Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke

In Red Velvet Cupcake Murder, Hannah Swensen has been hired to bake some goodies for the grand opening of the recently renovated Albion Hotel. At the party, it's a surprise to everyone when Doctor Bev, Hannah's nemesis, turns up on the arm of a major investor in the project. It's even more of a surprise when one of the guests later falls off the roof. Before the police can determine what really happened, though, Doctor Bev is then found dead and Hannah quickly becomes the chief suspect. While baking up a storm, she has to solve the mystery and clear her name.

This book was just okay. I'm really glad that I had read the book just previous to this one Cinnamon Roll Murder (my review) because there are numerous references to that story in this one. It doesn't exactly pickup where that one left off, but it's close.

Even though I haven't read all of the books in the series, I've read a few and really enjoyed them. They felt substantial to me and not fluffy like other cozy mystery series. I loved the recipes and how the author incorporated the recipes into the story itself by having the characters make the recipes and eat the results. They were fun to read. However, I think I'm getting a bit tired of it all. It's starting to feel like the recipes/baking/eating are taking over the story and the mysteries are being forgotten until the very end.   At one point, I even forgot there was a mystery to solve.  As much as I love baking and eating, I just wish the characters would spend more time investigating and solving the mysteries.

While some of the recipes sound delicious, I wouldn't make any of them solely based on the fact that the instructions next to the ingredient "flour" says to "pack it down in the cup when you measure it". That's not the proper way to handle flour. Ever. Besides that, I find the recipes to be excessively wordy. They come across as homey and cutesy, which makes it feel like the recipes were actually written by the characters. However, I prefer my recipes to be concise and to the point.

Hard-core fans of this series will probably love this one. As for me, I think I'm going to give this series a rest. I might try one of Fluke's thrillers, though.

For more information about this book, please visit the Kensington Books website.

For more information about the author and her other books, please visit Joanne Fluke's website.

Thanks to those nice people from Kensington Books for this review copy.

Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke, Kensington Books, ©2013. ISBN 9780758280343(Trade paperback), 325p.