Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries)
It was inevitable that Hannah Swensen’s sweet lifestyle was going to catch up with her. That time has come in this eleventh entertaining cozy featuring the cookie baker: she must go on a diet. Hannah starts working out at a health club and vows to stop tasting the scrumptious treats she prepares every day for the Cookie Jar bakery in Lake Eden, Minnesota. Stress mounts when Hannah discovers the body of a fitness instructor floating in her club’s Jacuzzi. The acerbic trainer was universally loathed by women and liked by most men (including the staff of the local police department) for her flirtatious ways. In a reversal of the usual procedure, this time one of Hannah’s boyfriends, Detective Mike Kingston, recruits her help in solving the mystery, as he and his fellow cops are potential suspects. Hannah and her other boyfriend, dentist Norman, go to work to solve the mystery with dubious and conflicting suggestions from all of the real detectives. As usual, Fluke intersperses delectable recipes and reveals plenty of new personal details about her eccentric and likable cast of characters. --Judy Coon