Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery

The film opens in Eden Lake during the Christmas season, where baker Hannah Swensen is busy managing holiday orders and her mother Delores's constant matchmaking. Hannah meets Larry Jaeger, the boisterous owner of the 'Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot,' who is engaged to Courtney Miller but is clearly running a suspicious operation. After a dinner date with Norman Rhodes, Hannah stops by the tree lot to pick up a check and discovers Larry’s body in his office; he has been shot to death. Detective Mike Kingston takes the case and warns Hannah to stay out of the investigation, though he later gives her a self-defense lesson involving a hairbrush that turns into a flirtatious moment. Hannah discovers that Larry was actually still married to the local radio personality 'Dr. Love' (Nancy Schmidt), who had been searching for him for years after he stole her life savings. As Hannah digs deeper, she discovers a 'silent partner' in the tree lot named 'Ben Haded,' which she eventually realizes is a pun for 'Been Had,' a clue that Larry was embezzling from his own business and his fiancée. The investigation shifts when Hannah looks into her mother's business teacher, Miss Whiting. Hannah realizes that 'Whiting' is an anglicized version of 'Bianco' and connects the teacher to a man named Salvador Bianco, whom Larry had bankrupted years prior in Green Bay. In the climax, Hannah confronts Miss Whiting (Kimberly Bianco) at the tree lot. Kimberly reveals she sought revenge because Larry’s fraud caused her father’s fatal heart attack. Kimberly attempts to kill Hannah, but Hannah uses the self-defense moves Mike taught her, distracting the killer with a 'Crazy Elf' animatronic until the police arrive. The film concludes with a festive Christmas dinner where Hannah’s sister Andrea announces her pregnancy, and Hannah remains happily caught in a love triangle between Mike and Norman.