Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

Joanne Fluke's series, A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes, is one of those enjoyable treats that I don't let myself sample too often. The series focuses on Hannah Swensen, a young woman who lives in Lake Eden, a small town in Minnesota, where she runs a bakery famous for its sweet treats, especially cookies. She has a hardworking helper in Lisa, a younger Sister Andrea who is a real estate powerhouse and supermom; Hannah also has a well meaning but rather overpowering mother, Delores. Hannah has two special men in her life: Norman is a typical midwestern nice guy who is a dentist, while Mike is a police officer. Most recently, I enjoyed reading Cream Puff Murder (2009).

Each one of the books in the series features a special treat: in this one, Hannah gets a recipe for cream puffs that her mother wants her to bake for an important party coming up. Delores has written a romance novel and is celebrating its publication with a big party. Unfortunately, Hannah's mother also expects her two daughters to wear special dresses that night and she has already ordered Hannah's dress in a size too small.

Hannah's sister Andrea has the solution to her problem and drags her to the local health club, where they work out faithfully. Hannah resists all treats, eats lots of salads and chicken, and tries to think positively--while her aching muscles remind her that they aren't used to exercise. As they continue going to work out, there is one negative aspect--a rude woman named Ronni who is described as a man-eating bombshell. She fills in for one of the instructors and spends the first few minutes insulting the various people in the class. Hannah finds out later that Ronni is flirting with most of the police officers, including Mike.

When Hannah bakes her first batch of cream puffs to test the recipe, Mike stops by and samples them; he likes them so much that he begs her to give him some to take to share with others, so she wraps them up. However, when Hannah and her sister go back to the health club, and Hannah goes to use the hot tub, she has an unpleasant surprise--first she sees her plate of cream puffs tipped over and ruined, and then she sees the body of someone in the hot tub. When she realizes that it is Ronni, she is no longer tempted by either cream puffs or the idea of soaking in the hot tub.

Since several of the officers were involved in some way with Ronni, they are off the case and cannot investigate. They all assume that Hannah will investigate and they send others with messages of how to best proceed to solve the case. Suddenly, the whole town is crowding into the Cookie Jar for treats and "the scoop" on what it was like to find Ronni's body.

This was another good read: Joanne Fluke is a good writer and blends midwestern humor, description of life in a small town in Minnesota, wonderful plots and dialogue into a satisfying treat.

While I got hungry for cream puffs while reading the book, I tried to ignore the recipes--you may well want to check them out for yourself. You can find this book several places in the Waterloo library: the large type books, the Playaway books, and in the mystery area.

c Waterloo Public Library 2009