2022 Book Review #27: Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

 

I have 3 younger sisters and all of them, like me, are avid book readers.  We all give each other recommendations and my sister Hope recently recommended the Hannah Swenson Mystery Series to me.  The author is new to me.  This book is the first in the series.  Each book contains cookie recipes! The book was similar to reading a Mitford series book except these are not rated as Christian fiction.  They're clean but there's no spiritual component to the plots. 

STORY SUMMARY

Hannah Swenson is 29 years old and the owner and primary baker for The Cookie Jar, a cafe that features good coffee and great cookies in the little village of Lake Eden, MN. 

She has her hands full trying to avoid her mother's attempts at marrying her off to any eligible bachelor in town, being the sister of Michelle (in college) and Andrea who is married to Bill, a police officer in  town, and their little girl Tracey, a preschooler. Hannah is really in no hurry to be married!

One morning, the beloved dairy delivery  man (Ron LaSalle) from Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered in his truck!  It's located behind Hannah's bakery and there are her Chocolate Chip Crunchie cookie crumbs all around him!  She decides to help find Ron's killer.

Some of the suspects include the high school football coach and he has a motive!  His wife, Danielle, was making the rounds with the milkman, Ron!  Why??  

Another suspect is the owner of the Cozy Cow Dairy, Max Turner.  He has a secret that he didn't want to share with his top employee. 

Hannah begins to really snoop and the more she snoops, the more suspects turn up!  Why has Lake Eden's most prominent, wealthy and prodigal son (Benton Woodley) all of a sudden back in town?  And what's going on with the mysterious Mr Harris  who was interested in buying the property behind the dairy...and then disappeared??

Just who did kill Ron and why were Hannah's cookies scattered all around him??

MY THOUGHTS
This is a funny book with some family drama, mystery, and good old fashioned small town charm. 

Hannah is a likeable character and all of the characters are actually very well developed.

I liked that this book is solid, clean, and simple to read.  It's not a thriller and it's not "deep".  It's a nice light read with an easy plot.  And it wasn't predictable in the slightest!

I loved the ending and  finding out who the killer was, but the way it was done was a bit too unbelievable and a tad bit quick.  Like, all of a sudden, Hannah discovers the killer. 

Overall, this is a fun book to read while on vacation.  I will most likely get book 2 in the series out at some point. But honestly, reading these back to back would drive me crazy.

I do like the fact that several cookie recipes were included....all of the titles of the recipes are mentioned by Hannah in the plot. 

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this an 8.