"Engaging pastry"

To drum up tourism during the off season, Lake Eden, Minnesota hosts its first annual Winter Carnival. The Cookie Jar bakery owners Hannah Swensen and Lisa Herman are providing many pastries though not the official Winter Carnival cake. That honor has been bestowed on TV show celebrity, Connie "Mac" MacIntyre, host of "Cooking with Connie".

Connie Mac expects everything her way and even overruns the most obstinate of local individuals Hannah's mom to gain what she wants. When the truck carrying the official cake rolls into a ditch ruining it, the abusive SOB orders Hannah to lend her the bakery's oven. Though tempted to tell Connie Mac where to stick her dough, Hannah acquiesces for the good of the Carnival and a friend who works for the nasty bully. The next morning Hannah finds her shop a total mess and angrily begins to clean up until she finds the murdered body of Connie Mac. Though warned by her potential boyfriend, a cop, to stay out of the investigation, everyone else provides Hannah support in trying to solve the crime.

The BLUEBERRY MUFFIN MURDER is an engaging pastry that fans with a sweet tooth for a culinary cozy will want to read. The story line is humorous and the who-done-it is fun though why the cops were not upset over the crime scene being ruined by Hannah is a mystery too. Readers will relish the support cast's confidence that Hannah, not the police, will solve the case by encouraging her to set up her command post. Joanne Fluke provides sub-genre fans with a delightfully delicious delicacy.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted February 7, 2002