Website design By BotEap.comEnhance your Christmas celebrations with this new trilogy of Christmas short stories. Bestselling author Joanne Fluke leads this entertaining and heartwarming tribute to seasonal literature. Fifteen delicious recipes complement the story lines; Sure to add delight to any holiday party or the next Super Bowl party.

Website design By BotEap.comGingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Website design By BotEap.comChristmas is a month away in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen is anticipating the holidays. As the owner of The Cookie Jar, a local restaurant and cafe, she has already started her seasonal baking.

Website design By BotEap.comHannah resides in the same condominium development as Ernie Kusack, a recently divorced father of two teenagers. Her ex-wife, Lorna, lives in the same complex.

Website design By BotEap.comChristmas music plays every day from Ernie’s condo, given all his free time. Ernie, a former driver for the Shamrock Limousine Company, won $8 million in the Super-Six-Lottery; and he quit his job.

Website design By BotEap.comErnie agreed to Hannah’s request to lower the volume of the music while visiting his store. Hannah gave Ernie a dozen of her gingerbread cookies to seal the deal.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen the music volume becomes unbearable and Hannah’s attempts to communicate with Ernie fail, she enlists the help of police officer Mike Kingston. Hannah and Mike break into Ernie’s condo with a key provided by Ernie’s ex-wife Lorna. There, they find Ernie dead on the floor near an open refrigerator door; Hannah’s previous gift of gingerbread cookies is crumbled on the floor.

Website design By BotEap.comWho killed Ernie and why? Was it his ex-wife, Lorna, using the key to her condo? What does a cell phone number that matches Ernie’s winning lottery picks and a framed copy of the lucky ticket hanging in Ernie’s guest bathroom have to do with the crime?

Website design By BotEap.comHannah Swensen is Fluke’s recurring character in her books, incorporating food into the plot and titles. Fluke weaves thirteen delicious recipes into the story, including “Gingerbread Cookies” and “Magic Chocolate Caramel Cookie Bars,” “Baked Game Day Burgers,” and “Smokin’ Crunchy Crunchy Coleslaw.” ‘ Willie” that would complement any Super Bowl party.

Website design By BotEap.comThe dangers of gingerbread cookies by Laura Levin

Website design By BotEap.comJaine Austen and her cat Prozac visit her parents over Christmas break at their Tampa Vistas retirement community. Hank and Claire Austen are still madly in love after all these years despite their quirks. Claire repeatedly calls for Prozac Zoloft and pampers the feline with table scraps, much to Jaine’s pain.

Website design By BotEap.comJaine writes a commercial in Los Angeles for a living; and her parents insist on presenting her daughter as a famous Hollywood writer: “She wrote” In a Rush to Flush? She Calls the Grooming Masters!”

Website design By BotEap.comEdna Lindstrom has written this year’s Tampa Vista Christmas play titled, The gingerbread cookie that saved Christmas; and insists that Jaine criticizes the dress rehearsal. It is as Jaine describes it, “A shameless con of both A Christmas Carol Y Peter PanThe torturous plot involves a gingerbread man coming to life and helping a lonely old woman discover her many blessings.”

Website design By BotEap.comPreston McCay, a recently retired plastic surgeon from Cleveland, joins the association. A womanizer, he quickly seduces Edna into believing marriage is in her future and gets the lead in her play. Preston’s dialogue cannot be heard through the gingerbread man’s costumed head, so they wear face makeup instead; making it look like a “molting bear with a human head”.

Website design By BotEap.comAfter the painstakingly long dress rehearsal, Edna suggests that the leading lady, Laurette Kendall, director Gloria Di Nardo, Preston, and Jaine have something to eat. Preston refuses, claiming that he is too tired.

Website design By BotEap.comThere, at the Chinese restaurant, the foursome discover Preston having dinner with the young, skinny aqua aerobics instructor from Tampa Vista.

Website design By BotEap.comJaine watches in amazement, as ribs fly, and each lady claims that Preston had planned to get married. its.

Website design By BotEap.comThe opening night of the play proves tragic, as Preston’s suspended pulley breaks during the finale; smashing it against the stage. He dies of a broken neck.

Website design By BotEap.comWho murdered Preston McCay? Was it one of his jilted romantic interests or some other Tampa Vistas resident? Levine keeps you laughing until the end of the mystery.

Website design By BotEap.comLaura Levine is a Hollywood comedy writer, touting major television credits to her name. She is currently writing the next Jane Austen mystery.

Website design By BotEap.comGingerbread cookies and shots by Leslie Meier

Website design By BotEap.comLucy Stone is a wife, mother, grandmother, and part-time reporter for Tinker Cove Maine’s. saver Newspaper.

Website design By BotEap.comWhile doing some Christmas shopping, she meets Nemo Anderson, a four-year-old with red hair, and his mother Ocean at the bakery counter. Nemo wants a gingerbread man cookie and his mother cries poverty. Nemo and Ocean live in the Aquarizoo, an abandoned and dilapidated aquarium that was once a tourist trap. With his shaved head and numerous facial piercings, Ocean is unconventional, to say the least.

Website design By BotEap.comLucy meets Ocean and Nemo in the store parking lot after buying Nemo a cookie. There, Ocean’s boyfriend, Rick Juergens, picks them up in his Porsche. Rick also sports a shaved head, multiple rings and studs on his face, a gold tooth, and a barbed wire tattoo around his neck. The townspeople identify the couple as drug dealers.

Website design By BotEap.comLucy wonders, “How can they afford a Porsche, but can’t afford a $1.49 cookie for their son?” Her journalistic experience reminds her that things are not always what they seem; and she suspends judgment.

Website design By BotEap.comThe next day, while driving, Lucy hears an AMBER alert on her car radio announcing Nemo’s disappearance. Her abductor is described as “a large African-American woman wearing a maroon quilted coat.” She drives a gray Honda CR-V with Massachusetts plates.

Website design By BotEap.comWhat will be Nemo’s fate? Is he found, and if so, dead or alive? Why is Nemo’s last name Anderson and not Juergens like Rick’s? What accounts for Lucy discovering Rick’s body in her Porsche at Blueberry Pond, shot in the head, Nemo’s half-eaten gingerbread cookie she’d given him nearby, and no sign of Nemo?

Website design By BotEap.comLeslie Meier is the author of sixteen Lucy Stone mysteries and has written for Ellery Queen’s Mystery magazine. She is currently working on the next Lucy Stone mystery.

Website design By BotEap.comGingerbread Cookie Murder makes for entertaining seasonal reading, whether at home or on your train or bus ride to work. All three stories are full of feel-good festive fanfare despite being murder mysteries. The authors show their writing skills simple and crisp, including well-hidden plotlines. Complement your holiday celebrations by reading this trilogy; and consider it an early gift for anyone on your list who enjoys literature.

Website design By BotEap.comTo review select Joanne Fluke recipes, visit http://www.murdershebaked.com./recipe.htm.