I love this series. Written by Joanna Fluke, the Hannah Swensen Mystery series is a mystery series about (OMG YOU GUESSED IT) Hannah. Hannah is a young woman who owns a delightful little cafe called The Cookie Jar. Seriously, I would love to go there. The decor and overall environment that I get from the place is so cozy. Based on the name of the cafe, I am sure you can figure out what their specialty is… cookies! Throughout all of the books, the author includes some of her recipes, which is cool, however the cookies WILL turn out crunchy. Maybe you love crunchy cookies, maybe you don’t, but it’s a good warning that her recipes will come out crunchy. 

Our beloved baker and store owner, Hannah, is not a detective. She got involved in her first murder by accident and then she gradually started getting involved more and more because she is really good at solving murders. Hannah gets help from her little sister, Andrea. Andrea is married to one of the murder detectives, Bill, at their local police, so she gets some of their clues from him. Andrea is everything you expect a little sister to be: attractive, resourceful and somewhat annoying (to Hannah of course, I think Andrea is hilarious). Together, the two of them solve the murders.

There is also a side plot about Hannah’s love life. Much to her mothers dismay, Hannah is not married. Although she is dating two guys at once (so far, I am only on the fifth book in a series with over thirty books), both of them are surprisingly ok with it? On one hand, she has the reliable, stable, good guy Norman. He’s a dentist that her mother is continually trying to set her up with. On the other hand, she has Bill’s hot detective boss, Mike. At my current point in the series, the two of them (the love interests) are both making out with her and sharing romantic moments with her, but neither of them have told her that they want to be strictly monogamous. So, yeah, there’s that.

This series is good, but extremely predictable. For starters, all of the books are titled –Insert baked item Murder-. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cute, but very repetitive. The book contents are also very similar. To put it simply, every book starts with someone new coming to town, Hannah finding a body, Hannah solving the mystery with Andrea, Hannah figuring out who did it, the murder confronting her at least a minute after, someone saving her, and then the murderer getting caught.

I do love this series, albeit its predictability. It’s a really cute and comfy read that doesn’t make you TOO hungry. I love all of the characters and truly recommend this series to any foodies or mystery lovers who don’t want something too hardcore.

The Hannah Swenson Mystery series by Joanne Fluke is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.