Plum Pudding 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...

I wanted to read something nice and light to ease back into things after the whirlwind of the wedding and honeymoon, so naturally I chose a Hannah Swenson book that takes place at Christmas!

This is the 12th book in the Hannah Swenson series.

I liked this book. I think this is the second Hannah book I’ve read that takes place at Christmas, which is my absolute favourite time of year. That said, I think I enjoyed this book more than I otherwise would have had it not been set during the Christmas holiday. All of the recipes in the story were Christmasy, and there is a subplot involving Hannah’s cat and her Christmas tree that I loved – having had pet cats as a child, I have a lot of memories of Christmas tree-related incidents!

On to the murder! The murder in this book actually takes place several chapters in, which I liked, because it allowed the story to build and the characters to be established. The story was good, with Hannah ending up in some serious trouble at the end, but of course she ends up safe and sound.

I did figure out who the killer was in this one fairly early on, but as usual, it didn’t ruin the story for me, particularly since I didn’t know the killer’s motive until all was revealed to Hannah in the end. There were also some fun subplots, not to mention the delicious recipes between chapters.

Overall, this was a fun, quick read that put me in the extra-early holiday spirit!