Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne FlukeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is the 16th book in this series and the second one I’ve read. I wasn’t sure what I would think of other books in this series after I finished the first, but I really enjoyed this book.
The mystery centered around finding who killed Dr. Bev. I was at a little disadvantage as I skipped the 14 books in between this one and the first and was not familiar with Dr. Bev, who apparently was introduced in a previous book and was a rival for Norman’s affections. Thus, because Hannah found the body (apparently she does this a lot) and because of the “rivalry” and because apparently they thought Hannah’s baked goodies might have been the method of death, Hannah was a suspect. Thus, her involvement.
I thought the mystery was very well done and clues were strewn fairly evenly throughout the book. The characters from the first book were still all there, with some new ones (again, I suspect introduced in previous books) and I still liked them all. Hannah’s mother is now dating someone, which apparently makes her a much better person as she was much improved from the first book. Likable, in fact.
There is a “triangle” between Hannah and Norman (the dentist) and Mike (the cop). Frankly, I found it weird. Several times they all sat down to dinner as if they were all just buds and not trying to figure who was coupled with who. Speaking of dinner, food is front and center is this book. It might have been in the first one as well, but it seemed like whole chapters were devoted to dinner and what was cooked and who did what. The recipes placed throughout the book were a bit distracting as well. However, I did try one of the recipes (the Chicken Tetrazzini Hot Dish) and liked it.
Even with the distractions and relationship weirdness, I enjoyed this book and will read others in the series. Recommended.
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