Summertime has finally arrived in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen, owner of The Cookie Jar bakery, is looking forward to warm, lazy days, eating ice cream, and sharing picnics with friends. But when a family reunion takes a deadly turn, it's up to Hannah to find a killer... Between baking up a storm for The Cookie Jar and unraveling the mystery of her cat Moishe's recent strange behavior, Hannah Swensen has a lot on her plate. But she'll always make time for her business partner, Lisa, who's in the midst of preparing for a big family reunion. Everyone is delighted when Lisa's long-lost uncle makes a surprise appearance. No one has heard from Gus in twenty-five years--and his arrival has everyone buzzing with excitement.

Uncle Gus is immediately the hit of the reunion, telling tales of his great success and flashing money for all to see. He's almost as popular as Hannah's scrumptious carrot cake, which is also Gus's favorite dessert. But the next morning, as the whole family gathers for the group photo, one person is missing. Hannah offers to track down Uncle Gus, but her search leads to a shocking find. Over by the bar at the pavilion, she spots two slices of her infamous carrot cake, frosting-side down on the floor--and Gus's corpse with an ice pick jutting out of his chest!

A little snooping reveals that not everyone was celebrating Gus's return. And when Hannah unearths more secrets from Gus's past, she discovers even more people with an axe to grind. Now Hannah's got to sift through a long list of suspects to find a killer--even if it could mean a recipe for her own demise...

Thank you so much, MaplesFlowers. This is one of my absolute favorite series. I will probably be reading this very soon as its hard for me to have one of the books in this series in my house and not read it immediately!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed out to a friend at www.bookobsessed.com who pulled it from a VBB. Enjoy!

received in the mail today. Thanks

Hannah Swensen is the owner of a bakery in Lake Eden, Minn. Her co-owner Lisa and her husband are hosting a family reunion out at the lake and Hannah has offered to co-ordinate the meals.

Lisa's long lost uncle Gus shows up for the reunion. He skipped town 25 years ago, owing money and favours. He now shows up in a brand new car and flashing scads of money with lots of charm and smiles.

Gus does not show up for a family photo session and Hannah goes to find him dead. Hannah starts to unearth more than a few nasty secrets about Gus. Mike, her policeman boyfriend wants to collaborate with Hannah but it really is one-way street with Hannah feeding Mike the information but Mike clamming up when Hannah questions him.

Moishe, Hannah's cat is displaying some strange behaviour and Hannah tries to find out what is going on with him.

Fluke really enjoys filling in the narrative with boring long bits of minutiae. Apart from that this is not a bad story. And maybe a good carrot cake recipe to try out

My mom, AceofHearts, passed away from breast cancer on September 17, 2013. Aside from being one of the best people I know, she was an avid reader and took immense pleasure in Bookcrossing, her book club, and reading many great books. She enjoyed the books in this series so I'm glad she was able to read this one.

I will be releasing this in my mom's memory.

To the finder of this book: I hope you enjoy reading this book. Please keep it or set it free when you're done. If the book is of no interest to you, please release it into the wild for someone else to find and enjoy. I hope you will make a journal entry so its journey can be tracked and to let me know the book has been found. You can remain anonymous if you wish, but if you join BookCrossing, you are in for a great experience and I do hope you will use my mom, AceofHearts, as a referring member.