Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joann Fluke was a good one. This is the first book in a new murder mystery series that I've been told is amazing (by my mother and my library co-workers). Last summer I started getting into mysteries once I started reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, and the Sammy Keyes series by Wendelin VanDraanen (both series are equally entertaining). Though it's going to take me a little bit more time to get into this series, just because they're new and I need to get to know the characters better. However, for the first book in the series, it was pretty delectable- pun intended.

So to get things going: Hannah Swensen is the oldest of three daughters and owns a cookie/coffee shop in a small town in Minnesota. And since this is a "chick lit" mystery, her mother drives her up the wall (what mom doesn't?), she lives with a cat, and is avoiding getting into a relationship (especially with men her mom sets her up with). Hannah leads a pretty ordinary life, and loves what she does, up until her milkman gets murdered right outside her store. Though this is good for business (everyone flocks to her store for gossip and comfort cookies), she's a little hesitant to turn her lights off at night at her apartment knowing she was the last person to see him alive. Hannah's younger (and slimmer and prettier and married) younger sister is married to one of the policemen in town, and since he's trying to make detective, he asks for Hannah's help to catch the killer (since she is their main witness, and she has a keen eye for observation). What proceeds next is a fun romp through Hannah's small town as she questions what seems like every resident, tries to avoid (unsuccessfully) her mother's phone calls, and deals with a nice-guy dentist that her mother set her up with.

I enjoyed reading Hannah's adventure- it was a fun mystery that wasn't predictable. It was fun to see her run around with her sister, hoping that neither one of them got caught in their nightly escapades. Plus it didn't hurt that there were several recipes for cookies (I made the chocolate chip crunchies- they were really good!). I'm definitely going to continue with the series, and I expect it to be as much fun, if not more so, than the first!