Review: Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke

A Mysterious Review of …

Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke. A Hannah Swensen Mystery.

Review summary: The plot of this mystery is nicely constructed and plays out in a routine, if not always predictable, manner, which is probably what readers have come to expect from the series. It's hard to deny that there's considerable comfort in familiarity … but having Hannah be the suspect of a murder doesn't really provide enough zest, as it were, to liven things up. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Red Velvet Cupcake Murder
Joanne Fluke
A Hannah Swensen Mystery
Kensington Books (February 2013)

Publisher synopsis: It's a hot summer evening in Lake Eden, Minnesota — and the Grand Opening of the refurbished Albion Hotel. Hannah Swensen's famous Red Velvet cupcakes are being served in the new Red Velvet lounge. The party starts off with a bang with the arrival of Doctor Bev, who left town in shame after she two-timed her fiance. But the gossip comes to a screeching halt when another partygoer takes a dive off the hotel's rooftop garden. As the police investigate, the only one who isn't preoccupied with the case is Doctor Bev. She's too busy trying to stir things up with her old flame Norman, who's reunited with Hannah. Just as Hannah's patience with Bev runs thin, her rival is found dead at the bottom of Miller's Pond. To everyone's shock, Hannah is now the target of a murder investigation — and she's feeling the heat in a way she never has before …