2008: #90 – Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Joanne Fluke)

Book #90 was Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, the first of Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson books.  The back of the book reads:

Discover the delicious mystery that started it all!

No one cooks up a delectable, suspense-filled mystery quite like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke’s dessert-baking, red-haired heroine whose gingersnaps are as tart as her comebacks, and whose penchant for solving crimes—one delicious clue at a time—has made her a bestselling favorite. And it all began on these pages, with a bakery, a murder, and some suddenly scandalous chocolate-chip crunchies. Featuring a bonus short story and brand new, mouthwatering recipes, this limited edition of the very first Hannah Swensen mystery is sure to have readers coming back for seconds…

Hannah Swenson already has her hands full trying to dodge her mother’s attempts to marry her off while running The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden, Minnesota’s most popular bakery. But once Ron LaSalle, the beloved delivery man from the Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered behind her bakery with Hannah’s famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, her life just can’t get any worse. Determined not to let her cookies get a bad reputation, she sets out to track down a killer.

Who would have the sheer audacity—and the motive—to kill the most punctual delivery man Hannah ever had? Topping the list is the high school football coach. What exactly was his wife doing, making the rounds with the milkman? Could Max Turner, owner of Cozy Cow Dairy, have had a secret he didn’t want to share with his top employee? The more Hannah snoops, the more suspects turn up. Why has Lake Eden’s most prominent prodigal son, Benton Woodley, just resurfaced? And what about the mysterious Mr. Harris who seemed interested in buying the property next to the dairy, but then disappeared? This is one murder that’s starting to leave a very bad taste in Hannah’s mouth. And if she doesn’t watch her back, Hannah’s sweet life may get burned to a crisp.

Filled with a healthy sprinkling of humor and a delightful assortment of nuts, CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MURDER serves up a great new mystery series and introduces a delicious, down-home sleuth that mystery readers will surely savor for years to come.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this. I’d just finished listening to Before I Wake and lamenting about how nice everyone was, and now I’m going to listen to a cozy mystery? Instead of boring me, this book charmed me. I liked Hannah a lot. Even her amateur sleuthing is believable, because she never really does anything to find her information that I couldn’t have done (except maybe the breaking and entering!). She mostly just asks the right questions of the right people. The fact that she’s helping the cops is something that is only believable in this small town atmosphere.  My only regret is that I was listening to this rather than reading it, because now I’m going to have to track down a hard copy of the book so I can get some of the recipes! I’ll definitely be continuing with this series.

Page count: 304 | Approximate word count: 76,000

2007: Sacred and Profane (Faye Kellerman)
2006: A Certain Justice (John Lescroart)