978-1-61733-423-6 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 1-61773-423-3 (ebook)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-2473-1
ISBN-10: 1-4967-2473-9
First Kensington Trade Edition: October 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
This book is for the lovely Thea Giulia
Acknowledgments
A big kiss for Ruel, who fixes all the boo-boos. Hugs all around to the kids and the grandkids.
Congratulations to Dixie Lee, winner of the Kensington recipe contest, with her scrumptious German Apple Cake.
Thank you to: Mel & Kurt, Lyn & Bill, Lu & Sheba, Gina, Adrienne, Jay, Bob, Amanda, John B., Judy Q., Dr. Bob & Sue, Laura & Mark, Richard & Krista, Mark B., Lois & Neal, and my hometown friends in Swanville, MN.
Thank you to my multi-talented Editor-in-Chief, John Scognamiglio, for his infinite patience, excellent advice, and his unwavering trust in tasting every sample of Hannah’s baked goods that I send to him.
Thanks also to Walter, Steve, Laurie, Doug, David, Maureen, Karen, Meryl, Colleen, Michaela, Kate, Adam, Jessica, Peter, Robin, Lori, Mike, Tami, Susie, and Barbara.
Thanks to Hiro Kimura for the delectable Plum Pudding on the cover.
(I love the Santa on the dessert server!)
And thank you to Lou Malcangi for designing such a delightful dust jacket.
Thanks also to all the other talented folks at Kensington who keep Hannah sleuthing and baking up a storm.
Thank you to Trudi Nash, a great friend and traveling companion! And thanks to David for batching it while she’s gone.
Thank you to Dr. Rahhal, Dr. and Mrs. Line, and Dr. Wallen.
Thanks to John at Placed4Success for Hannah’s movie and TV spots.
And thanks to Hans who saved me from buying a flat-screen TV to use for target practice.
Thanks to Ken Wilson, the master of iced coffee. And a big hug for Lois Brown, superb food stylist and baker.
Thanks to Jill Saxton for correcting my Minnesota mistakes, baking bloopers, spelling slips, and grammatical goofs. (You’ll notice she doesn’t correct alliteration.)
Many thanks to Terry Sommers for wading through the Wisconsin snow to her grocery store for the ingredients to test my recipes.
Thank you to Sally Hayes for so many yummy recipes. If I click my heels together three times can I come to your Kansas kitchen and bake with you?
Thank you to Jamie Wallace for keeping my Web site,
MurderSheBaked.com
up to date and looking great.
Hugs to everyone who sent favorite family recipes for Hannah to try.
I’m going to increase the size of my “To Test” box…again.
And thanks so much for all the friendly letters and e-mails about Hannah.
I’m delighted that you enjoy reading about her and trying her recipes.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hannah Swensen’s Christmas Eve Dinner
Plum Pudding Murder Recipe Index
Chapter One
Lake Eden, Minnesota
Ten Shopping Days Until Christmas
There were nights like tonight, right after he’d bet a bundle on the losing team, when Larry Jaeger wondered why he’d ever come back to this dinky little town. When it came to money matters, people around here were clueless. Swindling them out of their savings was no contest at all. He preferred an even playing field where he could outwit the investors he thought of as his adversaries. It was a game, after all, and the game was boring if your opponents were pushovers.
In an effort to even the odds he’d taken more risks than usual, but not a single one of the locals were suspicious, not even Mayor Bascomb, who prided himself on his business savvy. This was like counting the leaves on a three-leaf clover, and that wasn’t his idea of fun. The thrill came from taking off with the money right before someone was about to catch on. These people weren’t about to catch on.
And then there was Courtney, his biggest investor, his partner, and his fiancée. She owned fifty percent of the Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot…on paper.
Courtney had insisted on taking a room at the Lake Eden Inn, rather than staying with him in the double-wide trailer they called Elf Headquarters. She was afraid that people would talk because they weren’t married. She was right. They would talk. But that wouldn’t bother him. His concern was that Courtney was living separately, and that gave her time to think. It was much easier to keep tabs on her when they were together twenty-four seven. She had some surprisingly good business instincts, unlike some of the other girlfriends he’d had. Courtney might just have the smarts to compare the business he’d fabricated for her on paper to what was actually happening
