Murder mysteries with cooking theme (cozy mysteries) . HANNAH SWENSEN MYSTERY series with recipes included. The Hallmark channel has a series of movies based on these books -- was previously called 'Murder She Bakes,' but name was changed to 'Hannah Swensen Mysteries.' Among the many titles are the BLUEBERRY MUFFIN Mystery, CHERRY CHEESECAKE Mystery, PEACH COBBLER Mystery, CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE Mystery, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE Mystery; KEY LIME PIE Mystery, SUGAR COOKIE Mystery, FUDGE CUPCAKE Mystery; WEDDING CAKE MURDER
Like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke grew up in a small town in rural Minnesota where her neighbors were friendly, the winters were fierce, and the biggest scandal was the spotting of unidentified male undergarments on a young widow's clothesline. She insists that there really are 10,000 lakes and the mosquito is NOT the state bird.
While pursuing her writing career, Joanne has worked as: a public school teacher, a psychologist, a musician, a private detective's assistant, a corporate, legal, and pharmaceutical secretary, a short order cook, a florist's assistant, a caterer and party planner, a computer consultant on a now-defunct operating system, a production assistant on a TV quiz show, half of a screenwriting team with her husband, and a mother, wife, and homemaker.
She now lives in Southern California with her husband, her kids, his kids, their three dogs, one elderly tabby, and several noisy rats in the attic.