• Red Velvet Cupcake Murder

  • A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes!
  • By: Joanne Fluke
  • Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
  • Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (770 ratings)

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Red Velvet Cupcake Murder

By: Joanne Fluke
Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
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Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Joanne Fluke’s cozy mysteries grow in popularity with each new series entry.

One summer in Lake Eden, Minnesota, Hannah Swensen attends the grand opening of a newly refurbished hotel, where her famous red velvet cupcakes will be served in the new Red Velvet lounge. But when a party guest falls from the hotel roof, festivities come to a screeching halt - and Hannah becomes the surprising target of a murder investigation.

©2013 H.L. Swensen, Inc. (P)2013 Recorded Books

What listeners say about Red Velvet Cupcake Murder

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    359
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    128
  • 2 Stars
    49
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

I remembered why I stopped reading this series

I'm not sure if I liked this so little because it was an audiobook and the reader did not do it justice, or if I did not like it because it was just not a good book. Either way, the only reason I finished it is because I paid for it and I was working on my knitting and nothing was on television.

First, when I am listening to an audiobook I don't want to listen to someone READ a recipe at the end of every other chapter, it's annoying.

Second, it what universe does a woman in her mid 30s have two boyfriends for over five years and not have sex with either one and they stick around. Pick one, kill one, meet Prince Charming at the racetrack and drop them both, I don't care, it's just stupid. Also stupid is that Hannah is jealous when either one of them talks to another woman socially.

Third, the police department is so inept they come to Hannah for help solving their crimes.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Hot Dishes & Cold Murder

Lake Eden, Minnesota is the most murderous small town since Cabot Cove, Maine. Mystery writer and detective Jessica Fletcher lived in Cabot Cove, solving crimes week after week in the series "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-1996). At least 2% of the population of Cabot Cove succumbed to blows to the head, gunshot wounds, stranglings and poisonings.

The creative killings spread to small town Minnesota. Lake Eden resident Hannah Swensen owns the 'The Cookie Jar', a popular coffee shop and bakery in the middle of 'downtown'. Hannah bakes and solves mysteries with the help of her business partner, two sisters, her widowed mother, and two beaus, Norman, the town dentist; and Sheriff Mike. That's a good thing: the town's homicide rate isn't as high as Cabot Cove's (yet!) but percentage-wise, it's 100 times higher than New York City's 2013 statistics.

Hannah's in her late 20's? Early 30's? She's a little behind on technology (would any of us explore the scene of an accident without a cell phone in hand?) but that's an author/editor issue: Joanne Fluke is two generations older than her fictional Hannah. Fluke could have set her mysteries all in the same general time, as Sue Grafton does with her Kinsey Millhone mysteries (A is for Alibi, 1982 - present), but since Fluke's books really are 'jumpable' (you can go from #1 to #15 to #7, etc. without a problem), readers in a couple of years won't even notice the problem.

Hannah Swensen mysteries aren't terribly difficult to solve, but complicated plots aren't the point here. Okay-to-good dialogue and really great recipes are. I've tried several from some of Joanne Fluke's earlier books (Cream Puff Murder, 2009; and Cherry Cheesecake Murder, 2006) and they were yummy. I'm planning on making the title confection from "Red Velvet Cupcake Murder" (2013) . . and the pancakes later in the book sound great.

One thing I won't be making is the Chicken Tetrazzini Hot Dish that appears in the book. Translation for those of you who weren't raised in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and 1,000,000,000 Mosquitos: a Hot Dish is a called a casserole most other places, and it almost always involves Cream-of-Mushroom soup, grated cheese and chicken, and is cooked at 350 degrees for an hour. Fluke includes an honest to goodness Hot Dish recipe, complete with the nod to Campbell's best selling soup.

The narration was done in almost over the top Minnesotan, and yes, the Frozen Chosen do have an accent. Remember the Coen Brother's 1996 movie "Fargo"? Frances McDormand, playing Marge Gunderson, got it right.

Recommendation: if you are new to the series, pick the book with the desert you'd most like to make.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

Too many recipes, not enough storyline. Glacial pace. I had to stop early in the second half.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good clean fun for Mom & Daughter

Where does Red Velvet Cupcake Murder rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Since it seems like there are fewer and fewer books being written that are fun to listen to with my family, I'd have to rate this one in the top 10%. There are no groundbreaking fictional landmarks but it is fun, the characters are engaging and I usually am wrong about who "done it"

What was one of the most memorable moments of Red Velvet Cupcake Murder?

Doctor Bev comes back to town…. Was hoping she'd never show her face in Lake Eden again!!

Which character – as performed by Suzanne Toren – was your favorite?

Hannah and Norman

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Red Velvet Cake - it's a killer….

Any additional comments?

I love the recipes in this book and since I usually buy them as audiobooks and do not have the written version, I was happy to find there are websites where you can find most if not all of the recipes!! I am happy because then I can copy them into Mac Gourmet easily!! Bwahahahaha

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very cute and easy listening

Would you consider the audio edition of Red Velvet Cupcake Murder to be better than the print version?

No...because of the receipes..i want them...in my catalog

What about Suzanne Toren’s performance did you like?

I love Suzanne Toren as a narrator...she makes the story better. I also listened to her with the Team of rivals Lincoln story...and that's when i became a follower.

Any additional comments?

The receipes were a bonus this is my first Joanne Fluke, I commute and i just wanted something easy to listen to...and this was just perfect.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Decent but the annoying voices ruined it

What did you love best about Red Velvet Cupcake Murder?

Loved the recipes!

If you’ve listened to books by Joanne Fluke before, how does this one compare?

This one is par for the course, decent plot but the voices were whiney and EXTREMELY annoying.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Suzanne Toren?

Dina Pearlman

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

There was no way i could listen to this all the way through without breaks.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Move the recipes they ruin the flow

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I do not like that the recipes have been left in the middle of the books. When I listen to the Goldy Bear mysteries they have moved all the recipes to the end of the recording so it doesn't break up the stories.

Was Red Velvet Cupcake Murder worth the listening time?

yes

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What a Combo . . . Cooking and Crime!

Although this is the last book in the series, it was the first of Joanne Fluke's books for me . . . and I enjoyed it so much! It was a change of pace . . . and a GOOD one . . . as another reviewer noted, it is family fare, which I appreciate . . . and I really like the inclusion of the recipes . . . the relationships between the people in the small town interested me . . . and I will go back and listen to others in the series. The murder mystery is good without being gory, and I need that every once in a while. Bottom line, this is a great women's book, great audio book for listening to with a friend, and I am glad I came across it.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Return to the 50s with Hannah

What would have made Red Velvet Cupcake Murder better?

A little less scripted writing that sounds fake. Half the stuff that anyone says in the book nobody would ever say in real life. And it's very predictable. If I can guess who dunnit a quarter of the way in, it isn't good.

What could Joanne Fluke have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Make the dialogue more realistic.

What didn’t you like about Suzanne Toren’s performance?

It was okay. Not sure what she could do better with crappy dialogue. However making most of the women into whiney weak creatures is not my cup of tea. The only one she doesn't do that to is the main character Hannah.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Well it made me remember why I stopped using my credits for Hannah Swenson mysteries.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

COOKIES AND CRIME

This is an "easy listen" cozy mystery. I'm not a baker, so the recipes don't interest me. However, the food described sounds very tasty. I find it's best to listen to books in this series on a full stomach so I can more easily resist the temptation to snack while I'm listening.
Early in the book I correctly guessed where the final confrontation between Hannah and the killer would take place. However, I didn't guess who the killer was until that final confrontation took place.
For me, much of the charm of these books comes from the characters and the setting.
This is a gently paced cozy. There is no explicit violence or language.
Narrator Suzanne Toren has a pleasant, clear speaking voice.

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