My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher: Kensington
Summary: No one cooks up a delectable, suspense-filled mystery quite like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke’s dessert-baking, red-haired heroine whose gingersnaps are as tart as her comebacks, and whose penchant for solving crimes—one delicious clue at a time—has made her a bestselling favorite. And it all began on these pages, with a bakery, a murder, and some suddenly scandalous chocolate-chip crunchies. Featuring a bonus short story and brand new, mouthwatering recipes, this very first Hannah Swensen mystery is sure to have readers coming back for seconds…
I picked up Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder because I saw the Hallmark Mystery Channel movie and liked it. Oddly enough, I bought another book in this series (Red Velvet Cupcake Murder) last summer because I wanted the recipes and basically, I a sucker for cozy mysteries. Anyway, this was pretty good but I definitely appreciate the changes made for the movie. I admit that I found Hannah a bit harsh and overly judgmental & critical of others and that she knew she could be that way and was sometimes trying to curb it still didn't endear her to me when she did it. But what's a main character without some grating flaws? I didn't expect Norman to be so much in the story and was glad to get to know his character more. As we don't meet Mike until chapter 22, I was really surprised he was so prominently featured in the movie version. I did laugh out loud at some parts and there were things that I wished they'd put in the movie, like the fact that Hannah & Andrea have a younger sister. I hope she shows up in future books. The mystery was well done and I have to admit to not being surprised since I'd seen the movie but I liked the structure of the mystery well enough that I'm going to continue with the series. Good for a weekend or vacation read.
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