Gingerbread cookie murder

Fluke, Levine, and Meier each offer a yuletide whodunit treat in this entertaining follow-up to 2007's Candy Cane Murder. In Fluke's wry "Gingerbread Cookie Murder," Hannah Swensen of the Cookie Jar in Lake Eden, Minn., wants her neighbor Ernie Kusak to simply lower the volume on his too loud Christmas outdoor display, but she soon discovers Ernie with his head bashed in. In Levine's hilarious "The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies," Jaine Austen's holiday stay at her parents' home in the Tampa Vistas retirement community is enlivened by the murder of elderly lothario Dr. Preston McCay, whose neck gets broken during his star turn in an amateur play called The Gingerbread Cookie That Saved Christmas. Rounding out the volume is Meier's less cheery but poignant "Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots," about Maine reporter Lucy Stone's investigation of a four-year-old boy's disappearance. Recipes enhance two of the selections. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

These three short stories are each written by and feature a popular series detective of three different cozy mystery authors. Fluke's Hannah Swensen, Laura Levine's Jaine Austen, and Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone all face Christmas overload and horrible crimes. Family and old friends jump in to help or hinder as each amateur detective tries to solve her case before Christmas Day. All the stories are competently read by Suzanne Toren, who has narrated several of Fluke's previous titles for Recorded Books. Recommended for fans of these series and for anyone craving an auditory slice of Christmas plum pudding. ["Expect demand from fans of light and cozy series," read the review of the Kensington hc, LJ 10/1/10.-Ed.]-I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.