Showing results by author "Joanne Fluke" in All Categories

Surrounded by her loved ones, she has all the ingredients for a perfect Christmas—until murder is added to the mix … When it comes to holidays, Minnesotans rise to the occasion—and the little town of Lake Eden is baking up a storm with Hannah leading the way. The annual Christmas Buffet is the final test of the recipes Hannah has collected for the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet Cookbook.

Tis the season for trimming the tree, caroling, baking cookies, and curling up by the Yuletide waiting for Santa to drop down the chimney. But in this festive collection of holiday whodunits, murder is also paying a visit.

As Hannah prepares to run a bakery and move out of her mother's house, it'll be a true miracle if she can prevent another yuletide disaster by solving a mystery as dense as a Christmas fruitcake....

La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid. Tous les habitants de Lake Eden attendent avec impatience le gala de charité. À commencer par Hannah Swensen, la pétillante propriétaire du Cookie Jar, la meilleure pâtisserie de la ville. C'est en effet une très belle journée qui s'annonce avec, au menu, spectacle de magie et chaussons aux pommes à volonté. Hannah a bien besoin de se détendre. Son amour de jeunesse, Bradford Ramsey, un séducteur impénitent, est de retour dans la région, et la jeune sœur de notre héroïne, Michelle, n'est pas insensible à ses charmes.

The holidays have arrived, and Hannah and her good pal, Lisa, have agreed to provide all the goodies for the town's annual production of A Christmas Carol. But before anyone can say "bah, humbug!" a Santa-size sackful of trouble ensues. Like the fact that Lisa's husband will be playing Mr. Claus to his ex-girlfriend Phyllis Bates' Mrs. Claus. Or that before the curtains even go up, Phyllis is found dead in the snow - wearing a costume that the real Mrs. Claus would put on the naughty list.

In this batch of sweet, short murder mysteries, three cooks don’t spoil the broth. New York Times best-selling author Joanne Fluke pens the title story, in which a box of Hannah Swensen’s gingerbread cookies is found near the corpse of her neighbor. Popular co-authors Laura Levine and Leslie Meier offer “The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies” and “Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots”, respectively.

Im idyllischen Lake Eden hat Backfee Hannah Swensen sich mit einem gemütlichen Café einen Traum erfüllt: Ihre Leckereien sind heiß begehrt, und das Cookie Jar ist der Lieblingstreffpunkt der Dorfbewohner. Doch dann wird eines Tages Hannahs Lieferant Ron ermordet aufgefunden. Ron war der liebenswürdigste Mitarbeiter, den man sich wünschen kann, und Hannah hat allen Grund, seinen Mörder möglichst schnell dingfest zu machen. Da sie mit Charme und Spürsinn Neuigkeiten stets aus erster Hand erfährt, ist sie schneller, als die Polizei erlaubt.

Ellen Wingate thinks she's hit the jackpot when she learns the millions she's inherited comes with a super-exclusive condo in the mountains outside of Las Vegas. But leaving Minnesota for paradise turns out to be the ultimate nightmare. Trapped with her neighbors in a freakish winter avalanche, a chilling discovery at the bottom of an indoor pool signals a frightening turn of events.

A small boy huddled in the dark. His mother had promised she would never leave him...not in this awful house...not in this terrible town. But she was dead. Gone. And he was alone. Trapped. With no one to answere his desperate call or hear his final agonized cry... and now...

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The last thing Maura Thomas remembers before her car careened over a steep embankment is having dinner with her college roommate - over 20 years ago. Everything in between is a blank. Maura has no recollection of her husband, her daughter, or her busy, glamorous existence as owner of a Beverly Hills boutique. Maura can't even be sure that everyone around her is who they claim to be. Is it paranoia or self-preservation that makes her uneasy?

The moment Marian Larsen sees the patrol car stop outside her house, she feels a shiver of foreboding. The news is even worse than she feared. Marian's husband and young daughter have been in a snowmobile crash. Dan is paralyzed and Laura is dead, her body broken on the icy ground...with a chilling secret. Friends and colleagues in Marian's Minnesota hometown rally around to try and ease her grief. But soon there are more horrible accidents. Then the rumors start - that these are not coincidences at all, that someone is picking off victims one by one.

Prescription DEATH. Eight attractive, talented people, each tottering on the razor's edge of sanity. Now their psychiatrist, Dr. Elias, is dying from a ravaging cancer, and he has made his cold final judgment. Those he can't cure, he must kill.

A mild-mannered car salesman...a womanizing bartender...a beloved minister with a devoted family. Except for the fact that each of the murder victims is male, Minnesota police can't find a connection between the crimes. But that's because what links them can't be seen with the naked eye.

When Eve Carrington is chosen to participate in an exclusive writers' workshop, she knows it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For one month, she will live, write, and share her work with nine other aspiring authors. The top three will get a chance to be published. But when the building they're staying in isn't ready and Eve sees the old mansion they'll be moved into, she starts having second thoughts. Not only is the mansion isolated but the deadlines are tight, the pressure intense, and the competition incredibly fierce.

Kathi Ellison is an English literature major at the University of California in Berkeley, living with her boyfriend off-campus. She is also the daughter of a candidate for the US Senate and his wife, a role that could affect her life should her father win the election. But before she can consider her future, Kathi must first come to terms with her past. A car accident when she was four years old killed her mother and left her in a coma for several days. The migraines and nightmares that plagued her as a child have recently returned with a vengeance.

Except for their gorgeous faces, identical twins Mercedes and Marcie Calder are nothing alike. Mercedes is a movie star in LA with a sexy husband, two beautiful children, and an exciting, glamorous lifestyle; Marcie is an art teacher in Minnesota with a shy disposition and a quiet life alone. But when Mercedes is found dead - mysteriously drowned in her swimming pool - Marcie is the only person who can step into her shoes and finish her latest movie.

As a family clinic administrator, Michele Layton has seen her share of suffering. But never anything like this. Not here in St. Cloud, Minnesota. A local activist has been found murdered, his body frozen like a statue and placed in a Winter Carnival ice sculpture display. Next a vicious hate crime puts a man in the ICU. And locked away in the Holy Rest mental ward, a deranged man of the cloth prays for more sinners to be punished - and waits for a sign from above.

A former actress, Allison Rocca knows her husband, Tony, a screenwriter, has been extra busy lately. And news reporter Katy knows her ex, Chief Detective Sam Ladera, is desperately hunting the Video Killer. Still, each woman senses something unusual about the men's behavior. But as they attempt to find the truth, they unwittingly draw closer to the lens of a calculating madman searching for his next leading lady.

Michael Hart had been convicted for killing his wife and spent 10 years in prison. But now he has escaped, and his lawyer is tracking down new evidence that might clear him. But then the sleepwalking begins.... And one by one, the members of the jury that convicted him are being murdered.