Cinnamon Roll Murder, by Joanne Fluke is listed as a “Culinary Mystery”. However, I didn’t realize that it would be more of a cookbook than a mystery… (22 recipes in total). This didn’t make me dislike it, it just surprised me is all.
Hannah Swenson busies herself by running The Cookie Jar bakery, and putting her nose in everybody’s business. The Cinnamon Roll Six band is coming into town, and Hannah makes them cinnamon rolls to welcome them.
It is a snowy night when the band comes to town and their tour bus flips into a ditch. The ever present Hannah and her sister trek into the snowy woods to rescue the band. When they reach the bus, the band is ok, minus minor injuries, but the tour bus driver is dead.
Paramedics arrive and bring the band to the hospital to treat their minor injuries. Everything is well until the keyboard player, Buddy Neiman is found dead with surgical scissors plunged deep into his chest… At this point it becomes Hannah’s life mission to solve Buddy Neiman’s murder.
Hannah sets out to discover the killer by all means possible, (unlawful entry into other person’s homes, illegal DNA attainment, and interrogations at the most inopportune times).
Oh Hannah, what are we going to do with you?
The recipes included in the story were an interesting touch, but a bit distracting to the plot. Literally every other page one of them had a cookie in their mouth! I do plan on trying one of the recipes, in particular a recipe for oatmeal cookies with milk duds instead of raisins. I enjoyed Hannah’s notes on each recipe. I thought those were cute; for instance one was to crack the eggs before putting them in the mixing bowl… help! That made me chuckle.
I hate to say this but I predicted accurately who Buddy’s killer was. Could be because I read a lot of mysteries and watch a lot of crime TV. So the ending wasn’t of major surprise. Overall, I did enjoy this story, and I look forward to making Hannah’s oatmeal cookie recipe!
The Author herself demonstrating one of the recipes:
http://www.kare11.com/rss/article/968460/59/Joanne-Flukes-Cinnamon-Roll-Murder
A Well Read Woman 