Devouring some Cream Puff Murder for my Series-ous Reading self care

I know how stressful the world is at this moment, with yet another tragic event along side our current health crisis to deal with. As much as I am saddened by both dire situations, part of coping with these changing circumstances is taking some time to unwind from the ongoing anxiety and like many of us, reading comes in handy there.

So, my latest Series-ous Reading selection, Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke, is a welcome light hearted relief. In this story, Hannah is getting ready for the release party to honor her mother Delores' debut Regency novel.

Unfortunately, the specially made dress that Delores wants her to wear for the event doesn't fit right, so Hannah has to go on a quick diet(usually not a fan of plot lines focusing on Hannah's body size but since losing weight for a special occasion is relatively reasonable , it gets a pass here).

In addition to eating from a more balanced meal menu, she and her little sister Andrea join the local workout spa called Heavenly Bodies(which sounds so eighties, doesn't it?).

Exercise is not something that Hannah is all too fond of but over time, she starts to get the hang of things.While getting used to exercise equipment is one thing, it's quite another to deal with Ronni Ward as her aerobics instructor.

It's no secret that Ronni loves being as friendly as can be with the guys in town-to the point of causing a few fights at local restaurants among jealous spouses!-but is the exact opposite with women. Her nasty approach towards her female students ruffles many feathers, including Hannah, who calls her out during one session.

What's truly annoying is that guys like Mike Kingston,Hannah's occasional beau, insist that Ronni is not as bad as some people think. I'll talk more about Mike in a moment but first, we have to get our main murder mystery and yes, Hannah finds the dead body of Ronni in the Heavenly Bodies' hot tub one early morning workout. Going to the gym is awkward enough without finding a corpse not far from a plate of overturned cream puffs that you made for someone else!:

Due to the fact that Ronni also had a receptionist job at the local police department, most of the cops have to step back from the murder investigation. An investigator from out of town is recruited to aid in the official case, which means Hannah is getting some not so-secret tips on how to find the killer from her exiled friends.

That list  includes Mike, Hannah's brother-in-law Bill and her Cookie Jar partner Lisa's husband,plus the rookie cop that youngest Swensen sister Michelle is seeing in a long distance relationship(a lot of ladies in love with the law in Lake Eden, it seems).

The most persistent helper here is Mike and he truly is at his worst with Hannah when it comes to their relationship. Granted, I am more of a fan of Norman, the sweetheart of a dentist that Hannah also dates, but Mike goes way over the line and then some this time out.

For one, he keeps waking up Hannah(who has to keep early hours as a baker) at midnight for snacks to be brought down to the parking lot of her condo to offer his advice on the case. Once, I can understand but Mike does this several times, potentially waking up her neighbors to boot!

 Also, he pushes a set of books about detective procedure on her and insists that she really needs to read them in order to properly solve the crime. Uh, excuse me-so far, she's found a good number of killers by now without any formal training, many times way before you do, so maybe you need to reread those books yourself,okay?

On top of that, Mike constantly claims that he had no idea that Ronni was flirting with him or that they had any sort of romantic interest in each other. Yet, when he discovers that Hannah spent the night at Norman's(in a separate bedroom), before she can clarify that situation, Mike immediately drops the dime that he and Ronni hooked up-"Guess this makes us even,huh?"

No, it does not,Mike! While Hannah is dating two men, she has been open and honest about the extent of each relationship with each of them.  She does her best to not lead either one of them on and doesn't pit one against the other.

Mike, however, wants to be able to see other women but still act innocent about it and expect her to always buy that line of bull. At best, he treats Norman as a friendly rival(even having Norman deliver Hannah info on his behalf when he's not making midnight snack runs at her place) and has the nerve to assume the worse when it comes to Hannah and Norman.

Meanwhile, Norman is not only nice and helpful when it comes to Hannah's cat Moishe(whose subplots in these books are charmingly cute), he even has sugar free desserts prepared at the restaurant that their families are having a murder mystery planning meeting at. Yes, Delores has a small part in solving the case and she has fun while doing it!

When it comes to this love triangle, Mike Kingston is such a Logan Huntsberger(and yes, I prefer Jess as Rory Gilmore's boyfriend in the series) and I'm glad to see that Hannah is starting to cool down when it comes to romance with him:

As to the main mystery, it does get solved well and while I did want a bit more about Delores' novel, it was amusing to see so many of her friends and neighbors insist that they were the leading man and lady in her story! This was a welcome cream puff of a delight to read indeed:

As for my first summer Series-ous Reading selection, my pick is a last minute addition to my Second Act reading in this category.

After finishing A Slice of Murder by Chris Cavender recently, I decided to have another helping with book two in the Pizza Lovers Mystery series that is titled Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder.

Our leading lady detective is Eleanor Swift, sole owner of A Slice of Delight pizzeria in Ridge Town,North Carolina due to her beloved husband Joel passing away two years ago.

With the help of her madcap sister Maddy, Eleanor runs her business as best she can, when not dealing with dead bodies, that is. For this second outing, one of her other workers is accused of murdering his brother who is found dead in the pizza place's kitchen and yes, these two boys did not get along to say the least.

I may not be a fan of pepperoni pizza(I'm a plain cheese pie type of gal) but I did like the bond between the two sisters and the comforting atmosphere of the setting, so savoring a fresh slice of mystery from this story telling eatery sounds good to me: