Cherry Cheesecake Murder

Summary

Hannah Swensen and her bakery, The Cookie Jar, bask in the glow of Hollywood glamour when Main Street becomes a movie set. And although tensions simmer as the cameras roll, no one expects the action to turn deadly … until it’s too late …

There’s no such thing as privacy in Lake Eden, but Hannah never thought things would go this far. Everyone has been telling her what to do ever since she got not one but two marriage proposals. The votes are evenly divided between Detective Mike Kingston and town dentist Norman Rhodes.

Movie mania soon shoves Hannah’s marriage dilemma into the background and even gives her cat a shot at stardom. The Cookie Jar serves as snack central with Main Street rented out for the week. Hannah is stunned to see producer Ross Barton, an old college buddy who is now handsome, famous, and single. She stirs lots of fresh gossip whipping up treats for cast and crew, including demanding director Dean Lawrence’s favorite—cherry cheesecake.

Everything’s on schedule until Dean demonstrates a suicide scene with a prop gun that turns out to be all too real. Hannah’s on the case in a flash. There are plenty of suspects to go around, starting with lead actress Lynne Larchmont—one of a slew of female visitors to Dean’s trailer—whose husband, Tom, is financing the film. Then there’s Tom Larchmont himself, forty years his wife’s senior, and smitten enough to be motivated by jealousy. Ross Barton was constantly keeping Dean out of trouble … could he have had enough? Local Winnie Henderson publicly threatened to kill Dean to stop him from moving her brother’s statue. And what about male star Burke Anson? He’d argued with Dean about something mysterious the morning of the murder.

As filming continues, Hannah sifts through the clues, hoping against hope that the person responsible for Dean’s death is half-baked enough to have made a mistake. When it happens, Hannah intends to be there—ready to rewrite a killer’s lethal script with the kind of quirky ending that can only happen in Lake Eden.

Includes ten original dessert recipes for you to try!