Saturday, March 11, 2017

Weekend Book Reviews

Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke is book twenty-one in the Hannah Swensen Mystery series. This book finds Hannah returning home from her honeymoon to solve the murder of her mother's friend.  For me the series seems to be going downhill.  Hannah spent more time developing new recipes than solving the murder.  It was practically an afterthought in the last chapters.  Hannah's marriage is just strange.  I cannot imagine any actual married couple acting the way Hannah and her new husband do.  Hannah seems to have lost the ability to function as a normal person.  Even my mom, who hates her cell phone, knows how to see a missed call.  The book did end with a major cliffhanger which means I will likely read the next book.  Otherwise I feel sure I would be done with this series.

Marilyn Leach's Up From the Grave is an older book, but it is new to me.  Former investigative reporter, Berdie is now the vicar's wife.  At the groundbreaking for a water feature for the church's garden, the body of a young child is discovered.  In the small village of Aidan Kirkwood, the gossip begins flying.  Berdie steps up to solve the mystery before things are completely out of hand.  The characters and setting were charming.  This was an excellent cozy mystery, and I am happy to have discovered a new favorite author.

disclosure:  I received these e-books from NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

3 comments:

Nancy said...

How close are the books to the Hallmark series, "Murder, She Baked"? Were there two possible love interests, the dentist and the cop?

I love the tv series and am hoping Hannah ends up with the dentist as the cop is becoming annoying.

Dawn said...

Nancy, I have not seen the TV series so I do not know exactly how close it is. In the books there were originally two love interests. A third was added out of the blue which is one thing I had a problem with in the last two books. I do not want to spoil anything for you so I will not say more. I like the dentist the best too!

Nancy said...

Rats! No Spoiler Alert from you! That's okay as I watch it more for Alison Sweeney than the love interests.

Have a great week and keep reading.

Nancy