Cream Puff Murder

January 26, 2009
Foodie fans will eat up bestseller Fluke’s 11th cozy to feature Hannah Swenson (after 2008’s Carrot Cake Murder
). While exercising as part of a dieting program at Heavenly Bodies, Swenson, the owner of the Cookie Jar bakery and coffee shop in Lake Eden, Minn., meets Ronni Ward, a bitchy fitness instructor. Ronni has made many enemies, especially among Lake Eden’s jealous wives and girlfriends of men way too attracted to the tart. When Hannah finds Ronni lifeless in the spa’s Jacuzzi, Hannah’s “slay-dar”—her radar for finding murder victims—proves once again on target; Ronni has received a fatal blow to the head. Hannah’s heart gets a workout after her sometime boyfriend, Det. Mike Kingston, becomes a suspect. Dieting and digging for clues test Hannah’s willpower in Fluke’s fluffy mix of sweets and suspense. Recipes range from Mini Cheeseburger Cookies to Minty Melts.