(Warning: Contains spoilers.)
Hannah is busy with baking for the upcoming Winter Festival, and a cooking celebrity, Connie Mac, has arrived in Lake Eden to help with the cake. Although her nickname of the "Cooking Sweetheart" quickly turns out to be false; she's bad-tempered, bossy, and will fire anyone on her staff in a moment's notice. The festivities sour even further when she's found dead with her head bashed in Hannah's pantry and The Cookie Jar is taped off as a crime scene, shutting down her business until they can find the killer. Hannah is infuriated and even more so when Mike tells her not to interfere in the investigation and Janie (Hannah's childhood friend who Connie fired and who was the frequent victim of her anger) becomes the police's prime suspect. Along with Norman Rhodes, the friendly witty dentist. Janie runs away in fear of being accused of murder. However, it only makes her look more guilty. Hannah, obviously, searches for her and finds her hiding in her parents' cabin by the lake. She convinces her to talk to the police and offers to let her stay at her place. Hannah slowly pieces the puzzle together and realizes that Janie is in fact Alex's daughter (Alex didn't tell anyone, not even Janie, about her being her biological mother), and this raises her suspicions. Alex could have had motive to murder Connie Mac. She's quickly crossed off the list when Alex produces an alibi. Fortunately, Norman has an alibi as well. At the mayor's fishing-house another murder victim is discovered- Alan Carpenter- when he attempts pulling in what he thinks is a "big fish." Like Connie Mac, his head is bashed in. Andrea and Hannah further investigate by illegally trespassing in hotel rooms, breaking into malls after-hours, and there at the mall is where they find their answer. Greg- another one of Hannah's childhood friends- shows up at the mall, about to kill Hannah as he'd done with the others. Andrea saves her by spraying fire extinguisher in his eyes and Hannah swings a frying pan at his head, knocking him out cold. Mike and Bill arrive and he's taken away. And then in the personal development side of things.... Hannah's instincts turn out to be correct at the end of the book- Andrea's pregnant.
10/10. What I've noticed about this particular series so far is that the character-building is amazing compared to other "cozy crimes"- the characters seem as real as if you could see them with your own eyes. It's more of a realistic fiction, but that adds to its charm. That along with its vividly written characters make it a comfy retreat.
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