with a key she's not supposed to have, and Hannah finds Ernie dead. Of course his ex is the logical suspect, but it turns out Ernie has more enemies than anyone realized.

Apple Turnover Murder; Power of Pasta

Mayor Bascomb's wife, Stephanie, is planning a fundraiser and hires the Cookie Jar to provide refreshments. Hannah once again is tapped to help Herb with his magic show, and much to her chagrin Bradford Ramsey is MC'ing the event. Bradford seduced Hannah's little sister, Michelle, too and Hannah is hopping mad. So when she finds his dead body...needless to say she's not too sad, and tells Mike honestly that she wished him dead and explains why. Mike was actually kind of sweet in this book (he needed to make up for the Cream Puff Murder, when he was dragging her out of bed at all hours of the night). Norman is acting strangely, though, and when he returns from his business trip he has a new partner for his dental practice: his former fiancee, Beverly. Uh oh.

I defy anyone to read Bruno's book and not cry at least once. I wept through most of it.
A little backstory: a few years ago, I ran a successful cooking series at the library where I work. Local chefs would come and demo some recipes and the people who attended would get to sample their food. Not long after Bruno won CNN's Hero of the Year award, I got in touch with the Anaheim White House Restaurant and invited them to come and do a demo for our program. I thought what Chef Bruno was doing, dishing up thousands of meals to hungry kids every night, was such a wonderful cause I wanted to help spread the word. While Chef Bruno himself wasn't able to make the event, several of his chefs did, and they were kind and gracious, a joy to work with. Chef Bruno started serving meals to motel kids back in 2005, when he took his mother to a local boys and girls club while she was in town visiting from Italy. When they realized that some of the kids were hungry and weren't going to get to eat dinner that night, Mamma Caterina told Bruno to go back to his restaurant and make the kids some pasta. So he did, and kept on doing it.
Last February, the Anaheim White House Restaurant burned down. Chef Bruno's first thought was where was he going to cook for the kids? And what about his crew, he didn't want them to lose their homes because they were out of a job. Luckily, Chef Bruno has many friends who have helped out, and the last I heard, the restaurant is slated to reopen next month. We need more Chef Brunos in this world.

Plum Pudding Murder

It's Christmas in Lake Eden, and Hannah is busier than a one armed paperhanger, making cookies for a Christmas tree lot owned by Larry and his fiancee, Courtney. Delores and Norman both ask for her help, though, because Norman's mother (and Delores's friend and business partner) Carrie is acting bizarre: cancelling long standing plans and giving conflicting excuses as to why she can't make it. Hannah goes to a small business owner's class with her mom that Carrie was supposed to go to, and learns some things about shady business practices that make her take a second look at Larry's Christmas tree farm. When she and Norman go by one night to pick up a check he owes her, they find Larry murdered. Turns out Larry was stealing from his investors and socking away the profits, leaving the Christmas tree farm in the red. He was lying to everyone, so quite a few people had a good motive to kill him.

Never Get Angry Again

I read "Never Get Angry Again" for work. Not that I have anger issues, I really don't, but it said it would help you learn how to stay calm and in control in any situation, and that's something I can definitely use. Working in a library, ANYONE is welcome to come in, and we get some people with issues (like all libraries do). Any coping techniques to have positive interactions are always welcome, and he had some good tips. One of the most helpful, I think, is that while we can't choose what happens to us on a daily basis, we can choose what we spend our time thinking about. Do you ever lay awake at night, remembering all the dumb things you said or did and wish you could do them differently? I think we all do, and he pointed out that thinking like that is like walking a path in the forest: it's easier than blazing a new trail, but if you take the time and effort to make a new path, you can get off the old one.

Walk It Off, Princess; Carrot Cake Murder; Cream Puff Murder

I was really disappointed in David Thorne's latest book, "Walk It Off, Princess". Thorne is normally quite funny, I've read several of his previous books and I keep up with his website and he usually makes me laugh, but this one wasn't funny at all. First off, it was very short, about 150 pages, and his books aren't cheap, so I felt like I got ripped off. And then it just wasn't funny. He talked about finding a friend's dead body (he committed suicide) when he was 21 and getting scammed out of $150,000 by a con artist at the age of 28. Yikes! I mean, I'm glad he's able to get over it and move on, but it just depressed me.

On to more Hannah Swensen! In "Carrot Cake Murder", Lisa and Herb's families are having a big joint reunion at Eden Lake. Hannah is helping out, providing desserts and such. Herb's long lost uncle Gus shows up out of the blue, driving a Jaguar and flashing a Rolex and a diamond pinkie ring, bragging about how successful he is running a string of nightclubs in Atlantic City. Gus left town some twenty years earlier under murky circumstances: he'd gotten in a physical fight with Jack, Lisa's sweet dad who is now suffering from Alzheimer's. He still knows he doesn't like Gus, though, even if he can't remember why. When Hannah finds Gus murdered, Jack is the prime suspect. Hannah goes to work clearing his name, since she knows Lisa's dad couldn't possibly have killed Gus, no matter how much bad blood was between them.

Delores is getting her book published! She's written a Regency era romance, starring some of Lake Eden's residents. Hannah is nervous about how the book will be received, but she's even more upset when she goes to try on the dress for the launch party that Delores ordered for her and finds it doesn't fit. Andrea offers to help her lose weight by going with her to the gym. Hannah takes her up on her kind offer, but she's dismayed when their normal instructor breaks his arm in a car accident and their class is taken over by Ronnie Wood, a sexy fitness instructor from the police department that Hannah just knows Mike has a thing for (not that she's jealous or anything...). Ronnie is an outrageous flirt, and half the wives in town are jealous of her. Ronnie is nasty to all the women in the first class, and Hannah is outraged that she seems to enjoy being hurtful. So when she finds Ronnie drowned in the Jacuzzi the next morning, the list of people in town who *didn't* want her dead is actually shorter than the list who did.
Mike was kind of a big jerk in this one. He calls Hannah up in the middle of the night, waking her up, and all but orders her to meet him downstairs in the parking garage and oh, can she bring fresh coffee and cookies while she's at it? And he does this not once but twice! Hannah was too nice to him, I would have told him to go pound sand. Norman is a lovely gentleman, worrying about her getting enough sleep and eating right since she's on a diet, he goes out of his way to make sure she still gets little treats that aren't bad for her. Hannah, you should marry Norman.
Oh, and she loses enough weight in two weeks to fit in the dress her mom got for her, in fact it's loose.
Now I kind of hate you, Hannah.

Cherry Cheesecake Murder; The Skeleton Crew; Key Lime Pie Murder

Okay, so picking up where "Peach Cobbler" left off, Hannah is debating between Norman and Mike's simultaneous proposals of marriage. Everyone in Lake Eden has an opinion on who she's going to choose, to the point where they are taking bets. When Hannah finds out about that, she blows up and tells them both *she'll* decide when she wants to get married, and in the meantime she wants things to go back to the way they were, which, shockingly, both men agree to. Hannah's youngest sister, Michelle, is back in town with a film crew: they're shooting a movie in Lake Eden, and one of Hannah's old high school crushes is back in town working on it as a producer. Ross had a crush on Hannah, too, and they rekindle their old friendship, much to the chagrin of Mike and Norman (smart move on Fluke's part, knowing she couldn't have Hannah marry either man without ticking off half of her fans, so she introduced a third dark horse). Everyone is super excited about the movie, a lot of the townsfolk are extras, Tracey is actually in the movie, and Hannah is providing snacks. Then, during a big suicide scene, the sleazy, womanizing director is accidentally killed when the prop gun is substituted out for the real thing.

Taking a break from Lake Eden for a bit, I finished Deborah Halber's "The Skeleton Crew", which was an interesting book about how amateur web sleuths are helping professionals solve cold cases involving missing persons and murder victims. The sheer number of missing persons in this country is staggering, and helping match up murder victims with those who have seemingly fallen off the face of the earth is an arduous task. A detective in Las Vegas had an idea of starting a website where he would post photos of murder victims (as long as they weren't too grisly) in the hopes that someone might recognize them. Others have started similar websites, and amazingly enough, there is a lot of infighting among the amateur sleuth crowd. Some people do it for purely altruistic reasons, but others are seeking acknowledgement and fame. They argue over whether or not they should be allowed to contact law enforcement and families directly or if their potential matches should be submitted to a panel who then decides whether or not to forward it to the authorities. And of course you can imagine how well law enforcement receive these tips. It's terrible that it has to be such a mess, but I can see the value in having as many eyes as possible trying to figure out who the murder victims are. Someone, *somewhere*, has to know who they are, right? It's very sad.

The tri-county fair has come to Eden Lake, and Hannah is serving on a panel of judges to award ribbons to baked goods. Michelle's entered the Miss Tri-County Beauty Pageant (not her idea, her mother signed her up for it and Michelle went along to be nice), and Andrea and her daughters are competing in a mother/daughter look a like contest. Everyone's having a lot of fun with the fair in town, until Hannah has the misfortune to discover yet another dead body (poor thing, all she wanted was a deep fried Milky Way. I feel you, girl). Fellow judge Willa was a mystery: apparently she had been married, and no one knew about it, or who her husband was. There was a discussion in the book about "real" key lime pies which reminded me of an episode of "Dexter", when he's trying to find the perfect key lime pie for Camilla, who is in hospice dying. She tells him real key lime pies aren't green, if they are the cook used food coloring, and Joanne tells us the same thing. I've never actually had a key lime pie (not a big fan of limes) but I'm super curious to try one now.

Peach Cobbler Murder

The copy I read did not have Alison Sweeney and Cameron Mathison on the cover :) I did however watch the movie on Sunday, before reading the book, so I sort of already knew the story, although they did change it a little for TV.
Hannah's got competition: not only for her bakery, but also for Mike's affections, in the form of Shawna Lee Quinn. She and her sister, Vanessa, have opened up a bakery on Main Street, across from the Cookie Jar, and as a result Hannah's revenue is way down. She's on the verge of having to close her shop. Not only that, but Mike has been spending *way* too much time with Shawna Lee, including blowing off a date with Hannah to meet up at Lisa and Herb's wedding. Not cool, Mike. Hannah takes the leftover wedding desserts back to the Cookie Jar so she can pass them out to some charities the following day, and notices the lights on at Shawna Lee's bakery. Concerned, she goes over there and finds Shawna Lee dead, shot in her kitchen as she was taking her "signature" peach cobblers out of the oven (said cobblers were actually frozen: Shawna Lee couldn't bake). When Mike gets there he forbids Hannah from investigating, since she is actually a suspect. Well of course Hannah has to work to clear her own name! In the end it all works out and SPOILER ALERT both Mike and Norman propose to her at the same time. What the what?!

Sugar Cookie Murder

In case you couldn't tell, I am enjoying the heck out of these Hannah Swensen books. I'm half tempted to quit my job and move to a small town in Minnesota and open a vegan bakery (not really. But sort of). It's Christmas, and the town of Lake Eden has gathered at the community center to have a holiday potluck (or "buffet", as Hannah's cookbook editor insists on calling it). They're trying out all the recipes that will be included in the cookbook and Norman is taking pictures. Everyone is having a grand time, especially when recently divorced Martin shows up with his new bride Brandi: an "exotic dancer" (wink, wink) he met and married (five hours after meeting her) in Las Vegas. Martin's ex-wife is livid that he spent thousands of dollars showering her in minks and jewelry while she scrimps to buy their two boys food and clothes, Martin's mother is scandalized by her new daughter in law, and the close knit community of Lake Eden is enjoying the drama unfolding around them. Then Hannah finds Brandi dead in the parking lot, stabbed with her mother's antique cake knife she was planning on stealing to fund her new life away from Martin. Mike locks down the community center: no one can leave until he interviews everyone and figures out who the killer is. The whole book took place in one night at the center, so that was fun. Oh, and Andrea had her new baby! A little girl she named Bethany. Awww.

Dumplin'

I've been meaning to read Julie Murphy's "Dumplin'" for awhile, it seemed like it was right up my alley, and it was! Willowdean (her mother calls her "Dumplin'", her friends call her "Will") is an overweight teenager in a small south Texas town. The town cares about two things: high school football and beauty pageants. Will's mom was a winner of the Clover City Miss Blue Bonnet pageant back in 1997, and she's become the official MC of the event, so Will is used to the pageant taking over their lives. Will works at a fast food place with a hot guy name Bo she has a mad crush on. They spend the summer before their junior year sneaking in make out sessions during and after work, but when Will finds out he's transferring to her school in the fall and didn't tell her, she's upset at him trying to keep her a secret from his family and friends. Of course Will didn't tell *her* best friend, Ellen, about Bo, but...(pot, kettle, kettle, pot). Will decides she's going to compete in the beauty pageant, throwing everyone she knows for a loop. Will doesn't want to end up like her Aunt Lucy, who was 500 pounds and died young of a heart attack, never leaving the house because she was so embarrassed about her size. At first Will convinces herself she's doing it for Lucy, but it ends up becoming something she does for herself. It was a fun book, I enjoyed it, but I did have to suspend my disbelief over the hot Bo actually wanting to be in a real relationship with Will. Murphy doesn't say how big she is, but it seems very unlikely. I somehow doubt high school boys have improved *that* much since I was a teenager.

Fudge Cupcake Murder

Hannah is compiling a cookbook, and is using her cooking class to test the various recipes submitted by the citizens of Lake Eden. You would think that would be enough to keep her occupied, but when Sheriff Grant is found murdered (guess who found his body!) and her brother in law Bill is a suspect, Andrea begs Hannah to help clear her husband's name. Andrea is eight months pregnant and on bed rest, and having Bill home on leave while Mike figures out if he killed the sheriff is driving her nuts. Hannah agrees and goes to work, with some help from Norman, to clear Bill and get him out of Andrea's hair. Turns out there were a lot of people with a good reason to kill Sheriff Grant: his wife was ready to divorce him since he was such a control freak, his dead son's ex-girlfriend was disappointed Sheriff Grant wouldn't acknowledge her child as his grandson, and many of the deputies on the force were irritated that the sheriff stole all the glory from them by taking their big cases away and solving them himself right before an election in order to make himself look good.

Lemon Meringue Pie Murder; Romantic Outlaws

Yes, I am ignoring all the library books I have checked out to tear through these Hannah Swensen books, thanks for asking! The fourth book in the series has Hannah investigating the murder of drugstore clerk Rhonda. Rhonda sold her grandmother's house to Norman, Hannah's dentist boyfriend. Norman decided to tear the house down and rebuild from scratch, and Rhonda asked if she could clear out some personal things first. Norman agreed. Hannah and her mother go over to look for antiques for Delores' shop, which Norman said she could have (Norman is too nice). Delores finds Rhonda's body in the basement. Using the leftovers in the garbage, including one of her own lemon meringue pies, Hannah is able to track down who shared Rhonda's last meal, who had a motive to kill her, and who did it. That Hannah is a smart cookie :) 

After reading the annotated Frankenstein a few weeks ago, I was eager to learn more about Mary Shelley. I found this great book about her and her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft. It was very nicely done: each chapter alternated between the two women. They were both very rebellious: Mary Wollstonecraft bore a child out of wedlock, Fanny, in her mid-thirties, before marrying William Godwin, Mary's father. She died a few days after Mary was born of childbed fever. Mary grew up hearing stories about her famous philosopher mother and striving to be like her. She fell in love with Percy Shelley, who was married at the time, and ran off to Europe with him. By the time his first wife had committed suicide, Mary had already had two children with him. They were married once Percy was a widower and lived a complicated life. They traveled a lot, and Percy seemed to be whimsical, which Mary loved as a childless teenager but was exasperated by once she had children to feed and clothe. Percy drowned, leaving Mary a young widow who never remarried. Both women struggled to lead authentic lives and abide by their own codes, eschewing the rigid ways of doing things and rebelling against the unfair laws that didn't allow women the same rights as men. I'd like to think they'd both be pleased with how far society has come since their time.

Blueberry Muffin Murder

Joanne Fluke's third Hannah Swensen mystery has Hannah trying to make nice with Connie Mac, a TV personality chef who has opened a new home goods store in the mall (displacing a good friend of Hannah's in the process). Connie Mac is a nasty piece of work, so when she turns up murdered in Hannah's shop, everyone had a motive. The police immediately suspect Janie, Andrea's friend from high school who is working for Connie and disappears after her murder. Hannah and Andrea get to work clearing Janie's name and searching for the real killer. It was a quick, fun read.