My Rating: 
Author: Joanne Fluke
Narrator: Suzanne Toren
Length: 9 hrs., 59 min.
Publisher: Recorded Books
My Review: I know, I know… I started an audiobook series in the middle. Honestly, I had no idea this was even a series, until I got rolling. I was browsing at the library and thought it looked interesting. Since Key Lime Pie Murder was the only Fluke novel on the shelf, I had no idea it was part of a series.
Key Lime Pie Murder starts off very slow, and somewhat confusing. After the first few chapters I got the hang of things and pieced some things together. Granted, these were probably things I would have already known if I had listened to the previous novels. Unlike most of the series I’ve read or listened too, this didn’t provide a lot of previous information that would be pertinent to the story if you picked up in the middle. Annoying? Yes. But it’s my own fault.
This audiobook follows Hannah Swensen as she is faced with another mystery. She’s running her bakery, The Cookie Jar, and volunteering as a judge for the Tri-County Fair’s baking contest. Her fellow judges, Pam and Willa meet and begin the judging as normal. Until one of them ends up the victim of a surprising murder.
Hannah is on the case with the help of cop Mike and dentist Norman (both her love interests) and her sisters Michelle and Andrea. Hannah and her sisters are digging deep to get to the bottom of her friend and fellow judge’s death. Things aren’t adding up… An unknown marriage, suspicious dress purchases and strange behavior.
An underlying, less interesting affliction has struck Hannah’s big tom cat, Moishe. (FYI, stupid name for a cat, it annoyed me.) He’s mesmerized by something outside but nothings there! He has turned down his favorite foods and treats and Hannah is almost worried sick. Things turn out for the best and Moishe lives for those cat lovers out there.
All in all, this audiobook was kind of dull. The story picked up a bit towards the end but I had to push myself through. One bright note was the recipes! I love recipes, point blank. Thankfully, Fluke packed quite a few into this audiobook. I think it would have been better if they were compiled at the end, but they were just scattered throughout between chapters where that certain recipe popped up in the story line. They sound delicious and I’ve copied a few down!
Narrator Review: Suzanne Toren seems to be a great narrator. I had one problem though, the voice she uses for Hannah seems to be way too mature for such a young woman. When this audiobook started, I judged Hannah’s voice to be that of a 40-year-old woman and that was way off. Other than that, the narration was wonderful.
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i have a real ‘thing’ about series books that you have to start with the first or…i like my stories to come to a comfortable end…even if there are more books in the series…think nancy drew. you could read them in order but didn’t have to. i like the harry bosch series and have yet to read one after another. when i read one from early in the series i think of like an ongoing conversation where someone triggers a memory that they share now. i just don’t like cliff hangers! especially when you have to wait a year before the next one come out!
Earlier this year I listened to the first-in-series, THE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MURDER and to be quite honest, I don’t think you’re missing much by having skipped the first few titles in the Hannah Swensen line. Suzanne Toren just didn’t cut it for me either as a young twenty-something with romantic interests and; something tells me there isn’t much character development either :-/