Joanne Fluke, Key Lime Pie Murder

Key Lime Pie Murder

Joanne Fluke

Kensington, Mar 2007, $22.00

ISBN: 0758210183

In lake Eden, Minnesota, Hannah Swensen owns the successful Cookie Jar, but this week she is spending more time out of her store except for baking her specialties. Residents and visitors are attending the Tri-County Fair with the Great Northwestern Rodeo and Carnival as part of the festivities so Hannah is keeping her customer the Chamber of Commerce supplied with cookies, judging a baking contest, and serving as a magician's assistant. Hannah also worries about her cat Moise who has gone off his feed spending most of his time looking out the window.

One night while she works the fair, she learns that the carnival box office was robbed. Later that night she finds the murdered body of her fellow baking judge Willa Sundquist and notices the vague outline of the man she assumes is the killer. Unable to resist especially since she liked the victim, Hannah investigates, which turns into a family affair when her sisters and her business partner join her.

Do not read this novel on an empty stomach as the sixteen dessert recipes will cause a sweet craving. Joanne Fluke has baked a delicious amateur sleuth with an eccentric support cast that keeps the tale light and fluffy but tasty and fun. There are plenty of suspects, and Hannah finds it rough going but she and her cohorts persevere because she wants to insure that the killer gets his or her just desserts.

Harriet Klausner