Book Review: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

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Mad Mabel  by Sally Hepworth  is a domestic thriller about the youngest person convicted of murder in Australia, Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick. Now 81 years old, Elsie is living on Kenny Lane and has been for the past sixty years. When a mother named Roxanne moves into Mabel's neighborhood with her seven year old daughter, an unlikely friendship forms between Elsie and the seven year old child named Persephone. As Elsie's secrets come to light, her world comes crashing down.  Having read quite a few novels by Sally Hepworth, I requested an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Mad Mabel  without reading the synopsis of the story. I was thrilled when NetGalley and St. Martin's Press approved my request. The expected publication date of the book is April 21, 2026. Not knowing anything about the storyline before I started reading Mad Mabel  made the story much more interesting to me as I had no preconceived ideas. The tale was told from Mabel's perspective in alternating timeli...
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Book Review: Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #27) by Joanne Fluke

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book review triple chocolate cheesecake murder hannah swenson 27 joanne fluke

With Easter fast approaching, Hannah Swensen is overwhelmed with all the catering orders coming into her bakery and all the dinner parties she's attending. To make matters worse, her sister, Andrea, gets into a fight with Mayor Bascomb, who is found murdered later that night. Will Hannah be able to clear Andrea as the prime suspect in Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #27) by Joanne Fluke?

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #27) by Joanne Fluke is the first book I've read by this particular author. I received the ebook for free from Goodreads.com in exchange for my honest review, and I was excited to give this series a try as I've heard good things about it.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and thought the concept was a great one. Of course, Andrea is going to be the prime suspect in the murder of the mayor since she was last seen fighting with him, but I knew that she wouldn't end up being the murderer. As the book progressed, there were a couple of clues that were dropped that made me suspect one particular character, and I was correct in who it was. There were a couple of other suspects, but I didn't really think that they committed the crime. And, I can't wait to try out some of the recipes within the book!

There are only a couple of complaints that I have. Since I haven't read any of the other books in the series, it was difficult for me to keep up with how people were related to each other. However, I don't think this would have been an issue if I had read the series in order. Another complaint I had was the number of new recipes that Hannah was making and was going to sell them without trying them. How many new types of cookies, cupcakes, pies, and cakes can there really be? And, why wouldn't she try them to make sure they tasted okay before selling them? Something that bothered me, but really isn't a complaint, is the way the conversations were written. They seemed a little repetitive. As a side note, when Hannah made the statement that the hot chocolate from the Keurig was just as good or better than homemade hot chocolate is, I was dumbfounded as I have to disagree with that statement.

I gave Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #27) by Joanne Fluke four out of five stars, and I will give several of her other books in this series a chance. If you enjoyed this particular book, I'd recommend Cream Puff Killer (Lexy Baker, #13) by Leighann Dobbs.

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