“If your reading habits alternate between curling up with a good mystery or with a good cookbook, you ought to know about Joanne Fluke.”—Charlotte Observer This summer has been warmer than usual in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen is trying to beat the heat both in and out of her bakery kitchen. But she’s about to find out the hard way that nothing cools off a hot day like a cold-blooded murder. At the grand opening of a local hotel, a police department employee nearly dies falling from a penthouse—and then another woman, with whom Hannah has a less-than-friendly relationship, winds up dead. Hannah is the prime suspect—and to clear her own name, she’s got to find out who iced the victim… Features cookie and dessert recipes from The Cookie Jar, including Red Velvet Surprise Cupcakes and Chocolate Covered Peanut Cookies! “Culinary cozies don't get any tastier than this winning series.”—Library Journal “Loaded with mouthwatering recipes and clever plotting, the latest Hannah Swensen mystery delights.”—RT Book Reviews

From the New York Times bestselling author... It may be summertime, but sales at Fairy Tale Cupcakes are below zero--and owners Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are willing to try anything to heat things up. So when local legend Slim Hazard offers them the chance to sell cupcakes at the annual Juniper Pass rodeo, they're determined to rope in a pretty payday! But not everyone at the Juniper Pass is as sweet for Fairy Tale Cupcakes as Slim--including star bull-rider Ty Stokes. Mel and Angie try to steer clear of the cowboy's short fuse, but when his dead body is found face down in the hay, it's a whole different rodeo. With a vengeful murderer on the loose, the ladies are quickly realizing that while they came to save their business, they may have to save themselves--and that's no bull. INCLUDES SCRUMPTIOUS RECIPES

Summer in Lake Eden, Minnesota, has been oddly quiet, but rest assured, Hannah Swensen will bake her way to an unsolved murder . . . It's been a sleepy summer for the folks of Lake Eden, Minnesota. In fact, it's been a whole four months since anyone in the Swensen family has come across a dead body—a detail that just made the front page of the local paper. And that means Hannah Swensen can finally focus on her bakery . . . or can she? Life is never really quiet for Hannah. After all, her mother's wedding is a little over a month away and guess who Delores put in charge of the planning? Yet just when Hannah believes her biggest challenge will be whether to use buttercream or fondant for the wedding cake, she accidentally hits a stranger with her cookie truck while driving down a winding country road in a raging thunderstorm. Hannah is wracked with guilt, and things get even worse when she's arrested . . . for murder! But an autopsy soon reveals the mystery man, his shirt covered in stains from blackberry pie, would have died even if Hannah hadn't hit him. To clear her name, Hannah will have to follow a trail of pie crumbs to track down the identity of the deceased, find a baker who knows more about murder than how to roll out a perfect pie crust—and get herself to the church on time.

Bakery owner Hannah Swensen just can’t keep her hands out of the batter when murder stirs things up in Lake Eden, Minnesota, leaving the sheriff dead, a deputy accused, and a killer on the loose . . . For Hannah, life seems to be lacking a certain flavor lately. Maybe it’s the local sheriff’s election that’s got her down. For years, Sheriff Grant’s been the iron hand in town. But now, Hannah’s brother-in-law, Bill, is giving the old blowhard the fight of his long, dubious career—and Grant’s not taking it well, especially once the polls show Bill pulling ahead. But before anyone can taste victory, Hannah makes a very unappetizing discovery: Sheriff Grant’s body in the dumpster behind the high school where she’s teaching her cooking class. Worse, the poor man still has fudge frosting on his shirt from one of her cupcakes. The number one—and only—suspect is Bill, but Hannah’s not swallowing it. Plenty of people had reason to hate Sheriff Grant. Soon, Hannah’s dishing up scandalous secrets, steaming hot betrayals, and enough intrigue to keep the gossip mill at The Cookie Jar going through several pots of decaf. And the closer Hannah gets to the truth, the closer she gets to smoking out a murderer with a very nasty recipe for silencing people . . . INCLUDES TEN ORIGINAL DESSERT RECIPES FOR YOU TO TRY! “For fans of culinary mysteries.”—Library Journal “Scrumptious.”—Publishers Weekly

"A Hannah Swensen holiday mystery with recipes"--Jacket.

New York Times Bestseller: A baker in small-town Minnesota finds the heat is on after a musician is murdered… When bakery owner Hannah Swensen hears that the Cinnamon Roll Six jazz band will be playing at Lake Eden, Minnesota’s Weekend Jazz Festival, she's more than happy to bake up a generous supply of their namesake confections to welcome them to town. Before the festival even begins, tragedy strikes when the tour bus overturns. Among those injured is Buddy Neiman, the band’s beloved keyboard player. His injuries appear minor, until his condition suddenly takes a turn for the worse—as in dead. Hannah’s no doctor, but she suspects that the surgical scissors someone plunged into Buddy’s chest may have something to do with it. Fortunately, she’s on the case, because she knows from experience that nothing’s sweeter than bringing a killer to justice… Features cookie and dessert recipes from The Cookie Jar, including Peaches and Cream Cookies and Chocolate Caramel Bars! “Joanne Fluke is the doyenne of deadly desserts with her deliciously popular Hannah Swensen series.”—Publishers Weekly “Fans of this wildly popular series will not be disappointed. Fluke has kept this series strong for a long time, and there is still plenty to enjoy for foodie crime fans.”—Booklist

Now in paperback! In New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Joanne Fluke's 25th installment in the bestselling Hannah Swensen Mystery series, Hannah leaves Lake Eden to help a friend in sunny California--but an unexpected phone call brings her back to a cold Minnesota winter for a murder investigation, and of course, new criminally delicious recipes! When Hannah learns that her sister Michelle's boyfriend, Detective Lonnie Murphy, is the prime suspect in a murder case, she goes straight from a movie studio sound stage to the Los Angeles airport. Back in frigid Minnesota, she discovers that proving Lonnie's innocence will be harder than figuring out what went wrong with a recipe. Lonnie remembers only parts of the night he went out to a local bar and ended up driving a very impaired woman home. He knows he helped her to her bedroom, but he doesn't recall anything else until he woke up on her couch the following morning. When he went to the bedroom to check on her, he was shocked to discover she was dead. Hannah doesn't know what to believe--only that exonerating a suspect who can't remember is almost impossible, especially since Lonnie's brother, Detective Rick Murphy, and Lonnie's partner, Chief Detective Mike Kingston, have been taken off the case. Before everything comes crashing down on Lonnie like a heaping slice of coconut layer cake, it'll be up to Hannah to rack up enough clues to toast a flaky killer...