Read time: 5 minutes
🎧 Listened in audio | 📢 Narrated by Suzanne Toren
⏱ Duration: 9 hours | Genre: Cozy Mystery
🏷️ Publisher: Recorded Books and Kensington Publishing Company
Book Blurb:
Her gingersnaps are as tart as her comebacks…Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is the first mouth-watering novel in the Hannah Swensen crime series from acclaimed author Joanne Fluke. Packed full of delicious recipes and perfect for fans of M. C. Beaton and Leslie Meier. Hannah Swensen already has her hands full running Minnesota’s most popular bakery. But when Ron LaSalle, the delivery man from the nearby Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered behind the bakery with Hannah’s famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, life couldn’t get more complicated.
Who would have the audacity – and motive – to kill the most punctual delivery man Hannah has ever had the pleasure of working with? This is one murder that’s starting to leave a very bad taste in Hannah’s mouth. And if she doesn’t watch her back, her life could be burned to a crisp…
Let’s talk … murder!
Finally I am on this bandwagon. I have seen Joanne Fluke’s books everywhere, in libraries, book stores, Libby audiobook. I never got an opportunity to start this series, and now, finally, I decided to correct that error. With a lot of excitement, I started listening to the audiobook.
The story itself did fascinate me. It is a pretty straightforward cozy mystery, with Hannah Swensen as our amateur sleuth. I enjoyed the small town vibe, the family setup, the annoying and interfering mother, and the cookies. These all were fun and kept me going in the series. I think I will continue in the series too. The characters are interesting, the story has potential, and I want to see where the story arc is going.
However, the things that annoyed me are (unfortunately) as follows.
There is an overuse of names. “Oh, Hannah.” “Hannah, yes.” “Hannah.” “Hannah.” Why are the names of the characters taken so many times? If you tend to get distracted while listening to the story and come back, there’s no possible chance you will miss who is speaking and to whom. Then, the way Hannah’s brother in law just asks Hannah to investigate a murder case, just out of the blue. Someone who had no background in investigation is handling a murder investigation, instead of a constable on track of being promoted to detective. And the reason Hannah is helping is so the promotion will happen. I mean, there’s a stretch to the imagination, and then there’s Hannah Swensen’s storyline.
And the last thing I want to mention is the new detective just coming over in the story and just telling Hannah he likes her. And this is after him moving cities because he lost his wife. He moved places to move on from losing his wife, and immediately after seeing Hannah, he forgets all about it and asks her out. Yeah, I will believe it.
In spite of all this, I will still continue with the series. The concept is nice, and so are the cookie recipes. Suzanne Toren did a great job narrating, in spite of the misses in the story. I will give a benefit of doubt though. This is the first in the series of a 20+ and ongoing series.
Would I recommend it?
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is a solid start to a series I can already see myself sticking with. Hannah, her cookies, her mother, the whole small town feel, it works. But the plot leans on a few conveniences that stretched my patience, and the dialogue repeats names more than any conversation needs to. Worth reading if you love cozy mysteries and don’t mind a shaky setup. I am in for book two.
⭐⭐⭐
5 Book Recommendations
- Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay — If the bakery setting was your favorite part of Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, this one gives you cupcakes instead of cookies and an amateur sleuth running her own shop while stumbling into a murder.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson — A classic culinary cozy with a caterer sleuth and actual recipes woven into the story, this one is basically the genre’s blueprint that Fluke’s series follows.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy - Pies and Prejudice by Ellery Adams — Small town, a pie shop, and a heroine with plenty of family baggage. If Hannah’s mother got under your skin, wait until you meet this cast.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy - The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis — Another small town food-centric mystery, this one leans harder into the neighborhood gossip and family drama that made Lake Eden fun to visit.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy - A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones — Less baking, more humor, but the same small town chaos and an amateur stepping into a job she never asked for. Good if the investigation-out-of-nowhere trope didn’t bother you as much as it bothered me.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Cookies or Clues, What Would You Investigate First?
Would you drop everything to solve a murder if your brother in law asked you to, no experience required? Let me know in the comments.
Book Links
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Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
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