Joanne Fluke whips up a kitchen full of clever culinary mysteries.
You might say a cookie changed Joanne Fluke’s life. A big, homemade cookie bursting with chocolate chips. Not too sweet, definitely not tart. Soft and moist when you bite into it. But something was missing that day more than 25 years ago as she was making chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for her sons: oatmeal.
As her sons Hans and Rudy pointed out, she did have cornflakes because she had stocked up on several kinds of cereal, anticipating their visit. So those chocolate chip oatmeal cookies became Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies and a tradition was born.
Now those same Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies are a major part of Fluke’s book tours for her novels about baker and sleuth Hannah Swensen. Fluke has baked more than 600,000 Chocolate Chip Crunch cookies to share with readers at her book signings over the years. The tradition began with the first Hannah Swensen novel, the aptly named Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, which came out in 2001.
As popular as those cookies have become among readers, Fluke’s stories about the Minnesota baker are what bring people to her books. It takes more than cookies to sustain Fluke’s series with sales topping more than 4 million. Her novella Christmas Caramel Murder is her holiday offering for 2016, and the delicious sounding Banana Cream Pie Murder, her 21st Hannah novel, will be published in February 2017. And it takes more than chocolate chips to put her novels on the New York Times Best Sellers List, where Fluke’s last 12 Hannah Swensen novels have landed. Four have debuted on the top 10 hardcover list, and her cookbook made the New York Times top 10 bestselling cookbooks list. And it takes more than sugar and flour to attract Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel, which have filmed four TV movies based on her novels.
Denne historien er fra Holiday #147, 2016-utgaven av Mystery Scene.
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Denne historien er fra Holiday #147, 2016-utgaven av Mystery Scene.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
6 New Writers to Watch
Wiley Cash’s debut, A Land More Kind Than Home, about the bond between two brothers landed on the New York Times Best Sellers List and received the Crime Writers’ Association Debut of the Year.
ANN CLEEVES
British author Ann Cleeves has an affinity for remote areas and how these isolated regions affect her characters.
CARLENE O'CONNOR
“Anyone can play Snow White. It takes real talent to play the Wicked Witch.”
Mystery Scene MISCELLANY
FIRST USE OF FINGERPRINTS
PANIC ATTACK
The newest entry in my Pittsburgh set series of thrillers is called Panic Attack. It’s the sixth book featuring Daniel Rinaldi, a psychologist and trauma expert who consults with the Pittsburgh Police.
LAIDLAW'S LEGACY
During the pandemic, Ian Rankin stepped away from Rebus and into the shoes of friend and literary hero, the “Godfather of Tartan Noir” William McIlvanney.
HILARY DAVIDSON
Call it The Case of Life Imitating Art.
Thomas Walsh - The Unusual Suspect
Any paternity test on the sub-genre of police procedural will identify the DNA of Ed McBain and Lawrence Treat, as well as the 1948 movie The Naked City and the radio and TV series Dragnet…and of course Thomas Walsh.
S.A. COSBY
In Razorblade Tears, two aging men—one Black, one white, both with criminal pasts—join forces to seek revenge for the murders of their gay sons. The themes of fathers and sons and toxic masculinity will be familar to fans of Cosby’s 2020 breakout Blacktop Wasteland.
VIPER'S NEST OF LIES
A slip of the tongue is a dangerous thing. Not only does it expose indiscretions, it also can lead to murder. The latter especially applies to me.
