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SUGAR COOKIE MURDER is the sixth in the Hannah Swensen cooking mysteries. Hannah is the hostess for the annual Lake Eden Christmas buffet party, which happens to double as a tasting party for the recipes vying to be included in the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet Cookbook. When Hannah's mother calls to offer an antique cake cutter for the party -- a valuable, gem-studded, unusually sharp cake cutter forged by an English swordmaker -- we all know it's only a matter of time until it's found sticking out of someone. The someone turns out to be Brandi Wyen, Vegas showgirl and sudden trophy wife of Martin Dubinski. Brandi had only been in Lake Eden for a few hours but had still managed to make plenty of enemies, from the ex-wife who had hoped to lure Martin back, to the Mayor, who seems to have had some sort of relationship with her back in Vegas. The story is a standard variation on the 'stranded with a murderer' theme, with everyone snowed in at the party. The writing style runs from the amusing (Hannah's cat watches TV, enjoying 'pheasant under glass screen') to the proudly parochial (although several things listed as Midwestern peculiarities are not all that special to the region). It's pretty straightforward, but then there isn't a lot of room for frills. The mystery only takes up the first 168 pages, because SUGAR COOKIE MURDER isn't a novel with a recipe or two, it's a novella with a cookbook attached. The entire holiday buffet cookbook follows the story, all 80 recipes plus directions for catfish bait. Purists may sniff at the reliance on prepared foods -- many of the recipes call for cans, mixes, or the seasoned salt from the end of the book -- but people who like no-fuss cooking will appreciate the variety of crockpot dishes. Personally, I'm giving the Corn Chowder and Hawaiian Pot Roast a try this week. As for the novella -- crack open a little cooking sherry (or reserve some of the stout that two recipes call for) and sit down to enjoy reading while your dinner cooks.
Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, December 2004
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