Reading Hour

Reviewed from a Nook (Barnes and Noble) e-book.

As with the previous books in this series, Lemon Meringue Pie includes several recipes sprinkled between chapters.  Some enjoy them, some test them, and others (like me) page through them.

Norman (of the Hannah-Mike-Norman triangle) has decided to build the dream home that he and Hannah designed for a newspaper contest.  This is the first that the house has been mentioned since they were designing the house.  We learn that they won the contest and that Hannah used her winnings to purchase an air conditioner for the kitchen and ceiling fans in the store portion of The Cookie Jar.

Norman has decided to buy some land, have the old house on it torn down and build their 4 bedroom, 3 bath dream house - so everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) assumes that Norman has asked Hannah to marry him, and when she says that she's not marrying Norman, everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) asks why not and tells her he's a wonderful guy.

This author loves to beat dead horses.

The Cookie Jar is now selling pies on Fridays - they pick one flavor and make that one flavor for the week.  On the day that Norman is closing on the land/tear down house he's buying, the flavor is Lemon Meringue.  He allows the current owner the weekend to remove whatever she'd like from the house.

The following Monday, Hannah, Norman and Delores (Hannah's mother) go out to the house to allow Delores to pull items for Granny's Attic Antiques, the store that Delores and Carrie (Norman's mother) own.  While searching the basement, Delores finds the body of the previous owner of the house.  Rhonda has been hit on the back of the head, and left in what appears to be a shallow grave back by the furnace.

Later, brand new looking bills from 1974 start to show up around town, and it's quickly learned that the bills were from a bank robbery in 1974.  Do they connect to the murder?

Hannah continues to use her strengths - lying and failure to act intelligently to track down the killer.  In between, she judges people and what they say and winces when they end sentences with prepositions.  But, thanks to Sally (one of the owners of the Lake Eden Inn), Hannah chose to be honest with Mike this time.  "He always finds out.  He's mad at you for a day or so, then he gets over it.  Why don't you just tell him now and get it over with?  That way he can't say you weren't up-front with him."  Hannah does actually inform Mike that she's going to investigate, and is *pissed* off when he mentions that she's lied about that in the past.  Because in Hannah-land, Hannah cannot lie.

In a cute moment of hypocrisy, Hannah tells Claire that she was a cheater (but that it's ok) for buying Lemon Meringue pies and re-packaging them & donating them to a bake sale - that is not saying she baked them, but letting people think she had.  This "cheating" is no way different than Hannah's "non-lies".

The author also shows us that everything that Hannah hates and belittles in her mother is part of Hannah.  Typically, Hannah answers her phone by addressing whoever she assumes is on the line.  Since Norman phoned twice before, once asking Hannah to check her bedside table for a specific pen, because she'd told him she kept a notepad and pen on the table, the phone rings once more.  She answers, "Hi, Norman.  Your pen was in my bedroom, right where you said it would be."

The caller is Delores, who then demands to know why Norman's pen is in her 30 year old daughter's bedroom, followed by, "Stop that laughing and tell me!  I'm your mother!  I have a right to know!"  Hannah loses it a few times with her younger sister - once when she gets off the bus, still dressed as she'd been for a play, once when she gets some work done by Norman the dentist, and once when Michelle dresses in a way that Hannah feels is inappropriate. 

There are several new characters in this book.  As mentioned previously Michelle, Hannah's and Andrea's youngest sister, is in Lake Eden for the first time since the series started.  And there's Freddy & Jed, cousins.  Freddy is mentally challenged, and the author creates him using the same mold she used to create Tracey, her pre-school aged character. 

The follow up to Delores finding the body is a thing of beauty.  Hannah tells Norman that she's certain that Delores is not correct about the body... "'You don't think your mother saw a body?' 'I doubt it...I'm sure he saw something, but she's a drama queen.'"

When  Norman asks whether Hanna brought the flashlights, Hannah seems snappy, "Of course I did."  Hannah has shown that she does not like to be questioned. 

When Norman starts down the stairway, "It was clear he was exercising his manly prerogative, and that was fine with her."  Well, how about the HOMEOWNER'S prerogative?  He could have told her to just get the hell off his property, but he didn't.  Drama queen much, Hannah?

Then, after Hannah finds the body before him, she drags Norman out of the basement, not allowing him to see it.  She's a pushy broad, huh?

One more classic line:  two clues had been found in the kitchen of the house - take out dinners for 2 of osso bucco, and a Cookie Jar Lemon Meringue pie that had 1 piece eaten out.  Hannah's response?  "I really want to know who bought a whole pie and only ate one piece.  It's practically an insult."

Yes, these books are hilarious.  Especially when you really read for Hannah's (hidden and blatant) meanings.