Peach Cobbler Murder by Joanne Fluke

With The Cookie Jar, Hannah Swensen has a mouthwatering monopoly on the bakery business of Lake Eden, Minnesota. But when a rival store opens, tensions begin to bubble... As she sits in her nearly empty store on Groundhog Day, Hannah can only hope that spring is just around the corner—and that the popularity of the new Magnolia Blossom Bakery is just a passing fad. The southern hospitality of Lake Eden’s two Georgia transplants, Shawna Lee and Vanessa Quinn, is grating on Hannah’s nerves—and cutting into her profits. At least Hannah has her business partner Lisa’s wedding to look forward to. Unfortunately, Shawna Lee has finagled an invitation to the reception—and is bringing her Southern Peach Cobbler for the dessert table. Things go from bad to worse when Shawna Lee and Hannah’s sometime-boyfriend, Detective Mike Kingston, are no-shows to the wedding. When Hannah sees lights on at the Magnolia Blossom Bakery after the reception, she investigates—and finds Shawna Lee shot to death. Everyone in town knew the Cookie Jar’s business was suffering—a fact that puts Hannah at the top of the initial list of suspects. But with a little help from her friends, Hannah’s determined to track down whoever had the right ingredients to whip up a murder… Includes 10 Original Dessert Recipes For You To Try!

Found this book at the Dollar Tree and really glad I picked it up. Sure, it's fluffy and Hannah is not so likable to me, but this was one of the better Hannah Swenson books I've read and I'm interested in trying many of the recipes in the book.

DNF - PG 27

Why?

Because Hannah Swensen is a horrible person.

But let's backtrack a bit.

I read a handful of these books when I was younger. This was not one of them, but I chose this book because it had the highest rating of ALL the Hannah Swensen books. I don't really remember the books well. All I could have told you was that Hannah wasn't skinny and she owned a bakery.

Several years ago now, I bought as a gift for my mom the first three Hallmark Murder, She Baked movies. I borrowed the first one and hated it. Mostly because of the guys, (I thought Mike was a terrible slug and Norman only slightly better) but also because Hannah was suddenly thin. (And, as I found out while reading this book, not a frizzy red head. Which I did not remember.)

I've been trying to get back into reading cozy mysteries and because I remembered liking this series, I wanted to give it another shot. So I borrowed this book from my library and...well.

Hannah is exactly the type of woman I hate: she is judgemental, catty towards other women, hypocritical and just over all, someone I would not want to spend any time around. (Side note: the narrator of the audiobook does Hannah no favors with her always sounding like she's speaking through clenched teeth.)

Examples to remind myself why I should never try this book again:

“I saw it. Fifty percent off of your total first order. If Shawna Lee ever challenges me to a fight, I'm going to choose grammar as my weapon.”She was currently dating two Lake Eden men [...] Hannah had long suspected that Shawna Lee and Mike might be more than merely friends, former coworkers, and apartment complex neighbors, but Mike had denied it. Since she had no proof of any hanky-panky, Hannah had done her best to believe Mike preferred his women with frizzy red hair, a sarcastic sense of humor, and some extra pounds [...] If anyone in Lake Eden got the goods on Shawna Lee and Mike, they were honor bound to call Hannah immediately.Hannah gave a slight smile as she thought of Norman Rhodes [...] Norman couldn't come close to Mike's sexy good looks, but he was bright,funny, and solidly dependable.“Now tell me what makes you think that Mike's involved with Miss Blonde-To-The-Bone.” [...] “That's what I call her when I'm being petty. And I feel petty a lot of the time when it comes to Shawna Lee. She's the kind of shallow Barbie-doll blonde that gives real honest blondes like Andrea a bad name.” “Shawna Lee's not a natural blonde, is she?” “Andrea says definitely not. She spotted her out at the new beauty shop at the mall, getting her roots redone.”Hannah gulped. This was serious. There was only one thing Mike could have been doing in Shawna Lee's bedroom [...]“Just look at me! I lost every ounce of weight I put on when I was pregnant with Bethany!” “Good for you,” Hannah replied, trying to sound both supportive and enthusiastic [...] just two months later, Andrea was back to the same size she'd worn all the way through high school. To Hannah's way of thinking, that just wasn't fair. [...] “How did you do it?” Hannah asked, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to hear Andrea's answer. “I joined the new gym out at the mall [...] I drive out there and go to an early morning exercise class. [...] She'd never even considered driving to the gym every morning before she went to work. [...] Why was it that only people who didn't need to exercise looked good in exercise clothing?

Please note, this is all in chapter one. And I am tired of typing - and, truthfully, Hannah does calm down at least a little in chapter two and the half or so of chapter three that I read. Probably because she's not thinking about Mike or Shawna beyond how Shawna is a threat to her work. But, really, this judgy-judgment is all I can take.