Joanne Fluke – Blackberry Pie Murder

Book 17 in the Hannah Swensen series, published January 25, 2014.
Genre: cozy mystery with lots of recipes
Cover: fits the series



Life is never really quiet for Hannah Swensen. 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 to be whether to use buttercream or fondant for the wedding cake, she accidentally hits a stranger with her cookie truck while driving on 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. Now, 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...


Hannah Swensen and her family are really good at finding murder victims, and then finding out who the murderer is. Hannah has just been teased about it in the local paper. Her mother is not amused, and warns her not to find another body. And Hannah promises. But something worse happens this time, Hannah kills somebody herself. She never saw him standing on the side of the road when she suddenly had to swerve to avoid a big branch in the middle of the road, during a heavy thunderstorm.
And when the acting DA sees his chance to make an example out of Hannah and this case, her own brother-in-law has to arrest her, and she has to spend the weekend in jail. But not alone, as her family and friends visit her as much as possible, bringing her everything to make her more comfortable.
The strange thing though is, no one knows who her victim is, and he did not carry his ID with him. But he was too well dressed to be a vagabond. So what was he doing in that remote part of Lake Eden? Hannah is determined to find out who he is, and what he was doing. She is feeling really guilty about murdering him. So when her bail is set by Norman, Hannah and her family set out to find out as much as they can.

And during this all, the sisters are busy planning their mother’s wedding. And as their mother changes her mind a few times a day about what she wants for her wedding, like: her colors, the food, the bridesmaid dresses, the flowers, they are slowly going insane. Soon there will not be enough time to plan anything!
Bill is firmly in the doghouse with Andrea, how dare he arrest her sister! Mike is on suspension without pay, as he refused to arrest Hannah. Hannah’s cat Moishe loves her new fitness machine, and soon he finds out how to operate it on his own. Did he really understand she was about to put him on a diet?


I still love this series, and I am even getting used to the love triangle, of Hannah being unable to choose between Norman, the steadfast dentist, and Mike, the police detective with the roving eye. In this book she explains that she cannot in good conscience marry Norman, whom she truly loves, when she still feels so much for Mike. So I think we are on the right track. After all, Moishe and Norman’s cat Cuddles also love each other. And I love their parts in this series as well.
Of course Hannah keeps inventing delicious new cookies for her cookie shop, and if I was a baker, I would certainly try out some of those recipes. There are some after each chapter.

The mystery part, to be honest, I figured that one out pretty quickly. Still, the little details were good, and I liked the ending. Looking forward to the next book, in which their mother hopefully will get married, and Hannah’s trial will take place ...

I really enjoy this series, reading a new book feels like meeting old friends, as I know and like all the main and secondary characters in this series. I like how relationships evolve through the books.

And some good news: I read on Facebook that this series, or at least the first book, will be made into a movie (or t.v. series, I forgot).

8 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian