Plum Pudding Murder (Hannah Swensen Series #12)

by Joanne Fluke

Overview

The yuletide season in Lake Eden, Minnesota, guarantees a white Christmas, delectable holiday goodies from Hannah Swensen's bakery, The Cookie Jar—and murder …
 
The Cookie Jar's busiest time of the year also happens to be the most wonderful time … for Christmas cookies, Hannah's own special plum pudding—and romance! She also gets a kick out of “Lunatic Larry Jaeger’s Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot,” a kitschy carnival taking place smack-dab in the middle of the village green. But then Hannah discovers the man himself dead as a doornail in his own office …
 
Now, with so many suspects to investigate and the twelve days of Christmas ticking away, Hannah's running out of time to nab a murderous Scrooge who doesn't want her to see the New Year …

Includes Hannah’s favorite Christmas dinner recipes!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496724731
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Series:	Hannah Swensen Series , #12
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

JOANNE FLUKE is the New York Times bestselling author of the Hannah Swensen mysteries, which include Double Fudge Brownie Murder, Blackberry Pie 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.

Interviews

A Message from the Author
Dear Friends,

Christmas conjures up delightful images -- a lovely Christmas tree with twinkling lights and ornaments, a sumptuous Christmas dinner with everyone's favorite dishes, hot chocolate stirred with a cinnamon stick, and pajama-clad children rushing down the stairs on Christmas morning to see if Santa has left gaily-wrapped presents for good little boys and girls.

Hannah Swensen must have been very naughty this year, because in PLUM PUDDING MURDER, her surprise gift is one very dead Christmas Elf!

Of course the elf is not a real elf. He's Larry Jaeger, owner of the Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot in Lake Eden, Minnesota. And now that Hannah has discovered Larry's body, she feels obligated to solve his murder during her busiest season of the year.

Mike Kingston, deputy sheriff and one of Hannah's boyfriends, warns her not to interfere with his official investigation. Norman Rhodes, town dentist and another of Hannah's boyfriends, offers to help her catch the killer. Hannah's two sisters, Andrea and Michelle are in on the search for the killer, along with their mother, Delores Swensen, whose friend is a murder suspect without an alibi.

Larry Jaeger couldn't have picked a worse time to become a murder victim. Hannah's investigation faces a raft of interruptions. There are hundreds of special orders for holiday sweets at The Cookie Jar, Hannah's bakery and coffee shop. Hannah's cat, Moishe, obviously believes that the Christmas tree in Hannah's living room is just a tree and should be treated as such. Norman is worried about the change in his mother, Carrie Rhodes, and asks Hannah to find the time to discover why she's being so secretive.

Somehow Hannah manages to do it all and keep a cool head in the process… until she confronts Larry Jaeger's killer in the icy cold of a Minnesota night. Deep in the woods. Alone. With no one close enough to hear her cry for help. Will Hannah manage to outwit the killer? Or will she become the second victim in the case the Lake Eden Journal is calling the "Crazy Elf Murder"?

Of course there are recipes - over thirty for you to try including the Swensen family's complete Christmas Eve Dinner. Every recipe was taste-tested by my family, friends, and neighbors. The consensus is that Hannah's Minnesota Plum Pudding is to die for, the Fudge Mallow Cookie Bars are incredibly yummy, and you can't eat just one Christmas Lace Cookie.

I hope you enjoy reading PLUM PUDDING MURDER as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm including the recipe for Christmas Lace Cookies so you'll have something to munch while you read. Since it's time for holiday fun, you may want to pick up two more of Hannah's Christmas adventures. SUGAR COOKIE MURDER involves a dead bride no one liked, a Lake Eden Christmas party, a blizzard, and the birth of Hannah's youngest niece. The second half of the book contains over 80 potluck recipes from Lake Eden's finest cooks. CANDY CANE MURDER is a collection of three novellas. In Hannah's story, right along with some yummy cookie recipes, someone does the unthinkable; they murder Santa Claus!

Thanks so much for your wonderful e-mails and snail mails. I just love being Hannah Swensen's biographer!

Jo Fluke

CHRISTMAS LACE COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position

1 and ½ cups rolled oats (uncooked dry oatmeal - use the old-fashioned kind that takes 5 minutes to cook, not the quick 1-minute variety)
½ cup melted butter (1 stick, 1/4 pound)
¾ cup white (granulated) sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon flour (that's right - one teaspoon)
½ teaspoon salt
1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 beaten egg (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)
½ cup chocolate chips

Measure out the oatmeal in a medium-sized bowl. Melt the butter and pour it over the oatmeal. Stir until it's thoroughly mixed.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, flour, and salt. Mix well.

Add the sugar mixture to the oatmeal mixture and blend thoroughly.

Mix in the vanilla and the beaten egg. Stir well.

Add the chocolate chips and stir the mixture until it is well combined.

Line cookie sheets with foil, shiny side up. Spray the foil lightly with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

Drop the cookie dough by rounded teaspoon onto the foil, leaving space for spreading. Don't crowd these cookies together -- no more than 6 or 8 per sheet.

Hannah's 1st Note: I used a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop to form these cookies. It was just the right size.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Pull the foil off the cookie sheet to a waiting wire rack and cool thoroughly on the foil.

When the Christmas Lace Cookies are cool, peel them carefully from the foil and store them in a cool, dry place.

If you want to dress up these cookies for special company, wait until they're cool and drizzle them with melted chocolate chips mixed with coffee. Start with ½ cup of chips mixed with 6 Tablespoons coffee and microwave for 30 seconds on HIGH. Stir until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to drizzle, add additional coffee and microwave in 20-second intervals on HIGH until you're able to drizzle it on the cookies.

Yield: One batch of Christmas Lace Cookies makes about 2 and ½ dozen cookies. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled if you wish.

Editorial Reviews

Holiday business is booming at Hannah Swenson's Cookie Jar pastry shop, but the mysterious murder of "Lunatic Larry" Jaeger puts a serious crimp in the season of good cheer. From the looks of it, Larry had as many enemies as Hannah's sugar cookies have sprinkles. With the 12 days of Christmas ticking down and cookie orders piling up, tracking down the killer won't be easy. A clever whodunit with pastry recipe dividends.