Latest / Cozy Comfort Club Podcast / Cozy Mystery Thursday: Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery + Dim Sum of All Fears Book Review

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Cozy Mystery Thursday: Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery + Dim Sum of All Fears Book Review · Cozy Comfort Club Podcast

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  welcome back to cozy comfort club your place for comfort movies
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  cozy mysteries and
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  feel good stories you can add to your watchlist and if you love
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  bakeries amateur
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  sleuths small town gossip family dinners and mysteries filled
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  with cookies clues
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  SPEAKER_00: and just a little romance you are definitely in the right place
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  SPEAKER_00: We are heading back to Lake Eden for Best Served Cold,
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  SPEAKER_00: A Hannah Swinson Mystery,
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  SPEAKER_00: which premiered on the Hallmark Channel on May 16,
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  SPEAKER_00: 2026 and is now streaming on Hallmark Plus.
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  SPEAKER_00: The movie is one hour and 24 minutes and rated TVPG.
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  SPEAKER_00: And according to Hallmark's synopsis,
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  when a suspect in a forgery case is murdered and the prosecutor
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  goes missing,
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  Hannah and Chad must uncover how the two cases are connected
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  and solve them in time
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  SPEAKER_00: for the trial.
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  SPEAKER_00: This stars Allison Sweeney, Victor Webster, and Barbara Niven.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode is mostly low-spoiler.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'll be discussing the setup,
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  SPEAKER_00: atmosphere,
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  SPEAKER_00: characters,
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  SPEAKER_00: and my overall thoughts on Best Served Cold,
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  SPEAKER_00: a Hannah Swinson mystery.
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  SPEAKER_00: along with a short review of Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivian Chien.
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  Now y'all know I'm a sucker for bakery mysteries and I'll be
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  honest I had only
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  SPEAKER_00: watched one Hannah Swenson mystery before this.
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  Back in March I watched Sugar and Vice and I reviewed it on the
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  podcast and
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  SPEAKER_00: hopefully I can remember to add that to the show notes.
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  SPEAKER_00: and I didn't really care for that movie.
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  SPEAKER_00: So going into this one,
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  I was hoping maybe that movie just wasn't the best intro to the
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  series because I
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  SPEAKER_00: really want to understand why so many people love Hannah Swenson.
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  And I have to say within the first 20 minutes,
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  I was already enjoying this one a lot more.
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  So the movie opens six weeks earlier and we're back in Lake
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  Eden at the Cookie Jar
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  SPEAKER_00: Bakery and right away we see Dolores undercover.
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  she's wearing sunglasses she has on this brown trench coat and
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  this really fabulous
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  brown hat I mean she looked great she did even undercover
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  Barbara Niven absolutely
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  steals scenes in this movie for me I think she may be my
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  favorite character and
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  she's outside a pawn shop called the golden ticket and I can't
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  help but think about
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  SPEAKER_00: Willy Wonka
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  SPEAKER_00: And she's taking pictures with a hidden camera attached to her purse,
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  SPEAKER_00: which I thought was genius.
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  SPEAKER_00: Is that a real thing?
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  SPEAKER_00: Can people actually buy purse cameras like that?
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  SPEAKER_00: I just thought it was so clever.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now at the same time,
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  Hannah is talking about cheesecake and how every detail matters
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  when making a
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  SPEAKER_00: chocolate cheesecake.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I just knew that this was going to be important somehow.
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  Especially in a Hannah Swenson mystery where food is always
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  tied into the clues.
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  This movie was written by Allison Sweeney and based on Joanne
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  Flute's novel Triple
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  Chocolate Cheesecake Murder and now I'm wondering if I should
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  finally go back and
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  read Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder which I started but I didn't
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  finish not because
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  it wasn't good but just because I decided to pick something
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  else up and that is the
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  first Joanne Flute book and then I think I'll go back and watch
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  the first Hannah
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  SPEAKER_00: Swinson movie after I finish it
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  because I always feel like reading and watching together
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  creates the ultimate experience.
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  So Dolores plants this smoke bomb outside the pawn shop as a
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  distraction so she can
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  photograph the fake gold coins inside and from there we jump to
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  present day and we
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  learn that prosecutor Lucas Straub has gone missing and Chad
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  has taken over some of
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  SPEAKER_00: Lucas's cases including the golden ticket forgery case
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  and Hannah ends up getting pulled into the mystery and yes she
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  shows up at Lucas's
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  wife Danielle's house with blueberry lavender panna cotta is
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  that how you say it
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  panna cotta yeah because this is a bakery mystery after all and
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  you know she uses
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  SPEAKER_00: it to manipulate people I learned that from the last movie
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  now Danielle says Lucas disappears for days at a time is
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  actually pretty normal for
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  him okay but Hannah being Hannah immediately starts noticing
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  clues all around her
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  SPEAKER_00: house she is no Z with a capital N and before long she and Dolores end up
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  investigating Lucas's whereabouts which leads them to a cigar
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  shop called Second
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  SPEAKER_00: Press
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  and the front door is locked the back door is open and
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  naturally right they go
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  inside because cozy mystery logic says if the door is open you
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  absolutely must
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  investigate and so inside they discover a body duh of Paul
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  Jacobson owner of the
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  golden ticket pawn shop and now we officially have our murder
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  now Paul Jacobson and
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  SPEAKER_00: his wife Mitzi
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  SPEAKER_00: were involved in a fake gold coin scam that ruined people financially.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so some people lost their entire savings because of them.
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  SPEAKER_00: And Chad reveals that Paul was supposed to be going on trial soon.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so now we have multiple possibilities for motive.
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  SPEAKER_00: We have revenge, money, cover-ups, and a missing prosecutor.
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  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
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  SPEAKER_00: I thought this mystery setup worked better than Sugar and Vice.
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  SPEAKER_00: One thing I really enjoyed in this movie was the atmosphere.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is peak cozy mystery energy.
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  SPEAKER_00: We have the bakery,
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  SPEAKER_00: small town shops,
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  SPEAKER_00: fishing spots,
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  SPEAKER_00: golf courses,
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  SPEAKER_00: family dinner,
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  SPEAKER_00: cats,
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  SPEAKER_00: cookies,
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  SPEAKER_00: and yes,
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  SPEAKER_00: there's a cat named Moshe.
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  SPEAKER_00: Is that how you say Moshe or Moshe?
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  SPEAKER_00: And I loved him immediately.
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  There's also a scene where Hannah goes to one of Lucas's
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  favorite fishing spots to
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  look for clues and those scenes add a lot of comfort atmosphere
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  to the movie.
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  I just really like the small town feeling of this one and
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  another cozy detail I
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  thought about was Hannah's suspect board which was suspect
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  because apparently just
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  SPEAKER_00: hanging a
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  SPEAKER_00: on the refrigerator in her bakery is normal.
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  And under my breath,
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  I said,
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  why is this out here where everybody can see it?
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  SPEAKER_00: Amateur sleuth indeed.
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  One thing I noticed about this mystery is that the suspect
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  structure felt different
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  SPEAKER_00: from a lot of other cozy mysteries.
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  usually not all the time but usually mysteries introduce very
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  clear suspects one
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  after another but this one felt more focused on solving two
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  connected mysteries at
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  once and so we needed to know like what happened to Lucas and
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  also who killed Paul
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  Jacobson so instead of constantly introducing new suspects the
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  movie focused more
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  SPEAKER_00: on unraveling how these two situations connected together and
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  Personally I found myself more interested in Lucas's
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  disappearance than Paul's
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  murder I also really enjoyed the family dynamics in this movie
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  I think that was my
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  favorite part of the last movie was meeting the family and
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  Hannah's sister Michelle
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  brings a lot of personality and humor to the story I love the
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  scenes where everyone
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  SPEAKER_00: kind of gathered around the dinner table discussing the case
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  and there's just something comforting about women sitting
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  together eating meatloaf
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  while casually talking about murder investigations and Dolores
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  is fantastic
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  throughout this movie now since I'm new to the Hannah Swenson
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  mystery Lisa is her
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  co-worker or is it her assistant manager I guess maybe but I
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  think she's great she
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  wasn't in this movie as much as she was in Sugar and Vice but I
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  always I like her
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  and I also learned that Dolores works as a private investigator
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  that could have
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  been brought up in Sugar and Vice but I couldn't remember and
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  her trial scenes were
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  some of my favorite parts I'm sure those who may be familiar
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  with the series are
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  already thinking like why didn't you know she was a PI but I
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  didn't so sorry
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  and Dolores has this quote where she says you know what they
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  say ladies it's never
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  the murder it's always the marriage yes Dolores that is very
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  true for Cozy
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  Mysteries I was just watching Father Brown and in season one I
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  noticed almost every
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  SPEAKER_00: single episode was about marriage or something happening in a marriage
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  there's also a romance element throughout the movie so we get
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  some sweet moments
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  between Hannah and Chad some kisses and a revelation near the
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  end that I think
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  longtime fans will probably appreciate and since I haven't
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  watched many Hannah
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  Swenson movies yet I know there are probably references and
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  callbacks that I'm
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  missing which makes this series a little bit harder for me to
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  review because I
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  SPEAKER_00: don't fully have all the context yet
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  but even without all that background I still enjoyed this one
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  much more than the
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  previous movie I watched I also noticed something about the
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  directing in this movie
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  it reminded me a little bit of Mistletoe Murders not exactly
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  the same but there was
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  something about the pacing and the atmosphere that felt a
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  little similar to me
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  SPEAKER_00: and unlike Sugar and Vice I didn't figure out everything immediately so I
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  appreciated that this mystery kept me guessing just a little
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  bit longer the trial
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  scenes also kept my interest surprisingly well and I like
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  Chad's dynamic with the
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  defense lawyer too now for my ratings for my cozy rating I'm
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  giving this a full
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  SPEAKER_00: five cups of cozy this is a very
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  we have a bakery a small town setting obviously amateur sleuth
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  fishing golf courses
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  familiar characters romance I mean it checks basically every
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  cozy mystery box and
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  for my movie rating I'm going to give it a 3.75 out of 5 it
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  wasn't perfect but it
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  SPEAKER_00: was definitely stronger for me than sugar and vice and honestly
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  this movie made me more open to watching Hannah Swenson
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  Mysteries from the
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  beginning and on my rewatch scale I'll probably give it a three
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  out of five I'd
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  watch it again if it was on but I'm not running to rewatch it
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  right now but I did
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  enjoy spending some time in Lake Eden so watch this if you
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  already love Hannah
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  SPEAKER_00: Swenson Mysteries if you enjoy bakery mysteries if you like
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  SPEAKER_00: trials and investigations,
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  and then if you enjoy small-town atmosphere and family-centered
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  mystery stories,
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  SPEAKER_00: a little bit of romance sprinkled in,
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  SPEAKER_00: and if you love baked goods constantly appearing on your screen.
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  Before we wrap up,
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  I also wanted to quickly talk about Dim Sum of All Fears by
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  Vivian Chien.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is book two in the Noodle Shop Mystery series.
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  SPEAKER_00: The story follows Lana Lee, who was half Taiwanese and half white.
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  SPEAKER_00: And her family owns Ho Lee Noodle House in Cleveland's Asia Village.
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  SPEAKER_00: And while her parents are away in Taiwan helping her grandmother,
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  SPEAKER_00: Lana ends up managing the restaurant.
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  But almost immediately,
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  there are two dead bodies connected to people around her.
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  SPEAKER_00: So naturally,
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  SPEAKER_00: Lana gets pulled into another mystery And this series mixes food,
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  SPEAKER_00: friendship,
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  SPEAKER_00: family tension,
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  SPEAKER_00: romance,
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  SPEAKER_00: gambling,
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  SPEAKER_00: business drama,
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  SPEAKER_00: and amateur sleuthing And since it's AAPI Heritage Month,
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  I thought it was really fitting to continue this series because
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  Vivian Chen is half
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  SPEAKER_00: Taiwanese and half Italian
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  I enjoyed this book overall but I didn't love the mystery as
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  much as I hoped I
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  would especially because I had just finished stronger mysteries
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  like Glory Days and
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  the Marlowe Murder Club so I think those comparisons affected
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  my experience a
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  little but still it's a very easy breezy cozy mystery read I
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  like the friendships
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  SPEAKER_00: the mahjong matrons the family dynamics and the food atmosphere
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  and I absolutely would continue the series now for my rating
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  I'd give it a 3.5 out
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  of 5 and for my cozy rating definitely 5 cups of cozy next week
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  we'll have our
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  countdown to Christmas episode covering Christmas at the Golden
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  Dragon on Monday TV
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  SPEAKER_00: Tuesday will be All Creatures Great and Small Season 1 Episode 3
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  SPEAKER_00: And next Thursday,
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  SPEAKER_00: we'll be covering Hallmark's newest mystery premiere,
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  SPEAKER_00: True Justice,
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  SPEAKER_00: Eye for an Eye.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't watched the first True Justice movie yet,
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  SPEAKER_00: I already have an episode covering Family Ties,
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  SPEAKER_00: so definitely check that out first.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that's it for today's Cozy Mystery Thursday.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can always find more cozy reviews,
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  SPEAKER_00: watch lists,
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  SPEAKER_00: and weekly picks over on Substack at Cozy Comfort Club.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget to follow Cozy Comfort Club on Apple Podcasts,
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Spotify,
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Substack,
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: or wherever you listen so you never miss a cozy pick.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for spending time with me today.
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  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, stay curious.