Candy Cane Murder by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, Leslie Meier (2007, Hardcover)

The book contains three Christmas mystery novellas.

Joanne Fluke wrote the 1st one..."Candy Cane Murder." Hannah Swenson is going to be playing the part of Santa's helper at the Lake Eden Inn this year. The owner of the local department store, Wayne Bergstrom, will be playing Santa, all for the underprivileged kids in the area. When the party is over and Hannah is headed out the door she sees a trail of candy canes and follows it and it leads her to the dead body of Wayne! Hannah needs to figure out who hated Wayne enough to kill him. As with all Ms.Flukes books, there are cookie recipes, a few for drinks and 2 quiche recipes as well. Love her books!

"The Dangers of Candy Canes," is by laura Levine who writes the Jaine Austen mysteries I love! Jaine is a free lance writer, when she can get work. One of her clients, Seymour Fiedler of the Fiedler on the Roof Roofers is being sued for wrongful death. Mr. Fiedler hires Jaine to solve the crime. The death occurred when Garth Janken fell off his new re-roofed house while decorating for the neighborhood's annual Christmas contest. Mr. Jankens had a lot of enemies, as Jaine finds out when she discovers that the tiles on the roof were purposely loosened. As always....Ms. Levine's story are so funny and in this one Jaine is also volunteering with a group that mentors underprivileged girls.

I have only read one book by Leslie Meir,who writes the third story called, "Candy Canes of Christmas Past." The story goes back to when Lucy Stone first arrived in Tinker Cove, Maine. She and her husband are trying to fix up there home and it is very trying for Lucy so the local librarian, Miss Tilly, shows kindness toward her and Lucy wants a way to repay her. This begins the story of how Lucy uncovers the circumstances surrounding Miss Tilly's mother's death almost 50 years before. It all relates to Lucy and her struggle to fit into the town as a newcomer.
Out of the three stories I preferred the first two. This wasn't bad, but the story line wasn't as special, but her characters were good so I am giving the book an excellent.

Bought this book for my aunt who loves reading mystery murder stories from this author. Really liked the book. I am waiting to read the book myself.