Hannah Swensen Books in Order

At the Tri-County Summer Solstice Celebration, Hannah serves a menu of pink lemonade treats to cheering crowds. Festivities sour when a retired baseball star is found dead, and with her outspoken mother near the top of the suspect list, Hannah has to uncover which of the man’s many enemies finally struck out.

A flashy televised fishing tournament brings celebrities and crowds to a lakeside inn, where Hannah has been hired to supply caramel pecan rolls and pastries. When the show’s arrogant host is found dead on a drifting boat, she and Andrea cast a wide net among jealous rivals, weary staff, and furious fans.

Easter orders are piling up when Hannah’s sister Andrea publicly clashes with Lake Eden’s bullying mayor. After he’s found murdered with a slice of triple chocolate cheesecake nearby, Andrea becomes the obvious suspect, and Hannah must sift through the mayor’s long history of grudges to uncover the real killer.

This two-in-one volume collects Christmas Caramel Murder and Christmas Cake Murder, pairing a present-day holiday whodunit at a community play with a nostalgic prequel about Hannah’s first big Christmas baking project. It’s a double helping of Lake Eden cheer, recipes, and seasonal sleuthing.

Sent to California to rest, Hannah is yanked back to a frigid Minnesota winter when her sister’s boyfriend, detective Lonnie Murphy, is accused of murder. With Lonnie’s memory of the night in question full of gaps, she has to reconstruct events from barroom gossip and small-town politics before her friend is convicted.

Early in Hannah’s career at the Cookie Jar, a desperate stranger appears at her back door asking for work and a meal. Days later he’s found badly injured with no memory of who he is. Between frosting cupcakes and untangling his past, Hannah learns that someone may want this gentle man to stay nameless.

Thanksgiving should be busy but cozy at the Cookie Jar, yet Hannah is reeling from her husband Ross’s sudden disappearance. When Ross’s assistant is poisoned while driving Ross’s car and eating a raspberry Danish meant for him, Hannah has to decide whether she’s hunting a killer, a missing spouse, or both.

Set before the Cookie Jar officially opens, this prequel follows a younger Hannah still grieving her father’s death. Persuaded to bake for a recreated Christmas Ball to honor elderly Essie Granger, she discovers Essie’s unfinished crime story and a decades-old mystery in town that starts to echo the fiction.

A film-themed TV special at the Cookie Jar should give Hannah a welcome distraction from the public collapse of her sham marriage. Instead, a threatening figure from her past arrives with bodyguards in tow and a murder victim turns up in her condo, forcing Hannah and an old flame to confront dangerous secrets.

Fresh from her honeymoon cruise, Hannah returns to find her mother’s neighbor—retired actress and local theater director Victoria Bascomb—murdered in her condo. A half-eaten banana cream pie suggests she knew her killer, and Hannah’s search through play rehearsals and old scandals reveals a stage crowded with suspects.

Hannah’s wedding plans collide with a high-pressure TV dessert competition that brings celebrity chefs and camera crews to Lake Eden. When the show’s notoriously harsh judge is discovered stabbed in a walk-in cooler before he can taste her cookies, Hannah must juggle gowns, recipes, and suspects to keep her big day on track.

Hannah and Lisa are catering the town’s production of A Christmas Carol, where Lisa’s husband is cast as Santa opposite his glamorous ex-girlfriend as Mrs. Claus. Before opening night, the actress is found dead in the snow wearing a scandalous costume, and Hannah must untangle romantic grudges and backstage secrets to clear her friends.

Still facing trial over the fatal accident, Hannah wants nothing more than a quiet return to baking. Instead, she finds the presiding judge murdered in his chambers with his own gavel, and all eyes turn to the defendant he was about to sentence. Clearing her name means probing the judge’s long list of enemies.

Driving home in a violent storm, Hannah hits a man who staggers into the road. Guilt turns to fear when the autopsy shows he was already near death, his shirt stained with blackberry pie. Arrested for murder, Hannah has to identify the mystery victim and trace his last slice of pie to a killer.

The grand reopening of the posh Albion Hotel features Hannah’s red velvet cupcakes and the unwelcome return of scandal-magnet Doctor Bev. When an employee falls from the rooftop and Bev later turns up dead after eating a doctored cupcake, Hannah suddenly finds herself a suspect in a case tied to her own romantic history.

A jazz weekend at the Lake Eden Inn is derailed when the band’s tour bus crashes on icy roads. After the keyboard player later dies in the hospital from a suspicious stab wound, Hannah follows a trail from local gossip to Seattle’s music scene to find out who wanted him silenced.

While Reverend Bob finally takes a honeymoon, his old friend fills in at the pulpit and develops a serious weakness for Hannah’s desserts. When the visiting minister is found face-down in a plate of devil’s food cake, Hannah uncovers a far darker side to his past—and a murderer hiding behind pious smiles.

Hannah’s quiet condo complex turns sinister when she discovers her reclusive neighbor dead beside a scattered box of her gingerbread cookies. As she pieces together his complicated financial life and feuds with neighbors, she learns someone had more on their mind than holiday cheer.

A massive charity event lands Hannah with an order for thousands of treats and a reluctant role as a magician’s assistant. The real trick comes when the show’s charming host—an old flame with ties to both Hannah and her sister—is found dead backstage holding one of her apple turnovers.

Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot has become Lake Eden’s quirkiest holiday attraction, and its owner is one of Hannah’s best customers. When she arrives to collect a payment and instead finds him shot in his office, Hannah digs into his tangled business deals and seasonal scams to discover who profited from his death.

Determined to squeeze into a Regency gown for her mother’s book launch, Hannah joins her sister at a new health club. Their exercise routine ends abruptly when flirtatious trainer Ronni Ward is found dead in the Jacuzzi with Cookie Jar cream puffs, leaving Hannah to sort jealous rivals from real killers.

Lisa’s sprawling family reunion should be all sunshine, stories, and Hannah’s famous carrot cake. Then a long-missing uncle turns up flush with cash—and is found murdered with an ice pick beside uneaten slices of cake. Hannah must protect Lisa’s ailing father and sort through decades of buried resentment.

During the Tri-County fair, Hannah juggles baking for the chamber booth, judging a pie contest, and keeping her family happy. The chaos turns deadly when a fellow judge is found dead beside a smashed key lime pie, and Hannah discovers the young teacher had dangerous enemies.

At the Lake Eden Inn’s holiday gala, Hannah’s boyfriend plays Santa while the town’s tight-fisted department-store owner dons the red suit for publicity. When Santa is later discovered dead in the snow, Hannah follows a trail of candy canes and grudges to unmask a very un-jolly killer.

Hollywood descends on Lake Eden to film a thriller, turning the Cookie Jar into craft-services central and Hannah’s cat into a would-be star. When the demanding director dies after a prop gun is switched for a real weapon, Hannah must navigate studio egos and hometown secrets to expose the killer.

A rival bakery run by two charming Southern sisters threatens Hannah’s business and her love life. When one of the newcomers is found shot to death in her own shop, gossip points at Hannah—but she’s determined to prove someone else had more than a culinary score to settle.

At a crowded Christmas potluck, Hannah debuts a community cookbook and a buffet loaded with sweets. When the groom’s flashy new bride is found stabbed outside in the snow, Hannah and her sisters hunt a killer among snowed-in neighbors still digesting dinner.

As a contentious sheriff’s election divides Lake Eden, Hannah finds the incumbent dead in a school dumpster after one of her cooking classes. With her brother-in-law Bill suddenly the prime suspect, she races to uncover who really wanted the lawman out of the way.

Hannah thinks life is finally falling into place—until her sometime-boyfriend Norman buys a house he plans to tear down for their dream home. While exploring the property, she and her mother discover the former owner’s body and a half-eaten lemon meringue pie, forcing Hannah back into sleuth mode.

In Lake Eden’s first televised dessert bake-off, Hannah serves as head judge and local cheerleader. When volatile coach Boyd Watson is discovered dead face-down in her strawberry shortcake, she digs into his messy private life to clear an abused wife and find the real murderer.

Lake Eden’s Winter Carnival should bring tourists and good publicity, especially with a famous lifestyle guru creating the official cake. Instead, the celebrity is found dead in Hannah’s pantry with one of her blueberry muffins, turning the Cookie Jar into a crime scene Hannah must investigate.

When a beloved delivery driver is found shot behind her bakery, Hannah Swensen worries the trail of cookie crumbs will point to her kitchen. To protect the Cookie Jar and uncover the truth, she starts asking questions the small-town killer would rather avoid.