Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke

From Goodreads.com:
This summer has been warmer than usual in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen is trying to beat the heat both in and out of her bakery kitchen. But she's about to find out the hard way that nothing cools off a hot summer day like cold-blooded murder. . .
It's a hot, muggy evening, and the last thing Hannah wants to do is squeeze into a pair of pantyhose for the Grand Opening of the refurbished Albion Hotel. But with Hannah's famous Red Velvet cupcakes being served in the hotel's new Red Velvet lounge, she can't bring herself to back out.

The party starts off with a bang with the unexpected arrival of Doctor Bev, a Lake Eden legend who left town in shame after she two-timed her fiancé one too many times. Bev's splashy appearance on the arm of a wealthy investor is the talk of the night. But the gossip comes to a screeching halt when a partygoer takes a mysterious dive off the hotel's rooftop garden.

The victim is the sheriff's secretary, Barbara Donnelly, and she is barely clinging to life. The question is, did she fall--or was she pushed? As the police investigate, the only one who isn't preoccupied with the case is Doctor Bev. She's too busy trying to stir things up with her old flame Norman, who's reunited with Hannah.

Just as Hannah's patience with Bev runs dangerously thin, her rival is found dead at the bottom of Miller's Pond. The only clue the police have is the Red Velvet cupcake Bev ate right before she died--and the tranquilizers someone seems to have baked into it. To everyone's shock, Hannah is now the unlikely target of a murder investigation--and she's feeling the heat in a way she never has before. . .

My Take:    I really like this series.  Some People are getting tired of the love triangle and the lack of sex but that is exactly why I like this series.  I do wish that Hannah would make a decision between Mike and Norman but the very definition of a cozy mystery means the lack of sex and the lack of language.  I have gotten a bit upset recently when I have read a book that was deemed a cozy that had sex or language.  I read cozies for exactly that reason. 

Ok off my soapbox,  I had this mystery figured out fairly early but I couldn't figure out the reason for murder.  I liked all the little details that were mentioned in the story to make it about others in the town also not just about the mystery.  Life has to carry on even when a murder mystery is going on.  The recipes look really good again and I will really have to try some of them out someday.(I just don't really like to take all the time for some of the recipes).  I liked how Moishe played an important part in solving what the monster was in Barbara's Hospital Room.  I will be picking up the next one in this series just so I can visit with Hannah and the gang. 

This was taken from my personal library.