Boring book, boring town, great recipes.That for me sums up Key Lime Pie Murder. I usually love books centered around food because they tend to be charming and incorporate a dash of sensuality. This was not the case with this book. Hannah Swensen is the full-time owner of a local bakery and part-time detective. When she finds Willa, a bake and beauty contest judge dead, she sets out to find the killer and bring him to justice.Great mysteries are known for their tight pacing and "never-let-up" suspense. The problem is, this book is so slow moving that any interest anyone could have possibly had in the murder case is drowned by all the boring details of the town and the interactions between its equally boring inhabitants. I was more than halfway through the book before the main crime was even introduced!The characters were boring to me not because they were from a small town, but because most are little more than caricatures. For example, Hannah our main character is the typical, not too pretty, not too plump, frizzy-haired cat-lady heroine who doesn't think she's beautiful and yet has two great guys fighting for her affections. Her sister Andrea is the typical beautiful, vain-appearing woman who deep-down is smarter and more insecure than she appears and her mother is the predictable genteel, bossy busybody. Finally, Willa the victim is such a cardboard cutout that not only does the reader find it difficult to care about her fate, but even the characters in the book don't seem genuinely moved by her death. There's a brief spat between Hannah and Mike (local policeman and love interest) about whether Willa should be referred to as "the victim" but that's about as much emotional involvement we see. Hannah angsts more about Moishe the cat's eating habits than her supposed friend's death.There were other WTF moments that were annoying. No matter how small a town someone is in (and I grew up in a small town myself), I found it really hard to swallow Hannah's complete lack of technical savvy from everything to computers to cell phones. It seemed more typical of a 65 year old than a 30 year old. In general too much of Hannah's behavior felt "older" to me, like the author had over-identified herself with the character. Then the choice of weapons in the book were just ridiculous. I'm sorry, but using a pie and a cell-phone as a means of self-defense is just dumb. Hannah also has a penchant for explaining "localisms" that not only are obvious but don't seem that "local" at all. Take this passage for instance:"I'll be there. Do you want to come over after?" Hannah asked the question, and then she laughed at the way she'd lapsed into regional Minnesota dialogue.I could identify nothing in the phrasing that was particularly unique to Minnesota.The one saving grace of this book was the recipes which were truly mouth-watering. If not for those, this book would have been a complete waste of time.
Hannah is thirty years old, and is dating two men. She can't decide which man she loves the most. Mike is a policemen, and he shows up often in these books to save her. Mike is exciting. Norman is a dentist. He is dependable and kind to Hannah. He helps her with her pet cat. Hannah and Norman designed a house together for a contest, and later Norman build it. There is a county fair going on in this book. Hannah is one of the judges for the baked goods enteries. Her younger sister is running for gueen of the Tri County area. Her busniess parterner's husband is entered in the talent show, and needs Hannah to be his assisstant, when his regular assistant beomes ill. Norman has entered a photograph of Hannah, and wins first place. Hannah's sister Andrea and had niece, Tracey, are entered in a mother daughter look a like contest. Hannah hears a sound, that she believes is something hard hitting against a head. The fair has closed, and she has gone back to get the food bag she left at her mother's booth. She hides, and sees the shadowy figure of a man swinging a mallet, and once more crashing it into someone's head. She sees the man take the mallet, and attach it back into it's place, and then see's him run away. She carefully goes foreward, and find's the body of a friend, who had been one of the bakery goods judges. Hannah was carrying the prize winning Key Lime pie, which she drops near the body. Hannah seems to find murdered bodies, and then she and her friends, and family investigate, and find the murderers.
What do You think about Key Lime Pie Murder (2007)?
I like Joanne Fluke - what can I say? I also love the recipes in the books, but don't ever try them. I want to but hey, I'm the only person who eats sweet stuff in this house so it would be pointless!But on to the book. I really enjoy thinking about small town Minnesota and having a cookie shop, and sometimes I picture me being Hannah Swenson. She's doing her dream job - who wouldn't like that?! But all the near death experiences I could do without! In this book she had lots of help from her sisters, which was refreshing. Not being so pig-headed about doing everything on her own. It shows she's growing as a character. The fact that she's still in some weird love triangle though is getting a smidge old. I don't care how small the town - these two guys would not gladly put up with each other! Time to move that storyline one way or the other.I really do always enjoy these books. Challenges this book counts towardsOutdo YourselfSupport Your Local LibraryeBookA to ZCruisin' thru the CoziesRead the 50 States (Minnesota)~Kris~
—Kris
I'd heard that these books were cute; I just found this one to be boring. Yet when I told myself I was just going to stop reading it - I kept going back to it. I definitely skimmed large portions of it, the mystery wasn't really a mystery (easy to solve), and the characters didn't ring true. Hannah is only supposed to be 30, but the way she was written she seemed like a frumpy 60+, who wore pantsuits and didn't know the slightest thing about computers or cell phones. But she had two desirable men chasing after her, whom she kept stringing along, bouncing back from one to the other? And these guys were friends, who didn't seem to care about their competition? Nope. I've read that other books earlier in this series are better...I may read one if I come across one and have time on my hands, but I don't think I'll seek them out.
—April
I absolutely love the characters in the Hannah Swenson series. I enjoyed seeing more of Hannah's younger sister, Michelle, as well as the affection between Norman (one of Hannah's suitors) and her cat Moishe. This books was a little less focused on the romantic triangle, and a little more focused on the community, the mystery, and Hannah's family, which is why I like it better than #8 in the series. But I really do wish Hannah would fish or cut bait when it comes to the men in her life.I'm looking forward to the next one in the series!
—Karol
