Book Review | Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

★★★★☆

3.5 stars, rounded up.

324 pages

Published: April 1, 2000
by Kensington

Read: December 2022

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.

Link to Goodreads

Main Characters

• Hannah Swensen – main character, dropped out of grad school to open up her cookie shop
• Delores Swensen – Hannah’s mom, always trying to get Hannah married off
• Andrea Todd – Hannah’s sister, real estate agent; struggling with her identity as a mother
• Lisa Herman – Hannah’s employee and assistant baker
• Ron LaSalle – Murder victim; he was the delivery man for the local dairy
• Tracey Todd – Andrea and Bill’s daughter, Hannah’s niece
• Bill Todd – Hannah’s brother in law, married to Andrea; he works in the police department
• Moishe – Hannah’s cat
• Norman Rhodes – dentist in town, Delores set him up on a date with Hannah
• Carrie Rhodes – Norman’s mom
• Claire Rodgers – Owns the dress shop that Hannah frequents
• Herb Beeseman – law enforcement; parking enforcer
• Max Turner – owns the local dairy; was lending money to locals
• Betty Jackson – Max’s assistant
• Judith Woodley – Rich woman in town; hosted the big party in the book – her son, Benton, is back n town
• Mike Kingston – New detective in town
• Luanne Hanks – Single mother, sells makeup

My Review

Complete with lots of cookie recipes, this was a fun intro to a culinary cozy mystery. I had to suspend believe for a few reasons with this book (but that’s all cozy mysteries..). Living in a small town and able to be a profitable business solely selling coffee and cookies seems a little hard to believe. You have to go into this book knowing it’s going to be Hallmark style and then it will be enjoyable. Will I read the next book in this series? You betcha.

High level summary – Hannah Swenson lives in small town Minnesota. She runs The Cookie Jar, a coffee shop/cookie shop. She finds the beloved milk man, Ron, murdered in her alley one morning. She needs to help her brother in law, who is trying to become a detective, figure out who the murderer is in order to help further his career.

“Minnesotans who bought scenic art usually avoided winter scenes. Hannah didn’t find that surprising. Minnesota winters were long. Why would they want to buy a painting that would constantly remind them of the bone-chilling cold, the heavy snow that had to be shoveled, and the necessity of dressing up in survival gear to do nothing more than take out the garbage?” 

Likes

• A cozy mystery involving cookies 🙂

Dislikes

• The side story that Norm’s dad was a sex offender that is covered up???

Spoilers