Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries)

by Joanne Fluke

[inlibrisveritas]

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is the very definition of cozy mystery. It isn’t a book that requires a lot of thought and goes perfectly with a cold night, warm blankets, and lots of cookies.

I picked this up as soon as a customer of mine traded it in, because I happened to be craving cookies and for some sadistic reason I enjoy reading about food when I’m hungry. I will say that it was not as addicting as I had hoped it would be, and it took me much longer than anticipated to get through this. In truth I had a lot of issues with the main character, who seemed sort of…idiotic. Hannah owns a cookie shop, where she serves and cookies and coffee all day long…but when a man is murdered behind her store with a bag of her cookies on him she immediately jumps to the conclusion that it’ll be bad for business. Firstly, who immediately worries about that sort of thing? Second, under no circumstances was it bad for her business, not even in the slightest but she keeps sleuthing. Third, she rushes head first into danger more than a few times and is never once questioned or told to stop by police.

However it is a nice little mystery that did keep me guessing for a while, and has a surprising amount of tension all through out it. On a plus there are also cookie recipes included for a good portion of the cookies mentioned in the book, so if you’re a foodie with a sweet tooth who loves a good mystery it might be the series for you.

I’m not entirely sure I’ll seek to continue this series, but it was a nice little respite from the more involved novels I read.