Review: Cinnamon Roll Murder

When Hannah Swensen hears that the Cinnamon Roll Six jazz band will be playing at a festival in Lake Eden, Minnesota, she bakes up a supply of their namesake confections to welcome them. But tragedy strikes when their tour bus overturns on its way into town. And keyboard player Buddy Neiman's minor injuries turn deadly serious when someone plunges surgical scissors into his chest...Turns out, Buddy Neiman isn't the victim's real name. In fact, no one is really sure who he is. Hannah's investigation digs up a few local suspects. There is Doctor Bev, who seems to know more about "Buddy" than she's willing to admit. And Devon, an aspiring keyboard player who may have had a fatal case of jealousy. Hannah isn't sure how she'll unravel the mystery, but one thing's for sure: there's nothing sweeter than bringing a killer to justice...

 I've been waiting months for this book to come out, and I wasn't disappointed. It was yummy.

Unfortunately, Fluke has gotten into a bit of a rut when it comes to disposing with Hannah's competition for the hearts of Mike and Norman. The last two women Mike "kept company" wound up dead, so when Dr. Bev walked onto the scene in the last book I fully expected her to meet an untimely demise in Cinnamon Roll Murder. But to my great pleasure she broke her mold in a spectacular fassion. Whatever the oposite of knocking someone off is exactly what she did, and it resulted in some of Hannah's best detective work yet.

The plot was creative

My only complaint, if it can even be called that, was Cinnamon Roll Murder was very story driven. It was an amazing story, but not all the players fit into it. This was very much a Hannah and Normal story with natural cameos by Deloris and the sisters Swensen. However, the total absence of Hannah's neices left me scratching my head. It was like they pulled a disapearing dog trick alla The Brady Bunch.

Mike was also religated to a supporting role, but in his case it was a breath of fresh air to have him not be involved in the romantic drama for once.

All in all I would highly recomend Cinnamon Roll Murder to any reader and consider it a good jumping on  point for readers who are new to the series.

- Aaron