Cream Puff Murder is #11 in Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen series. Hannah, owner of the Cookie Jar in Lake Eden, MN seems to spend more time finding bodies and solving crimes than she does actually working. It's a good thing she has her partner Lisa who is a workaholic. This newest book finds Hannah needing to lose some weight to fit into a dress for her mother's book launch party. She and her sister start going to the fitness center to work out. When Hannah sees what she first thinks is an exercise suit in the jacuzzi, she decides to take a closer look. Of course it is a dead body! Since the victim, Ronnie, is one mean and overly flirtatious aerobics teacher, there are many suspects. It seems half the men in town had or wanted to have a close relationship with her. A lot of the women in town hated her for the same reasons. Some of these men including Mike, one of Hannah's two boyfriends, are in law enforcement. The chief, Hannah's brother in law Bill, takes them off the case as they could be suspects. It must be a small department because Hannah is asked to look into the murders. Hannah's mother, sister and her other boyfriend, Norman, help her in the investigation. As in any cozy, the case is solved due to the efforts of the amateur sleuth. Cozies are not hard boiled police procedurals nor are they thrillers, but more entertainment and Fluke has succeeded in that goal, once again coming up with a fun mystery with equally fun characters. As usual, the reader must suspend disbelief that the police would even allow a citizen to get close to an investigation, never mind solve the case. Hannah has been stringing Mike and Norman along for quite a few books now. In this one, I think Fluke is getting closer to resolving that issue. It's about time. There are more recipes in this story too and a lot of them sounded very good. It's not a "hard to put down" mystery but it is a good enjoyable read.I never guessed who the murderer was. If you like cozies or books with some culinary info, this would be a good choice. I don't think it is necessary to have read the preceding books in the series. For it's genre, I give it a 3*** rating. To see other books in the series, visit Joanne's website :http://www.murdershebaked.com/books.htm
Some books while not great are still just fun to read.
ReplyDeleteI have not read any of this series but it sounds interesting.
I love a good cozy mystery from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI do adore the way you say "not hard to put down" as that is so nice because the alternative plays havoc with my life! Good review and a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to you as well, my Florida friend...and I KNEW you'd be excited when Hachette posted the Popper's Penguins giveaway :D
ReplyDeleteHm, was it a book by her I meant to read but never got into...should look that up
ReplyDeleteI just brought this home from the library this morning and I'm going to start it tonight. I just love the series. I didn't read your review yet but I sure hope I'm as happy with it as I have been with the rest.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaye :)
ReplyDeleteI came by to wish you a very Happy Mother's Day!
Enjoy!
xox
Kelly aka TheChicGeek
Oops! Forgot to see if the library ever got this in. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteI received "Fudge Cupcake Murder" on Saturday. My mother-in-law wanted to introduce me to the author. I'm allergic to chocolate but there are oodles of other recipes in her book!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI've listened to the previous books in the series as downloads from NetLibrary. I've enjoyed them, but they were starting to feel repetitive, and I was really getting tired the Mike/Norman thing dragging on.
My library doesn't have this book in its NetLibrary collection. I probably won't track the series down elsewhere unless I here the situation with the guys has been resolved!