A mystery novel with recipes - what a brilliant concept! Fans of Joanne Fluke’s bestselling mystery series featuring Hannah Swenson, a Minnesota baker and sleuth, will eat up Cherry Cheesecake Murder, her latest culinary whodunit.

Fluke, also the author of Peach Cobbler Murder, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder and Sugar Cookie Murder, cleverly combines a fun storyline with her own actual recipes, this time fourteen delectable delights that include Cream Cheese Puffs, Ooey Gooey Chewy Cookie Bars, Fruit Pocket French Toast and even two cherry cheesecake recipes. Oh yeah, and then there’s the story.

Hannah Swensen of Lake Eden, Minnesota, is excited when a movie crew begins filming in her quaint little town. But the demanding director, Dean Lawrence, ends up dead after accidentally shooting himself with a loaded prop gun. Now Swensen is on the case, baking cookies for The Cookie Jar bakery while she searches for clues to who replaced the prop gun with a real gun. As she sleuths, she is pondering marriage proposals from two very different men in her life - a nerdy dentist and a hunky deputy sheriff - while a third guy makes his interest in her known. Boy, we should all have those problems!

This delightfully charming amateur detective story combines a solid mystery with quirky characters and a small-town setting that adds to the texture of the mix (no recipe puns intended). Swensen is a character we fall in love with and look forward to seeing in Fluke’s other installments of the series, and the whole baking backdrop only makes it even more delicious.

Just think: you can follow the clues and sift through the red herrings in this utterly scrumptious mystery novel that is chock full of calorie-free fun. But be warned, if you do go ahead and make the recipes, and I know you will, neither Fluke nor I will take responsibility for any added poundage.