Authors: Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier
Publisher: Kensington Books
Publication Date: October 1, 2010
Source: my local library
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This is actually a three-in-one book with three separate stories, all with gingerbread cookie themes, by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier. (Sorry for the lateness of this Christmas-themed review, but I usually don't even get a chance to read my Christmas-themed mysteries until January as it is!)
Gingerbread Cookie Murder, by Joanne Fluke (A Hannah Swensen Mystery)The characters are likeable enough--a professional baker and amateur sleuth, what could be cozier?--but the plot is seriously flawed. The killer's motive makes absolutely no sense. I don't want to reveal too much but I honestly don't understand how the author's friends and editors let it get past the first draft without some serious questions about the ending. It was very frustrating. But it did include an awful lot of delicious sounding recipes, so that's something at least.
The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies, by Laura Levine (A Jaine Austen Mystery)Not bad. The characters have some amusing eccentricities, like the main character's parents' addiction to the home shopping network and the retirement community's obsession with amateur theatre. And I loved the use of the gingerbread cookie theme in this one--the community theatre group is putting on an original Christmas play featuring a giant flying gingerbread man who teaches people the true meaning of Christmas. It sounds so hilariously dreadful that I wish it were real.
But when the gingerbread man's flying cable is cut, our heroine suspects murder. She spends the rest of the story jumping from person to person, uncovering motives everywhere, before finally stumbling on the truth. I couldn't help thinking the whole thing could have been solved much quicker with a fingerprint kit and a couple of witness statements. Ah well...that's so often the case with cozies, isn't it?
Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots, by Leslie Meier (A Lucy Stone Mystery)This was by far the most heart-wrenching of the three stories because the central crime was not a murder but the kidnapping of a young child (who happened to be about the same age as my own child, so it was especially terrifying). I was fairly riveted, I must say. The only thing that was a bit of a letdown was the ending. It was more of a whimper than a bang. I kept waiting for a big reveal at the end that never came, or at least not as dramatically as I'd expected. Even the main character seemed to fell unresolved by the end, which was an odd way to finish a story, I thought. The lack of a satisfying ending made the otherwise compelling story feel a bit pointless.
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