1. Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery - In this first installment, we are introduced to baker Hannah Swenson, her meddling mother, her best friend/sister, Andrea, and two handsome rivals for her affections, Norman the dentist, and Mike the detective. Just to keep things interesting, Hannah finds two dead bodies and feels Mike's ire over her interference in both cases.
2. Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery - The second movie takes place at Christmas time. Hannah finds another body and Mike tries to keep her out of danger. There are lots of suspects and it doesn't always make sense who is who. But who cares? Half the fun is watching Hannah relate to all the people in her life. Her mom strongly urges her to choose Norman while Andrea favors Mike.
3. Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery - Someone opens a bakery across the street from Hannah's and, yep, she finds another body.
4. Murder She Baked: A Deadly Recipe - Hannah is putting together a community cookbook to raise funds for charity. Someone submits a recipe calling for one teaspoon of a mystery ingredient. It's fun to see the gals trying to discover the ingredient. Oh, and Hannah finds another body. The romantic triangle continues.
5. Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts - The background story is a televised bake-off. This time someone else finds the body. But Hannah's sleuthing leads her to the killer. She finally makes her choice between the two eligible bachelors.
This is the second time I've watched these movies and I vaguely remembered the identity of the killer in each one, but solving the mystery is not the only reason I enjoy these movies. I like Hannah as a heroine. She's smart, pretty and capable, but just insecure enough to gain your sympathy. There is something endearing about how she talks to her cat about her troubles. I loved the family dynamics between mother/daughter/sister. What's not to like about the gorgeous food shots? And I appreciated a sweet romance without the syrup (or the drama) of the regular Hallmark movies. They always make the third person in the love triangle look like a complete jerk, but that was not the case in these films. The other guy was nerdy, but handsome and likable.
These movies are based on the cozy mysteries written by Joanne Fluke. There are 27 of them, but I tried to read the first one and found the characters much less likable than in the movies.
Has anyone else enjoyed these? Any other cozy mysteries to recommend? (book or film)
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