Joanne Fluke Cherry Cheesecake Murder

Cherry Cheesecake Murder

Joanne Fluke

Kensington, March 2006, $22.00, 352 pp.

ISBN 0758202946

The Cookie Jar is a thriving business in the small picturesque town of Lake Eden, Minnesota, owned and operated by Hannah Swensen. Most women would love to have two men propose to her, but Hannah feels claustrophobic as the whole town tries to help her to make a choice between Mike the deputy sheriff and Norman the dentist. She settles the problem by telling both men when she is ready to get married she would do the proposing.

A third man becomes interested in Hannah when a movie company comes to town to film location shots for a Hollywood movie. Ross Burke, the writer-producer she was friendly with in college makes his interest in Hannah known. She likes him as much as she dislikes the director Dean Laurence, a married egoistical womanizer who never gets mad, he just gets even with who ever crossed him. During rehearsal, the male star is ruining the shoot with his bad acting, so Dean shows him how it should be done, including using the prop gun in the suicide scene. The gun turns out to be real leaving Dean dead with a hole in his head. Everyone disliked the victim so Hannah decides to help Mike out by conducting her own investigation.

As usual Joanne Fluke creates a delightful and charming amateur sleuth mystery that includes mouth watering recipes, so the audience should read it on a full stomach. The protagonist is feisty and endearing and stays true to her convictions, which make her an excellent role model. The mystery is well thought out with a very interesting red herring written into the plot, so that readers deliberately think the wrong person is the killer. CHERRY CHEESECAKE MURDER is a very special treat.