[.ca] Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (ISBN 0758215053)

Great Series:
This is a cute book and such a wonderful series. "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder" starts the Hannah Swensen mystery series and the characters only get better with each book. The recipes are really good too!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder:
Hannah Swensen, renowned baker and owner of the popular bakery The Cookie Jar in small town Lake Eden, Minnesota, never quite expected that she about to become the thirty-something, sassy, amateur sleuth of Joanne Fluke's new cozy culinary mystery series. The title of the novel says it all: When Hannah is inside The Cookie Jar early one morning, and exits the bakery to take the trash out to the dumpster in the parking lot behind The Cookie Jar, she discovers Ron LaSalle, the beloved deliveryman of Cozy Cow Dairy Farm, shot in the head, in cold blood, in his delivery truck, with Hannah's famous Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies scattered around Ron's body. So, in an effort to help her brother-in-law, Detective Bill Todd, her younger sister Andrea's husband, Hannah sets out to do some little investigations of her own, and figure out who ultimately killed poor Ron LaSalle. Wacky, delightful characters are sprinkled all across the novel---Andrea Todd, Hannah's glamorous and dazzling sister; Bill Todd, Hannah's kind police officer brother-in-law; Tracey Todd, Hannah's adorable, cute little niece; Delores Swensen, Hannah's controlling mother, who often chides Hannah about her very-much-single-ness; Lisa Herman, Hannah's young, hardworking assistant and waitress at The Cookie Jar; Norman Rhodes, Lake Eden's local town dentist, and Hannah's "sometimes" boyfriend; Mike Kingston, the sexy, flirtatious detective, Hannah's other "sometimes" boyfriend; and, of course, Hannah's lovable orange-and-white tomcat Moishe. In this promising start to a new series, Joanne Fluke creates a thirty-something, sassy, flame-haired bakery owner, Hannah Swensen, who soon becomes an amateur sleuth in a small town in chilly Minnesota, in this new adorable cozy mystery series. Highly recommended!

Read It, ReadIt, Read It!!!!:
This book was the first in the series that I read by Joanne Fluke and ever since I have been coming back for more. I have never been dissapointed with any of her books. I have even used some of the scrumptious recipes in the books. I am anxiously awaiting the release of her next book "The Fudge Cupcake Murder". It's a book you will absolutely love.

A Nice Fluffy Read - the Series Grows on You:
First, let me begin by saying that this series is for people who enjoy a nice relaxing read, and who don't particularly wish to read something too taxing or to overanalyze what they read. I was shocked at the reviews I read of "Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery" where people were dissecting the book like it was a university lit course. Come on people, it's an enjoyable, fluffy read. I read it on the bus on the way home from work when I want to unwind but not necessarily focus overly so on what I am reading. The recipes are a nice touch, although I have yet to try any of them, the characters grow on you and that cat in the book is darling.

A Delicious Murder...:
This was my first time reading a a Joanne Fluke mystery. I had never heard of her before until one day at the bookstore, I picked up one of her other books. I decided to look it up on Amazon and found out that the one I picked up, was part of the Hannah Swensen series. They seemed pretty interesting. "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder" focuses on Hannah Swensen, the owner of the The Cookie Jar, a quaint cookie shop in the small town of Lake Eden in Minnesota. Hannah finds Ron LaSalle, Lake Eden's football hero dead in his delivery truck with one of her famous Chocolate Chip Crunches still in his hand. From then on, Hannah sets out to find Ron's killer. She questions everyone in town, but has no leads, because everyone she questions has a motive. We learn about the small town, and and fall in love with the coziness and friendliness of it. Everybody knows everyone, and this can be a good and a bad thing. In Hannah's case, it works to her advantage, because where there is a small town, there are a bunch of nosy and informed people who feed her with loads of clues. There are a lot of characters so you have to keep up. All in all, I thought it was a good mystery, because the person who I thought committed the crime didn't. I was left surprised in the end. The book was also full of yummy cookie recipes, that left my mouth watering everytime I picked up the book. I don't suggest that you read this mystery on an empty stomach. I definatly will be reading the second installment of the Ms. Fluke's Hannah Swensen mysteries.