Cream Puff Murder: a Hannah Swenson Mystery with Recipes

by: Joanne Fluke

Published by: Kensington Books

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

I am especially attracted to the Hannah Swenson mysteries because of the recipes–or maybe it is the characters, the plots, or…. I could go on and on.

Poor Hannah has promised to dress in a fitted costume to help at her mother’s Regency romance book launch party, but finds that she has been testing too many of the scrumptious cookies she sells at her store, The Cookie Jar, and cannot fit into her dress. So her sister Andrea promises to help her by taking her every day for a strict fitness routine at Heavenly Bodies, Lake Eden, Minnesota’s best workout gym. She also must go on a serious diet.

Norman, Hannah’s devoted dentist beau, is supportive. Mike, her manly cop boyfriend, is also there for her. Then she discovers a body in the Heavenly Bodies’ hot tub–that of Ronni Ward, the nasty, flirty, beautiful fitness instructor who has half the town mad at her. She has been “tempting” Mike, her old flame, along with most of the cops in town, married or not. So Mike is off the case, along with Andrea’s husband, and a detective is brought in from Minneapolis to run the investigation. Hannah is asked to help, unofficially, but Mike and the other police insist on telling her what to do–and there are not enough hours in the day for her to accomplish it all, so she goes with her instincts. Will she uncover the killer? Will she find out if Mike was tempted to try out what Ronni had on offer?

The initial scene, in Bertanelli’s Pizza, rivals Janet Evanovich or Jennifer Crusie for shear hilarious mayhem; and this time Hannah’s mother, plus Norman and her two sisters, are actively given roles in the investigation. This is an investigation dream team, or maybe a nightmare team, but they are effective!

Armchair Interviews says: Joanne Fluke has another winner here.

Author’s Web site: http://www.MurderSheBaked.com