I loved this book. I read the fourth or fifth one in the series and had to buy all the others! Now I know why Hannah has two "boyfriends". The cookie recipes are mouthwatering too.

This mystery is only the first in Joanne Fluke's highly enjoyable series about Hannah Swenson, cookie baker and strong single woman. Fluke's small Minnesota town is populated by three-dimensional, believable, funny people, including Hannah's interfering family and two highly appealing suitors.
Check your nitpicking at the door, please. Sure, ordinary people don't usually trip over corpses on a regular basis and help the police solve the crimes, but this is Cozy Mystery Territory, where it happens all the time, and aren't we readers glad!
And Hannah makes it look like such fun.
Fluke really understands the dynamics of these characters and keeps her fans' mouths watering for more bakery mysteries. Check out the whole series.

Hannah Swensen, owner of "The Cookie Jar" just happens to stumble upon a local dairyman dead in his van covered in cookie crumbs outside where she works. Hannah and her sister Andrea investigate the murder and become closer as sisters as they do a little bit of leads going from on loose end on to the next.

I found this book very cute and creative and I can't wait to read the rest of the entire series (so far very good) This book also contains about 6 or 7 recipes of Hannah Swensen's which really adds a lot to the book and ties the story together. Nice touch. I'm new to mystery reading but I'd have to say these are very enjoyable stories.

I enjoy the mystery genre and decided to try this cozy set in a small lake town.

Hannah Swenson is the proud owner of the Cookie Jar where she experiments with ingredients and creates original cookies. She came back to Lake Eden when her father died and to help her mother. She decided to stay and has worked hard to create a thriving business.

Hannah gets involved in helping her brother-in-law, Bill, a local policeman hoping to be promoted to detective; solve a murder when she discovers the body. This premise seems a bit far fetched but the thought of Bill is that Hannah will be a better gatherer of gossip and getting people to talk when they are enjoying coffee and cookies in the Cookie Jar.

The characters are not quite developed fully but you get an idea of their personalities. I am hopeful that the author going forward will further flesh them out and more fully develop the relationship between Hannah, her sister and her mother.

Overall it was an enjoyable read and I am looking forward to reading the next in the series.

I purchased the book because it's by another Minnesota native, and I also liked the concept of cookie recipes in a murder mystery. Certainly the venue of a favorite bakery makes a splendid center for the gathering of information and gossip. This rather clever choice of a central source of community information reminds me of the Lois Meade series : Murder On Monday (Lois Meade Mystery) and Weeping on Wednesday (Lois Meade Mystery), etc. by Ann Purser.

The book is a delightful depiction of Minnesota as it's often viewed by others. The nurses I worked with in New York City knew exactly one thing about Minnesota, it's COLD!! The author perpetuates our snowy image and the Minnesota Nice character of its people in her little town of Lake Eden. It's a delightful place to spend time.

The central characters are charming and enjoyable. For one thing while they don't all get along completely, they aren't so horribly dysfunctional that it's a total soap opera. Each has his or her own strengths and weaknesses and each supplies something to the others and to the story that moves things along. Furthermore, they all manage to grow as individuals as the story progresses, something that's refreshing to see.

The mystery itself was well constructed. I was totally led astray by every red herring and only suspected the true murderer when the main character did. That's pretty rare for me.

An added plus is the introduction of recipes throughout the book. I have yet to try them, but I definitely intend to; they'd make lovely Christmas gifts for those who already have everything anyway and who are often too busy to do their own baking. I look forward to it.