Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've read all the books in this series and until the last few, I had been enjoying them. However, the stories just aren't as interesting as they used to be and the "who done it" isn't that hard to figure out. In Chocolate Cream Pie Murder, Hannah has decided to tell the town the truth about Ross at the end of a Sunday church service. That is far from the end of it though as Ross is still causing trouble and stress for her when he shows up in town a few days later. The exact reason behind the murder in this book wasn't fully obvious but I strongly suspected part of it and knew who would be killed and who did it LONG before the murder actually occurred. The first 3/4 of the book takes place over 8 days in February as Hannah is still trying to deal with the aftermath of her learning the truth about her "marriage" to Ross a few month earlier. Once the murder finally occurs, it is solved in a day or so over a couple of chapters. Then the (sadly) very predictable final chapter and we are left once again to wonder what will happen in yet another book. Yawn.... A few thoughts on plot points: I do like the rapport between the main characters. I also like the occasional bits of humour thrown in by various characters. That being said, I do cringe when Delores gets on one of her criticizing streaks about how Hannah dresses or does her hair/makeup. Delores may think it is well intentioned but it comes across as Hannah not living up to Delores's expectations. Hannah is her own person and should dress/appear as she is comfortable. This book seemed to have more filler than usual - not just in recipes but in things that just took up space rather than advancing the plot. I'm not referring to Hannah and friends being stuck at the condo during the blizzard - that was an interesting dynamic. Instead, I felt that the following three segments could easily have been cut and replaced by real plot development. 1) Delores asking Hannah to come up with an appetizer for her and Stephanie Bascomb, the ensuing discussion on sugared grapes, Hannah's trip to the Red Owl and the recipe. 2) Readers all know that Moishe and Cuddles love to have their chase in Hannah's condo. Full out details of the (usual) three laps ONCE per book is more than sufficient. Any more than that is filler. 3)The stress on Hannah is obvious but trying to express it in a dream sequence is lame and tired. Ms Fluke had done this in the past and it just feels like it was forced and inserted as an excuse to bring in yet another recipe. In the more recent books it seems that Ms Fluke has been trying to be more of a cookbook author than cozy mystery author. The actual story and plot seems to get thinner and the recipes more plentiful and detailed. Most of the recipes list the brand name for some of the ingredients which makes me wonder if she is being paid for naming the brand or receiving free/discounted merchandise in return. Most recipes include extremely detailed directions geared to a novice cook which is fine for some but rather boring for more experienced cooks. With the Kindle version of Chocolate Cream Pie Murder there was no recipe index at the beginning or end so if you didn't bookmark it, good luck finding any of the recipes you may actually have been interested in trying. Personally, I'd prefer to see ALL of the recipes at the END of the book rather than stuffed in at the end of almost every chapter. It would be far less disruptive to the flow of the story if you could just keep reading rather than having to flip/scroll through several pages of recipe info before finding the next chapter. Then again, if Ms Fluke were to put all the recipes at the end, it would be a bit too obvious how little of the book was actually dealing with the story. It's hard to tell from the Kindle edition, but my guess would be at least 25% of this book is the recipes - probably more. Yes, Hannah owns and operates "The Cookie Jar" but you don't have to share every recipe mentioned in every book. Pick a few - maybe 6-10 and put them at the end of the book. Then every few years release another Lake Eden Cookbook for those who want it all.