CREAM PUFF MURDER: A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes
Joanne Fluke
Kensington Books
Mystery
ISBN: 9780758210227
Hannah Swensen's life is going well. She has a business she loves, close friends, a good family and her cat Moishe for companionship. She also has two men vying for her affection: sexy police detective Mike Kingston and reliable dentist Norman Rhodes.
There are always challenges in life, and Hannah's current one involves fitting into a Regency period dress for the launch party celebrating her mother's debut romance novel. The dress is too tight, and there's no getting around it. Actually, for Hannah, there's no getting into it!
Hannah has to face the facts: diet and exercise are the only things that are going to help her fit into that dress in two weeks' time, and even that isn't a sure bet. As much as she hates to do so, Hannah vows to limit her cookie intake and exercise more. Of course, the fact that she is part-owner of The Cookie Jar and her job involves making up new cookie recipes and then sampling them makes losing weight a losing proposition.
Luckily her sister, Andrea, is willing to help. She supervises Hannah's diet and drags her out to Heavenly Bodies, a nearby health club, for an early morning workout each day. The workouts and a fitness class are going smoothly until their regular instructor, Roger, is injured in an auto accident. Suddenly, what was halfway bearable becomes a fiasco when Ronni Ward, a part-time instructor at Heavenly Bodies and a full-time fitness instructor with the sheriff's department, takes over the class and immediately insults all of the students, creating more enemies than she had already acquired.
Ronni is one of those ladies who men love and women love to hate. She is a flirt, and men --- married or single --- are her target. Females, however, are beneath Ronni's notice. Mourners are few and far between when her body is discovered in the club Jacuzzi. It seems that she has made many enemies and few friends. Several Eden Lake wives are more relieved than grieved to see the demise of the fitness fury.
For Hannah, though, this murder hits a bit close to home when several of her friends on the police force are removed from the case due to a personal involvement with the victim. Everyone assumes that Hannah will step in and begin her own investigation to get to the bottom of this horrible crime, given the fact that she has solved several local murders previously. Hannah wholeheartedly agrees.
Between her diet, her new exercise program and running a business, Hannah is already over-extended. Will this investigation finally stretch her beyond her capacity? As it deepens, Hannah finds that instead of narrowing the search for the culprit, the list of suspects only lengthens. There seem to be no end of people whom Ronni has ticked off.
As if she doesn't have enough on her mind, Hannah continues to divide her time between suitors Norman and Mike and wonders which man will prove more suitable.
As the launch party draws nearer, Hannah continues to put in her hours at The Cookie Jar and follow up on any leads that come her way. Will she solve the murder and clear her friends, or will someone be wrongly accused of the promiscuous fitness guru’s killing? Will Hannah fit into her dress in time for the launch party? Will she be able to keep up with the increasing demand for her specialty cookies? The only way to find out is to keep reading.
CREAM PUFF MURDER falls into the cozy category of murder mysteries, and cozy it is. Lake Eden is a close-knit Minnesota community with a wonderful cast of characters reappearing from previous novels. It's fun to watch the progression of the relationships between the characters and their warmth and love for one another, as well as the progression of the murder investigation. The plethora of tasty and tempting cookie recipes included doesn't hurt either. Be warned, though. If you curl up to read this mystery without a plate of warm, homemade cookies and an ice cold glass of milk, you do so at your own risk.
--- Reviewed by Amie Taylor
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