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    Cream Puff Murder
    Cream Puff Murder
    Cream Puff Murder
    Audiobook9 hours

    Cream Puff Murder

    Written by Joanne Fluke

    Narrated by Suzanne Toren

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Bakery owner Hannah Swensen has a dress to fit into and a date with her sister, Andrea, at Lake Eden's new health club, Heavenly Bodies. Dragging herself out of bed on a frigid Minnesota morning for exercise, of all things, is bad enough. Discovering the body of man-eating bombshell Ronni Ward floating in the gym's jacuzzi? Okay, that's worse. Nor does it help that there's a plate of The Cookie Jar's very own cream puffs garnishing the murder scene. Trying to narrow the list of Ronni's enemies down to fewer than half the town's female population, Hannah has her plate full. Trouble is, when it comes to cookies - and to murder - there's always room for one more...
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateFeb 27, 2009
    ISBN9781440709272
    Author

    Joanne Fluke

    JOANNE FLUKE is the New York Times bestselling author of the Hannah Swensen mysteries, which include Chocolate Cream Pie Murder, Raspberry Danish Murder, Cinnamon Roll Murder, and the book that started it all, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. That first installment in the series premiered as Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel. Like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke was born and raised in a small town in rural Minnesota, but now lives in Southern California. Please visit her online at www.JoanneFluke.com.

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    Reviews for Cream Puff Murder

    3.5/5

    252 ratings31 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Great book, and a wonderful narrator! It was a joy to listen to!
    • 5/5
      WHAT IS ABOUT THAT ONLY HANNAH DISCOVERS DEAD BODIES? Her some time boy friend is in he hot seat when the cream puffs are linked back to him when Hannah finds the body. Detective Mike Kingston is framed for the crime and Hannah has to risk her own life to prove that he is innocent, now with the killer hunting her, will Mike be in time to save her?
    • 3/5
      Another fun one by Fluke. Two recipes I'll definitely try.
    • 4/5
      These Hannah Swensen mysteries are just plain fun, and I'm sure that's just what the author intends them to be. Anyone looking for something more serious should look elsewhere. Those who want to thoroughly enjoy themselves for a few hours, stick around. If you like to bake, you're in for an even greater treat. If you don't, flip past the recipes and move along to the next chapter. There's something for almost everyone here. Read, don't complain!
    • 4/5
      Several things are complicating Hannah’s life. The special dress she is supposed to wear at her mother’s book debut is too small, so she embarks on a serious dieting and exercise regime. A flirty exercise instructor works at the health club and at the police station. Of course, Hannah finds her dead body at the club. Problems arise in the investigation, because none of the officers who had “close contact” with the murder victim can investigate. That leaves Hannah pretty much on her own, but with everyone wanting her to follow his advice. There is a mystery about Moisha and his new feeding system, too, which must be solved. Mystery abounds in this tale which is sure to delight readers of this charming series.
    • 5/5
      Cream Puff Murder by Joanne FlukeThis book starts out with Hannah and her sister has talked her into going to the gym so she'd be able to fit into her regency romance award ceremony her mother is putting on.Love the new recipes she tries to make, cheeseburger cookies, quite the imagination....Love the trial and error phase of baking and when Hannah finds the solutions!Everything goes perfect getting up early and exercising til she finds a dead body at the gym, at least her sister is with her.Facts are hard to collect as the men at the police dept can't help as they were all involved with the dead person so Hannah picks up her pace to find the culprit.So detailed as the girls gather the clues and proceed to investigate before a new deputy is on the case.Hilarious about Delores book being fashioned out of people in town... You never guess who it could possibly be, they almost had her fooled also!Index of recipes is included at the end.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
    • 2/5
      The publication of Delores’s romance novel means she’s throwing a launch party. Hoping to fit into her dress, Hannah agrees to an hour of gym exercise with Andrea, only to discover the body of fitness instructor Ronni Ward floating in the Jacuzzi. Who was angry enough to murder the woman? Could it possibly be Detective Mike Kingston? Hannah’s determined to find the truth and clear Mike’s name.The eleventh story in the series finds the Eden Lake gang excited about the launch party. Hannah, as usual, jumps into the investigation, but this time at Mike’s request. Along the way, she arrives at the conclusion that she needs to decide between Norman and Mike. [Cue the loud cheering!] But the body image/dieting issues in this story raise a huge flag of alarm. That message is horrible in the real world and it doesn’t need any repeating in the Eden Lake universe.Adding to that disappointment, Mike’s attitude and behavior hit an all-time low throughout the telling of this tale, leaving readers to wonder why in the world Hannah is having so much trouble making a choice. Somehow, this feels like a deliberate character assassination designed to force Hannah’s decision in this overly-annoying triangle. Thankfully, the rest of the Eden Lake folks remain the steady, reliable characters readers have come to expect. Readers can try some of the recipes while they enjoy the newest story in this easy-read series that’s found itself a comfortable niche.
    • 4/5
      Hannah Swensen's has a dress she needs to fit into and her love of baking hasn't helped. Her sister has a solution to the problem - visiting Heavenly Bodies, the new health club. The two start an early morning schedule of exercise, which Hannah isn't a big fan of, and discover the man-eating bombshell, Ronni Ward is one of the teachers! Talk about making the morning ever harder to face.When Ronni is found floating in the club's jacuzzi, things get complicated. Ronni has quite the reputation of being a 'man-izer' which means she probably has a list of enemies a mile long. No man is off limits in Ronni's book, married or single. Hannah has quite a list to pare down to find the killer.Another fun read in the series, complete with more recipes. (I need to stop reading them and maybe make a few!)
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book but must admit that it was largely due to my ongoing interest in the characters and little to do with the mystery. The mystery was better towards the end, but it was a long time coming and moved slowly at take off.
      If Hannah doesn't make a clear choice for Norman soon, I think I am going to scream.
    • 3/5
      ☊ The Cream Puff Mystery by Joanne Fluke, read by Suzanne Toren a mystery with recipes

      ???

      Hannah Swensen is preparing for her mother’s regency book launch. She is working out every day at Heavenly Bodies and dieting so she can fit into the dress her mother ordered without finding out if she was still the same size and she is figuring out how to make mini cream puffs to serve at the party. However, one morning when she and her sister finish their pre-workout early, they decide to head into the hot tub for a while when Hannah stumbles across an alarming mess and then finds the notorious flirt, a fitness instructor named Ronnie, dead in the Jacuzzi. None of the local seasoned detectives are allowed on the case as Ronnie has been teaching classes for local police officers and they are too close to the victim to be above being suspects themselves, and none are allowed to speak directly to Hannah, who is unofficially on the case, but they each manage to get their own instructions to her on how she should go about solving the case. In the mean time, she is baking cookies, helping friends, wondering what her cat is doing this all the food she pours into his new feeder and wishing she could get a decent night’s sleep.

      This is a cozy mystery I listened to for a challenge in which I needed to read a book with food in the title or on the cover, and I put it under my light reads for the summer. I listened to most of it while gardening, and now when I go to prune my tomatoes I hear the narrator’s voice in my head (but it’s only been since yesterday, so I’m sure that will pass). She did a nice job for this type of story, and if you like this sort of book, I suggest you start at the beginning, since she has a bit of a love triangle thing going on with one of the police detectives and a dentist, and there is history referred to in the story. Not knowing that didn’t hurt my understanding of the events in the book and I may try one or two of the recipes, but not with the enormous amounts of sugar most of them call for.

      This is not the sort of novel I normally sit down and read in print, but I did like it as a gardening listen, and if I could find more that come after in playaway format from my library, I’d probably listen to a couple more during the gardening season.
    • 3/5
      Some of the recipes sound good (particularly the gelatin parfait one) though they are labor intensive (and tool intensive). I thought the plot was sometimes slow to get to the point, though I liked the overall story.

      This is the first book by this author that I have read.
    • 3/5
      When I first started this series, I didn't like it as well as some of the other cozy mysteries I follow. But that's OK. Since I like to finish what I start, I have been reading the rest in the series. I do like the characters. But at this point in the series, a couple things stand out. Vividly.

      One, I wish all those recipes were listed at the back of the book instead of throwing them in between parts of the story. They do not add that much to the story but I think they are nice to have. So therefore, I feel she should put them all in the back of the book so the reader can peruse them their leisure.

      Two, the love triangle between Hannah-Mike-Norman has to stop. Enough already. Its time to make a decision. Or at least have Hannah have a serious talk with Mike. But I think Mike is not going to change. This is the way he is, its time to deal with it and move on. I realize that some people may like/be routing for him. But after this book, I think its time to kick him to the curb. "It was just more convenient for him to go across the hall to Ronni" ( I know that its not an exact quote but still ) Seriously?

      I don't really know who is worse, Hannah for her indecision or Mike for his playing around when he says he loves her and will never do it again. I think its insulting to the character of Hannah for her to be this way.
    • 1/5
      I don't want to spend time on the review analyzing what went wrong. Or for that matter, pick out the good things in this book. Both are futile. I just want to emphasize that sometimes books that you're counting on don't come good. There's a sense of helplessness in the matter. A book cannot usually be finished in three hours. It's not like a movie where you can easily shrug off the disappointment. You invest somewhat in a book. Except for fan fictions, there's not many books that are 'so bad they're good'. I need to keep faith and hope the next Hannah Swensen book, which I'm invariably going to read, will be much better than this dreck.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as some of the previous books in the series.
    • 2/5
      I thought I'd enjoy this one more than I did, since the story revolved around the main character, Hannah, who solved a murder while dieting and trying to get in shape at the gym. I jhad a hard time connecting with it, though.
    • 5/5
      I'm not sure which is the bigger attraction for me to Joanne Fluke's books, the story or the recipes. I've enjoyed all of the stories and many of the characters are like good neighbors. The standout recipe for me this time is somewhat atypical for her books. I've always liked my egg salad "recipe" but this one has my attention. I'm going to skip the details here, because I don't like anyone to ruin stories or almost any part of a book for me.The jacket gives you this teaser about the story, so I'll put it here: the victim is a female fitness instructor who had the bad habit of going after any male, regardless of marital state and who doesn't limit herself to dating one, or even a few, guys at the same time. In other words, lots of potential suspects.By the way, there are a lot of great recipes; being a cookie fanatic I couldn't choose which of those to mention, so I went with the egg salad.
    • 3/5
      The fact that the Hannah Swensen series is predictable is part of the reason I pick it up. When you are looking for something entertaining that won't cause you to have to think, this is a great option.
    • 4/5
      Hannah has two weeks to lose enough weight to fit into the dress that her mother bought her to wear for a book launch party. That means a strict diet and joining Heavenly Bodies, the new gym out at the mall. Hannah has to interacting with Ronni Ward, the man-eating bombshell hated by every female in town. When Ronni turns up dead in the gym, its Hannah on the case. But wait! Mike and other police officers can’t investigate? That means the men turn to Hannah with their “ideas” of how she should solve it. The list of suspects is long, almost every man and women in Lake Eden are on it. Can Hannah solve the crime before working out at the gym kills her?I love the Hannah books, but this one dose have a few problems with it. 1. They bring in an officer from out of town to investigate but not much is done with her. I would have liked to see Hannah go toe to toe with her on solving this. 2. The Mike vs. Norman triangle certainly doesn't seem to be going anywhere, although this book makes it very clear who she should chose. Hannah seems like everything is fine at the end of the book, when she should have done something about the info Mike spills! 3. As ever female hates Ronni, there should be some investigation on them but it never really happens.4. Way, way to many recipes. But don’t get me wrong I do like this book, there are some very funny scenes that happen. And the bit about the cat is super funny! A light and fun read.
    • 3/5
      I loved the earlier Hannah Swansen mysteries, but the last four (Plum Pudding, Devil's Food Cake, , Cream Puff, Apple Turnover) have become problematic. Way too many recipes, way too little mystery. And, frankly, the love interests are getting very rote and her attempt to make them more complex has just made Mike more callous and put Norman in an absurd situation that has no credibility. And her other characters are losing their edge.
    • 3/5
      Much like The Cat Who... series, this one also seems to be going downhill. The last few books just have not been as interesting as I was anticipating, and the main character's inability/unwillingness to choose between her two boyfriends is now only tedious.
    • 4/5
      Just finished reading Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke. What a hoot. Hannah Swensen, our intrepid baker sleuth, is on a stringent diet because she needs to fit into a custom dress for her mother's book launch. To help speed up her weight loss, her sister signs her up for some exercise programs at Heavenly Bodies.Of course, nothing in Hannah's life ever runs smoothly, so during one of her visits to the gym, she decides to relax in the jacuzzi, but her plans take a swift detour ... there's a dead woman floating in the jacuzzi.This time, though, rather than frown at Hannah's attempts to help with the investigation, the sheriff's office actually asks her for help because all the senior police officers were personally involved with the victim, and are therefore taken off the case. The catch is that since they were personally involved with the victim and therefore potential suspects, they are not allowed to talk to Hannah about the case or even be seen to be speaking with her. How they proceed to provide her with well-meaning investigative tips provides some funny moments.And since this is a Hannah Swensen mystery, one has to expect the usual discussion and description of various cookies and desserts. Makes for mouth-watering reading in between trying to figure out the murderer and the motive.Fun.
    • 3/5
      After reading the previous Hannah Swensen book I decided I was done. I was sick of the Norman/Mike/Hannah triangle that never made any progress from book to book. The mysteries were substandard but the characters were still reasonably enjoyable, but the triangle was beyond old fashioned and unbelievable. Somehow I still managed to pick this one up because it was 40% off. I felt like some fluffy reading and started in. This one involves the murder of man-manipulator Roni, who has been a side character for ages. The murder was even easier to solve than usual and was a sidebar to the bigger story of Hannah losing weight and attempting to figure out where her cat Moishe was taking his food. Thats ok because I had a reasonably good time with those other stories. I was most pleased to see that there may be some progression in the triangle and I can definitely see Hannah leaning more towards one of the men than the other now. Still we could easily be back at square one by the next book...Fluke's done it to us before. The only thing about this book that could win any awards maybe the receipes, but I am no baker so I will never know for sure. I can say I enjoyed "Cream Puff Murder" more than I expected and if I find a deal on the next paperback in the series, I may buy in one more time.
    • 3/5
      This is a typical amateur sleuth runs circles around the pros cozy. Our heroine Hannah runs a cookie shop (as in she bakes cookies). She spends her life trying to decide between two men who are courting her, running around solving a crime with her two sisters, while her Mother, a budding author and Estelle Gettie (or Granda M. from Janet Evonivitch's story) knockoff, tries to get her married off.I did enjoy the mystery of where Hannah's cat is hiding all the food she puts out for him everyday. That was more entertaining than the so-called mystery. On a saving note, the recipes are good....3 stars. If you like cozies, you'll love this one, although you may be getting tired of this series if you've read others.
    • 3/5
      When a fitness instructor at Hannah's gym is murdered, and practically all the investigators fall under suspicion, it is up to Hannah and her friends and family to figure out who did it. The murder doesn't actually happen until quite far into the story, and not all of the previous story is set-up for the murder itself. A lot of it is just time spent in Hannah's busy life as she bounces around making cookies, trying to lose weight to fit into a dress, decide between two beaus, and solve problems for those around her. There's a cute little mini-mystery about her cat and what happens to all his food, too. The recipes sound delicious, although most of them are just variations on a basic cookie recipe (butter, white sugar, flour, leavening agent). Even though the mystery doesn't progress very fast and the investigation of it goes forward in uneven leaps, the in-between content is enjoyable and the farther along it goes, the more one tends to like all the surrounding characters. I listened to this as a recorded book and found the narrator to be very skilled. She makes excellent cat sounds, and in the few places where the book allows for her to do some sound effects with the dialogue instead of just reading the words, it's very enjoyable. I wish that they had given her more leeway to be able to do what the dialogue says rather than just say it. (Coughing, sneezing, etc.) She also does a good job providing different voices for the different characters, although since there are so many female characters (which is very nice) sometimes they do start to sound a little alike and there might be times where you get confused who is talking. That never lasts very long, though. A few lines later it becomes clear. The men's voices are done very well. The narrator gives the men's voice a roughing up and burring so that you know it is a male character for sure, even if you wouldn't necessarily think it was a man's voice. As an aside, I don't know who the man is that gives the introduction and summary at the end, but he also does the bit at the beginning and end of the discs ("Cream Puff Murder Disc 1") and he's a riot as he is so forceful and serious with his minimal lines. It was the tiniest thing, but so very amusing.
    • 4/5
      Let's face it, who doesn't love a lady who is always trying to help others and bakes tremendous cookies at the same time. Hannah Swensen can take anything in the cabinet and make a treat out of it. In the Cream Puff Murder, Hannah is fighting her own person hell - she needs to lose weight so that she can fit into the special dress that her mother, Dolores, ordered for her to wear at the Book Launch Party that is planned for Delores' book.With her sister, Andrea's help, Hannah sets to exercising at the new spa Heavenly Bodies. There she runs into an old rival- Ronnie Ward. Later when she discovers Ronnie's body in the Jacuzzi, Hannah works to clear Mike (one of her beaus), Lonnie (her sister Michelle's beau), and Bill (Andrea's husband). While working on solving this mystery, Hannah had s mystery at home - Moishe, her cat, has some strange eating habits and Hannah needs to figure out how she manages to empty her kitty feeder and still stay thin. The mysteries are entertaining and fun loving. Definitely a great cozy!
    • 5/5
      I love the Hannah Swenson series, and this book is one of the best. Yes, it is a cozy series, but what's wrong with that? I love the folksiness of Hannah and her family and friends. I love the great recipes in each book, and I always enjoy the mystery. They are usually smart and not as easy to figure out as some can be in this genre. In this book Hannah is trying to lose weight, and the book is set around that, her diet and her workouts at the gym in the mall. When one of the gym instructors is found dead in the jacuzzi, Hannah tries to narrow down the list of suspects in order to catch the killer. In this case there are more suspects than usual because Ronni was not a well-liked person by any means. She was far too familiar with all the men, both married and unmarried in the town of Lake Eden. I absolutely love these delightful characters and cannot wait for another new Hannah Swenson book to lose myself in.
    • 3/5
      The mystery takes forever to get off the ground while we listen to moaning from Hannah about that last ten pounds she needs to lose for her mother's book release party. How her body image can be so skewed when Mike and Norman (the town's seemingly only bachelors) both seem to continue to think she's the hottest thing since sliced bread.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was the best book in the series. It was an easy, quick read with lots of humor. I like how the Mike/Norman competition seems to be moving toward a finish. And one of the cookie recipes - featuring three types of chocolate chips and cashews - looked pretty good.
    • 4/5
      These Hannah Swensen mysteries are just plain fun, and I'm sure that's just what the author intends them to be. Anyone looking for something more serious should look elsewhere. Those who want to thoroughly enjoy themselves for a few hours, stick around. If you like to bake, you're in for an even greater treat. If you don't, flip past the recipes and move along to the next chapter. There's something for almost everyone here. Read, don't complain!
    • 3/5
      Mindless silliness for those interested in some relaxing quick and easy reading. Hannah, owner of a small town cookie shop, along with her sisters, mother, and assorted others, look into the death of Ronni Ward, town tart. Hannah's boyfriend and her sisters' husband and boyfriend, all cops in the town, are suspected of canoodling with Ronni and are therefore barred from investigating. In addition to the murder mystery, Fluke's series continues the adventures of Hannah's cat Moishe, and her dithering between boyfriends Mike (the cop) and Norman (the dentist). I have a quibble with the increasing number of recipes Fluke has been inserting in each succeeding book--it seems that they are becoming cookbooks as much as mystery novels.