Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

By: Joanne Fluke

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

In her first foray into the sleuthing game, resourceful, red-headed Hannah Swensen must find the right ingredients to solve two perplexing murders. One chilly morning on her way to The Cookie Jar, Hannah discovers Ron, the dairy delivery man, shot dead in his truck. When she begins to investigate, she suspects the dairy owner. But when he, too, is murdered, Hannah must look further afield for the culprit.

©2006 Joanne Fluke (P)2007 Recorded Books

Fun read

What did you love best about Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder?

Fun enjoyable light read with pleasant characters. Not deep or even 100% believable but that makes it fun sometimes

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hannah. She's hard working and fair and gemnerous.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

We listened during a long drive and had no problem continuing in one drive

so disappointed ...

Would you try another book from Joanne Fluke and/or Suzanne Toren?

no ... I have loved similar mysteries with women involved in solving the crime but this one seemed so simplistic, predictable, and unbelievable. The hardest part was the reader. I will always wonder if I had read the book rather than listening - who knows, I might have liked the book more.

What didn’t you like about Suzanne Toren’s performance?

amatur-ish ... she would have been better off not changing her voice for each character. I managed to finish the book only because I distracted myself with my quilting projects while listening to her horrible characterizations. I didn't need too much concentration to keep track of the plot lines in this one.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

boredom ... what a yawn ... I kept wanting it to grow on me ... didn't happen -

Any additional comments?

very sad ... I really wanted to like this series

Cozy and Cookies

Yum! I will be listening to the series. Narrator did a nice job of differentiating characters and came close to doing a Minnesota accent.

First and last book of the series for me

What disappointed you about Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder?

It feels like the author was trying to mix all the necessary ingredients of a good cozy mystery (a small town, a small shop, a cat, even cookie recipes), but the dish just did not work out. I could not make myself to care for the characters; the location was neither interesting nor atmospheric, the mystery itself, especially the outcome, was just not good enough, or subtle enough. I do not think I will be listening to any more books in the series. That's how the cookie crumbles, I guess.

Great Food Mystery

I love these kind of books. Not only do you get a great mystery you also get some great recipes. The narrator is great with the voices for each character.

Clips are perfect for this book

Audible is the perfect venue for this listening
This book is whets the appetite for a good detective story and fun cookie recipes

Lightweight writing, lightweight reader

The title made me expect that this book would be a cozy mystery and it is. But I didn't care for the narrator's style. Her reading was too cute, almost childish, and distracted me from the story (but with perfect diction).

Spoilers- Buy this book at your risk

I love cozy mysteries that feature cooks. However, I could not love this book. My life is far from perfect, and I don't know anyone who has a perfect life. There for I could not read about such a person. Her biggest problem is that her mother is a nag. It made no since for her to be involved in solving the problem in the story. Her brother-in-law, a police asked her to nose around an help him get a promotion. He might not need a promotion if Hannah is going to solve the crime. Everyone is thrilled to talk to Hannah and spill all of their secrets. She goes to a casino, and even though she doesn't gamble or even like to gamble, she wins a jackpot. I wish my life could be that easy. I confess I did not finish the book. I could not. I like my mysteries to have realistic characters with realistic lives. This was not one of those books. I will however buy the recipe book that Joanne Fluke is going to put out with recipes from this series.

A new series for me to enjoy

I really liked this book. The mystery was intriguing, and I adore Hannah Swensen as a character. This book started off fast and it never let up. Understand this is a cozy mystery so its not an intense but it does move at a quick pace and the mystery is pretty much all consuming. There isn’t a lot of sub plots to bog the story the down. The romantic side of the story if you can even call it that seemed a little contrived and almost took me out of the mystery. It was introduced so late in the book it threw me off a little.

Hannah Swensen is an interesting character she loves her job, her family and her community. She begins as a fully fleshed out character and I enjoyed that. She is happy with her life. Her only flaw to me was she seems to want to help everyone and makes a lot of promises about keeping things secret. She made no effort to hide the fact she was investigating the case and the police knew it too; a welcome surprise was compared to other books.

The narrator Suzanne Toren was great and really had me hooked from the beginning.

LOVE This Series

Where does Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 10 Series

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hannah - love that she is a snoop...:)

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Some of this book (and the series) is laugh out loud funny. Mostly because Hannah and I have the same maddening and amazing mothers.

Any additional comments?

The characters are great and stories are fun and fast paced. Love the Goldie Baer books and this series is a nice addition to fill in when I need a fun listen.