



Coconut Layer Cake Murder
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4.2 • 204 Ratings
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
New York Times Bestseller
USA Today Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Bestseller
Bakery owner Hannah Swensen is leaving Lake Eden to help a friend in sunny California. But an unexpected phone call swiftly brings her back to a cold Minnesota winter . . . and murder . . .
When Hannah learns that her sister Michelle’s boyfriend, Detective Lonnie Murphy, is the prime suspect in a murder case, she goes straight from a movie studio sound stage to the Los Angeles airport.
Back in frigid Minnesota, she discovers that proving Lonnie’s innocence will be harder than figuring out what went wrong with a recipe. Lonnie remembers only parts of the night he went out to a local bar and ended up driving a very impaired woman home. He knows he helped her to her bedroom, but he doesn’t recall anything else until he woke up on her couch the following morning. When he went to the bedroom to check on her, he was shocked to discover she was dead.
Hannah doesn’t know what to believe—only that exonerating a suspect who can’t remember is almost impossible, especially since Lonnie’s brother, Detective Rick Murphy, and Lonnie’s partner, Chief Detective Mike Kingston, have been taken off the case. Before everything comes crashing down on Lonnie like a heaping slice of coconut layer cake, it’ll be up to Hannah to rack up enough clues to toast a flaky killer . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In bestseller Fluke's pleasing 25th Hannah Swensen mystery (after 2019's Chocolate Cream Pie Murder), bakery shop owner and amateur sleuth Hannah Swensen cuts short her California vacation and rushes home to Lake Eden, Minn., after receiving an emergency call from her sister, Michelle. Darcy Hicks, a high school classmate of Michelle's police detective boyfriend, Lonnie, has been murdered, and the primary suspect is Lonnie. The night before the murder, Lonnie took Darcy home from a bar and passed out in her house, where he discovered her dead the next morning. Obviously, Lonnie can't investigate, and neither can his partner on the force, Mike, so Hannah's detecting skills are needed more than ever. Together with friends and family, including Mike, Hannah sets out to learn the truth, and, as she eliminates one potential killer after another, things begin to look even darker for Lonnie. Mouthwatering recipes and diverting subplots add to the fun. Fluke demonstrates why she's considered the queen of culinary cozies.
Customer Reviews
A Murder Mystery or a Cookbook?
I have loved Joanne Fluke’s books since discovering Hannah and her Cookie Jar at least seven years ago. The Coconut Layer Murder will probably be my last. What used to be a murder, a mystery, and a couple of cookie recipes has turned into a murder, recipes, recipes, recipes, no mystery, more recipes. I have been very disappointed in the last few books. Hannah doesn’t figure out who the killer is she just stumbles into the murderer who then tries to kill her requiring either Mike or Norman or both to save her. Hannah is not a detective just a nosy baker. Which leaves the police looking like incompetent fools.
Does Joanne Flake still have an editor? Too many of the conversations are stilted. The writing sophomoric. There are parts that look like a high schooler wrote them not an experienced writer.
I may try some of the recipes but I really doubt I will bother reading any more books by Joanne Fluke.