Alison Sweeney

Niall Matter

Colleen Wheeler

Victor Zinck Jr.

This Time Each Year

This Time Each Year (2024)

Ashley Williams

Barbara Niven

Victor Webster

A Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

A Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (2024)

Gabriel Hogan

Hannah Swensen has been asked to teach a baking class at the college in town, but her equipment is tampered with causing an explosion that the fire department rules an accident. Soon, a colleague ends up dead and Hannah begins to put together the puzzle of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the murder. Hannah leans on her friends and family to collect the breadcrumbs of foul play and put them together, and meets a different side of law and order when Lake Eden's prosecuting attorney Chad Norton (Webster) enters her life.

One Bad Apple: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

One Bad Apple: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (2024)

Michael Kopsa

Kiefer O'Reilly

Michele Scarabelli

For the second Christmas in a row, Boston bank employee Katherine Moss has decided that she and her preteen son Will won't go back to the military town of Provincetown. Virginia, her hometown, for the holidays. The memories are still too strong there of her now-deceased husband, musician Tyler Moss, who like many in Provincetown was once in the military but was killed in a traffic accident two years earlier. Kat and Will don't talk to each other about Tyler, each wanting to shield the other from the painful memories associated with his death. Not returning home is also despite Kat once having dreamed about taking over the family business, Winter's Pastries, a bakery where she and Tyler spent much of their time together when they were dating. At the last minute, Kat changes her mind, feeling it is indeed time to go home. Upon their return to Provincetown, Kat discovers that not only is the annual Christmas Snowball Dance still happening, but also that Tyler's former band-mate, Maggie Rhodes, has resurrected their trio with someone she found by posting an ad through the VA Centre to fill in for Tyler as they perform at the dance like the trio had done in the past. The hired musician is Jack Sutherland, a vet like Tyler whom Kat and Will had earlier met on the train to town, he having never set foot in Provincetown before but had been summoned by an unknown friend. The human connection made between Kat and Jack, the first for Kat since Tyler, is punctuated with Jack's true mission in Provincetown: to return a memento to someone he met only briefly years ago and never knew a name, only that the person saved his life.—Huggo

Time for You to Come Home for Christmas

Time for You to Come Home for Christmas (2019)

John Prowse

William Vaughan

Matthew Kevin Anderson

Lilly Thorpe is in a rut and at a crossroads in her life. She works as a copywriter at a Boston ad agency, a job she doesn't much like, especially in that her dream would be to finish her novel on which she's long stopped working. The president of the Jane Society, as in Jane Austen, she has been informed by Mr. Whitcomb, the owner of the English pub where they hold their meetings for free, that he is retiring and thus selling, meaning that she has to find somewhere else appropriate to hold their meetings at an affordable price. She has long talked about going to England to do a Jane tour, but one thing or another has always stopped her. And while she would like to find her proverbial "Mr. Darcy", she doesn't want him to be her savior, she turning down the marriage proposal of her current boyfriend Martin, he offering her a life in Chicago as that savior. Her friend and coworker Alisha, who is having her own man problems in feeling pressured by her family to get married despite not having that man, believes their coworker Brennan is interested in Lilly, he being someone that Lilly would not even entertain as a romantic partner, while the latest man to enter her life is the rude new clerk at her favorite local bookstore. Part of what Lilly loves about Jane, beyond the romantic nature of her novels, is that she has an answer for most of life's problems. So in wanting Jane to provide her answers to her life's problems, Lilly is nonetheless surprised when the spirit of Jane enters her life. While Jane has to update her two hundred year old thoughts to Lilly's twenty-first century world, Lilly has to deal with the agency's newest client, Trevor Fitzsimmons, the rude bookstore clerk who is really its new owner and a tech giant who wants to market the bookstore to link to his online world, which is somewhat against Lilly's sensibilities.—Huggo

Love & Jane

Love & Jane (2024)

John Kapelos

Farrah Aviva

Jonathan Scarfe

Sonia has a radio show where she gives advise to her listeners and so does Nick in his "Man Cave" show. Their advises are very contradictory from a male/female perspective and when they finally meet each other for real it does not take long before they start to argue. The radio station hear this and think it will be good for ratings to place Sonia and Nick in the same morning show and fight it out (verbally). Slowly, as they start to know each other, the real reasons for their respective attitude is revealed and they start to see that they're not that different at all.—Johan Hammar

Love on the Air

Love on the Air (2015)

Kathrina Moehlman

Baker Hannah Swenson teams up with her fiancé Detective Mike to solve a string of crimes including theft, vandalism, and murder. Hannah's mom debuts her new novel, and Hannah searches for the recipe for the perfect cream puffs to serve at the book-release gala.

Sweet Revenge: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

Sweet Revenge: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (2021)

Julia Benson

A skeleton found in Lake Eden reveals the true identity of a beloved resident. Despite her fiancé's disapproval, Hannah investigates the murder and enlists her mother's help to uncover the truth and bring the killer to justice.

Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (2023)

Lacey Chabert

Autumn Reeser

Needing to reconnect as wife and husband, Tracy and Nick decide to set aside work to go on their long delayed honeymoon, although they realize that the honeymoon is only a stopgap measure for the bigger problem of not being able to spend time together in their day-to-day lives. With the honeymoon, they, unlike their regular selves, decide to let fate choose where to go as their jumping off point for the first night after which they will proverbially "wing it", the only stipulation being no place that would be associated with work or be tempted to work as the biggest problem in not being to spend time together at home. That jumping off point ends up being the city of Rhodes in Greece, they planning on making a stop in Spain on their way home on Nick's family's want for them to drop the veil off with his unattached sister Monica to give her a little nudge in the matrimony department. But even that plan of Rhodes as the jumping off point doesn't come to pass in ending up further down the coast in Lindos out of circumstance, staying at a newly renovated old inn run by brother and sister Xander and Tessa, it struggling in Tracy and Nick in addition to their only other two concurrent British guests, Lady Dalton and her young adult grandson Colin Dalton, the most they've ever had at one time. Before it makes its way to Spain, someone seems to want to borrow the veil to work its magic locally. Work does seem to call on this trip for both Tracy and Nick, the latter who comes to a local in need. But Tracy thinks someone else locally is in need, namely Leo, a young proverbial street urchin whose story she and Nick will eventually learn, it being a one of his own passion battling against adult authority in looking out for his future.

The Wedding Veil Journey

The Wedding Veil Journey (2023)

Lynda Boyd

Ultimate planner Emma looks like she will finally be reaching the pinnacle of what has been her extended five year plan, namely the Chair of the Department in her boss, Nancy, intimating that she is retiring at the end of the semester. Despite Nancy having mentored her in Emma having made it clear that she has long wanted the job, Emma has always had the feeling that traditional and hard-nosed Nancy doesn't really respect her, especially in that they are two vastly different people. Beyond extending that five year plan to accommodate Nancy's delay in retirement, Emma has let Paolo add to her five year plan to insert himself into her life and future. Even though he had always seen himself living in Italy, Paolo marrying Emma has provided the opportunity for the family to expand the business into the US market in they opening their first US store in Chicago. Paolo has hired his cousin Matteo to help him manage the store, timely for Matteo, from Miami, in recently having broken up with his girlfriend thus having nothing to prevent him from making the move. The veil being currently on display in the store is an issue for Emma's teaching assistant Lily, she avoiding it in a measure of protection from being hurt in seeing her quirky self as traditionally not being the type of woman attractive to the type of man she would like, this all despite signs being that there is potentially *the* man right in front of her. With all these things going on in Emma and Paolo's lives, one other thing enters into it as a factor which places them at a crossroads in their marriage where her long term plan and his long term plan may be incompatible.

The Wedding Veil Inspiration

The Wedding Veil Inspiration (2023)

Karen Kruper

In their young marriage where they hope romance is still present, Avery and Peter are facing many pressures. They discover in renovating their old "dream" house, their contractor Sam is finding many more unexpected bad surprises than good surprises. Much to Peter's further surprise, Avery welcomes his mother's design assistance in the project, Avery believing Grace feeling the need to do something probably in being lonely since the passing of Peter's father. Avery has to deal with a new boss, Executive Director Mason Sylvester, a "my way or the high way" type who wants to take the Stanbridge in a whole different direction against Avery's wishes. He also sees the upcoming lace exhibit, which will feature the wedding veil that worked its magic on Avery, Emma and Tracy, and will feature another rediscovered piece, a christening gown, as Avery's vanity project which was okayed solely on her pull with board member Peter rather than to bring patrons, new and old, into the museum. Beyond his work on Stanbridge's board, Peter is preparing a presentation for the school board for a new city-wide arts program which he fears the board has already decided against. And Peter is hit with an unexpected concern over his mother. With all these items going on in their lives, Avery has to figure out when it is the best time to tell Peter in the most special of ways that the christening gown, much like the wedding veil, has worked its magic on them, the longer she waits, the harder it is to hide.—Huggo

The Wedding Veil Expectations

The Wedding Veil Expectations (2023)

Paolo Bernardini

Being in Padua, Italy for two months to teach an American Art History class at the university will also give Chicago-based Emma Lowell time to research the origins of the antique lace Italian wedding veil she and her art history best friends Avery and Tracy bought together, the legend being that its possessor will find true love, which seems to be the case at least for recently married Avery thus far. While not as skeptical about love as Tracy, Emma is romance-shy in still feeling the sting from her latest break-up in believing at the time that her now-ex could have been the one if it wasn't for the long-distance circumstance. All they know about the veil is that it was featured in a late nineteenth-century painting by artist Amici. Starting at the Italian lace center of Burano, Emma does discover the two-centuries-old family lace shop where the veil originated. Emma is also surprised to discover that the Italian man who she has constantly encountered while in Burano and whom she felt was following her was more the opposite in he being Paolo Listetto, the next generation in that lace-making family. While Paolo's family can only tell Emma about the veil's origins and its appearance in the painting, they don't know anything about the intervening time to today and how the veil made its way to San Francisco where Emma and her friends purchased it. On behalf of his family, Paolo joins Emma in the quest to discover the veil's history, for Paolo to fill in the gaps for his own sense of family. While the power of the veil seems to be working on both Emma and by association widowed Paolo in they falling for each other, they will have to decide whether to act on that power in the geographic distance that exists in their everyday lives, including being separated by an ocean, and as Paolo is in a fight with his family about the direction of the business.

The Wedding Veil Unveiled

The Wedding Veil Unveiled (2022)

Kevin McGarry

Best friends Avery, Emma and Tracy met at grad school in Art History, each now quickly climbing the corporate ladder in her respective field: Avery a curator at an art museum in Boston, Emma a university professor in Chicago, and Tracy an appraiser at an auction house in New York City. On their annual girls' weekend getaway to go antiquing, this time in San Francisco, they come across a late-nineteenth century Italian bridal veil. Enchanted not only by its beauty but the legend told to them that the owner will come into true love, they decide to purchase it as a group despite none of the three even close to getting married for one reason or another. Avery, the romantic and thus first of the three to have the veil in her possession, is in line for a promotion from associate to full curator at the museum. Avery not only is up against her cutthroat competitive colleague Jason for that promotion, but has to prove herself in her latest assignment to plan the museum's annual gala which she is to do with enthusiastic new Board member, Peter Hastings, the head of the Hastings Foundation founded by his late father, it which is branching out into artistic endeavors from its regular scientific focus. Avery is surprised to see that Peter is the handsome man she met in San Francisco, the two who she initially believed had a connection - the veil at work - he, however, suddenly turning cold toward her by the time they parted company in San Francisco, that about face change for a reason she does not know. As they work together, his emotions toward her at times cold and at times other times hot, they decide to center the gala on the unveiling of a long lost nineteenth century Italian painting Avery discovered in the museum's basement, its refurbishment which if not completed by gala time would negatively affect the reputation of the museum. Beyond discovering the reason for his changing emotions toward her, what happens between them is affected by the outcome of the gala and Avery's potential promotion by association, Peter's own search for his place in life outside of the legacy set by his father, and of course the power of the veil.

The Wedding Veil

The Wedding Veil (2022)

Marlo Thomas

Luke Macfarlane

Maria Turner

It follows Summer's life as her mother Vivian and daughter Chloe move in with her. Vivian sets up a miniature Christmas village. As Chloe begins setting up the figurines, real-life events seem to mimic the scenes she creates.

A Magical Christmas Village

A Magical Christmas Village (2022)

Elysia Rotaru

Lochlyn Munro

Rebecca Staab

After her first idea doesn't pan out, Alex decides to do her next podcast on Billy Garrett and the restart of his self-help empire centered on retreats, he currently trying to find investors to set up a more permanent facility. The reason Alex decides on this subject is partly the fact of the paper's new overly enthusiastic employee, communications graduate student Zack Warren, attending the latest retreat, he sounding even more hyper than usual on the telephone in asking to delay his employment start in wanting to stay at the retreat an extra week giving her an uneasy feeling, and partly because of Billy's troubled history. With his self-help methods not only psychological, but combined with physical endurance and nutritional supplements, the sales of which which seems to have paid the bills in the past, Billy was charged and convicted five years ago for negligent homicide in the death of a retreat guest during an endurance hike, Billy refusing to get him treatment in his exhaustion in telling the victim to toughen it out. After being released from prison earlier on in the year with his wealth gone, Billy has restarted his business along with his primary partners: his wife, Ivy Garrett, and their CFO, Kurt Hardy. In the restart, Billy has stated that he learned much from that incident in wanting to do the business right in given this second opportunity. Alex approaches this podcast in an up front manner, she welcomed with open arms by Billy as a retreat guest, and given access to the other guests who are free to state on the record whatever they want. Partly on gut instinct and partly on advice by Kendall, Drew, without telling Alex beforehand, also decides to attend the retreat as backup, his attendance a little more guarded in he not disclosing his connection to the newspaper or to Alex. What they discover is that returning guests have nothing but praise for Billy and the retreats in him/they having "saved their lives", they including married business owners Jack and Marianne Carpenter, and Zack's retreat roommate Daniel Brandt, who invested in the Carpenters' business after having met them at a previous retreat. Things take a turn when a guest is found dead during a hike, the body discovered at the bottom of a cliff, the incident, at least to Alex, Drew and Zack, looking like murder and not an accident. As they try to do their own investigation in secret alongside the official investigation by the local sheriff's office, they face some obstacles in retreat guests not having access to electronic devices, meaning no easy access to either conducting online research or asking for help from the outside world if the murderer gets too close to their activities.

The Chronicle Mysteries Helped to Death

The Chronicle Mysteries Helped to Death (2021)

Cameron Mathison

Another homicide has taken place in the small town of Eden Lake, Minnesota, but unlike the recent homicides, the dead bodies in those cases which were all discovered by Hannah Swensen, the owner/operator of the Cookie Jar Bakery and Café, this dead body is discovered by dentist Norman Rhodes outside Eden Lake High School. The victim is Len Bishop, the coach of the school's basketball team, on which Norman volunteers as an assistant coach. He discovers the body shortly after a live airing of the semi-finals of the Eden Lake Bake-Off, conceived, sponsored and hosted by Hannah and filmed at the school by another sponsor, the local television station, WNKW. Len was a last minute replacement as the third judge for the semi-finals in the baking contest. Detective Mike Kingston with the Sheriff's Department leads the investigation as he has with all the other recent homicides. Mike, who Hannah has chosen to date exclusively over Norman, keeps Hannah in the loop as much as he can, knowing now that she is both an asset, and will investigate on her own anyway if he doesn't include her. The leading suspects include: Michele Bishop, Len's wife, as there are known problems in the marriage as Michele suspected him of infidelity; Josh Reynolds, a second string player on the team who was seen destroying property at the school just prior to the murder and who never had the financial means to move to the next level such as the team's star player, Carl Kimball, the son of WNKW station manager Mason Kimball; and any of the three finalists of the baking contest, as some mishap has befallen most of the judges, including Hannah. As the investigation progresses, a few incidents occur that threaten Mike and Hannah's relationship, with Norman, who has outwardly moved on by dating other women, quietly or not so quietly waiting in the wings.

Murder, She Baked Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts

Murder, She Baked Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts (2017)

Anne Marie DeLuise

After evaluating her feelings about the two men vying for her affections, Hannah Swensen, the owner/operator of Hannah's Cookie Jar bakery and coffee shop in Eden Lake, Minnesota, believes she is more attracted to Police Detective Mike Kingston, the more exciting one, than she is to dentist, Dr. Norman Rhodes, the safer one. These feelings are despite Norman being more prepared to make a commitment, while widowed Mike is still not ready, having not even talked to her about his marriage to his recently deceased wife, Lydia. Before telling either Mike or Norman of her feelings, Hannah believes she may have made the wrong choice when Melanie Quinn, an old college friend of Mike and Lydia's, moves to Eden Lake on Mike's suggestion. Not only does Hannah think Mike did so as they are mutually attracted to each other, but Melanie decides to open a bakery, the Magnolia Blossom, across the street to be in direct competition to the Cookie Jar. Despite Hannah getting unbiased opinions that the Cookie Jar's food is better, Hannah admits that the Magnolia Blossom is taking away much of her business, as Melanie's backer and financial manager, her sister Vanessa Quinn, is doing some heavy promotion to drum up business. Hannah's relationship with Mike takes an even more unusual twist when passing by the Magnolia Blossom one evening and noticing the lights still on when Melanie should have been gone on a delivery, Hannah walks in to find Melanie shot dead in the kitchen, this the third of three murders Hannah has stumbled upon in Eden Lake. Although he knows that Hannah had nothing to do with the murder, Mike has to stay clear of her to remain impartial in the investigation, circumstantial evidence indeed pointing to Hannah as the murderer, she a person with opportunity and motive. As usual, inquisitive Hannah uses her investigative skills to assist in finding out who really did kill Melanie. As she can't tag onto or feed into Mike's investigation as she usually does, Hannah instead turns to Norman, whose support in the matter may sway her feelings in his favor.

Murder, She Baked Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery

Murder, She Baked Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery (2016)

Ona Grauer

It's one week before Christmas in the small, generally quiet town of Eden Lake, Minnesota. After not pursuing romance for most of her adult life, Hannah Swensen, owner/operator of Hannah's Cookie Jar, a bakery/café, is being wooed by two men, who know about the other in Hannah's life. Hannah likes both a lot, but has not even kissed either. While her mother, Delores Swensen, is pushing her into the arms of dentist Norman Rhodes as the person who will provide her with a stable, comfortable life, her sister, Andrea Todd, is pushing her into the arms of Andrea's deputy sheriff husband Bill Todd's colleague, police detective Mike Kingston, as the more exciting choice. What seems to be becoming a more chronic issue in Hannah's life is that she is the person who finds someone murdered in Eden Lake, this time the victim being one of her customers, Larry Jaeger, co-owner of the Crazy Elf Christmas tree lot with his fiancée, Courtney Miller, the two who got engaged after knowing each other for only six weeks. Larry's murder is only the second such in recent memory in the town, and the second such body Hannah has discovered. Hannah can't help but get involved in the investigation, either by accident or usually more on purpose, which irks both Norman and Mike as putting her life in danger. Mike is additionally bothered that her amateur sleuthing is interfering with his official investigation. At the top of the suspect list is Delores' friend, Nancy Schmidt who is better known in town as radio talk show host on issues of the lovelorn, Dr. Love. Nancy is not Larry's ex-wife as she had implied to Delores, but rather his wife - at least up until his murder - he who she claims not to have seen in ten years as he bilked her out of her money and disappeared without a trace until now. The further Hannah and Mike investigate, the further they find that Larry was generally not a nice person who had many enemies who had motive to want to see him dead. What Hannah may or may not be aware is that she is getting closer to the truth which truly does put her life in danger as the murderer would probably not hesitate to murder a second time if she gets too close to discovering the truth.

Murder, She Baked Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery

Murder, She Baked Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery (2015)

Benjamin Ayres

Edward Ruttle

As a favor to her best friend, lawyer Katie Wyer, Harrington Chronicle Managing Editor Alex McPherson has chosen as the subject of the next season of her podcast "Recovered" the murder of Elliot Burke, Stephanie Burke, Elliot's estranged wife, the two in the process of getting divorced, charged with his murder, with Katie her lawyer. Elliot, a non-swimmer, was found dead in the deep end of the pond on the Burke property one morning after purportedly being hit over the head with his own golf club, he often using the expansive property as his own driving range. What is not contested but which forms part of the prosecution's case is that Stephanie stopped by the Burke estate early the previous evening to pick up their two children, of which she has sole custody with Elliot having visitation rights, when the two parents argued. Although not requested by Katie, Alex feels she has to start from scratch in learning all about Elliot and Stephanie to do the story justice, she having as her colleagues on the story the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief Drew Goddard, columnist Eileen Bruce, and intern Kendall Godfrey, who happens to be Drew's daughter. What they discover is that Elliot was a man of anomalies: he had a slew of friends who, along with his mother, defend him to no end, two of those friends, Jeremy Powers and Max Corey, who did not seem to match Elliot's socioeconomic status, and to some extent seemed to be living off of him, especially Jeremy; and that his outward wealth did not seem to match his problems with cash flow. They also learn that he had problems with their neighbor, Leonard Newcombe, who seems very protective of his property and his property line. This information is beyond what Katie had hope Alex would help through the podcast, namely finding the identity of a someone named Claire, the person the source of Stephanie and Elliot's fight that evening, Stephanie only knowing second hand from her kids that Elliot was preoccupied with continual telephone calls from said Claire that day, no such person listed among Elliot's contacts. Discovering who Claire is could break the case open, but Alex and the others have to work fast to fit the time-line of the trial underway.

The Chronicle Mysteries The Deep End

The Chronicle Mysteries The Deep End (2019)

Toby Levins

College educated Hannah Swensen owns and operates Hannah's Cookie Jar, a bakery and café, in the small town of Eden Lake, Minnesota, where she grew up and where most everyone knows everyone else. Baking for the community and taking care of her cat are Hannah's primary concerns in life, while finding a husband by making herself more feminine being at the bottom of the list, which irks her widowed mother, Delores Swensen, and all the women in town who know Hannah is a catch if she would only show that side of herself. As such, Hannah does not appreciate Delores ambushing her with Dr. Norman Rhodes, the handsome bachelor dentist just arrived in town, despite admitting to herself that he is charming. Eden Lake is turned upside down when Hannah's childhood friend and the bakery's longtime dairy supplier delivery guy, Ron LaSalle, is found murdered outside the bakery, Hannah who finds his dead body behind the wheel of his delivery truck. Because the local police department is ill-equipped ...

Murder, She Baked Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery

Murder, She Baked Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery (2015)

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6.9 / 10

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6.3 / 10

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6.6 / 10

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7.3 / 10

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7.4 / 10

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6.1 / 10

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6.8 / 10

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6.8 / 10

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6.8 / 10

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6.7 / 10

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6.9 / 10

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6.6 / 10

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