Title:	Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder
	Author:	Joanne Fluke
	Published:	February 23, 2021, Kensington
	No. of Pages:	352
	Cover Price:	$27.00 Hardcover, $13.49 Kindle

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Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder is the 27th installment of the popular Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke. This cozy mystery is like the others in that it is set in a sort of fantasyland and is reminiscent of the old Donna Reed Show or Leave it to Beaver. The book is set in Lake Eden, Minnesota and the characters mostly drink coffee (dozens of cups a day leaving little time for accomplishing much), and eat cookies, cheesecakes, and high-fat main dishes without gaining an ounce. None of the characters seem to age albeit the gallons of coffee which would make for ugly leathery skin if it were a real person.

Mayor Bascomb has been an unpopular character throughout the series; he has been well known for cheating on his wife, and like most politicians, values his power over ethics or even common sense. In this novel, after a disagreement with Andrea, who slaps him so hard he falls over on his chair, he is found a few hours later dead. There are, unfortunately, dozens of suspects, but Andrea is the main suspect. Hannah’s job now is to find the real murderer so her sister doesn’t go to prison. Nobody is particularly upset about the mayor’s death. So, in between cups of coffee, baking a few cookies and of course several Triple Chocolate Cheesecakes, and having guests for dinner, Hannah investigates. With the help of Mayor Bascomb’s wife, Stephanie, some unknown facts about him surface and as the facts add up, Hannah, et al, figures out who murdered the mayor.

Fans of this series are very familiar with the small town environment, and the shallow lives they live in this small Minnesota town. The books are actually well-written, and Fluke is an excellent storyteller. While the characters are not very believable because no modern person is as naïve or simple as Hannah, et al, they are quite charming, and even though these books are make-believe, they are fun to read.

There are good recipes – actually more than in most culinary mysteries, but they are written in such a way that they assume readers have an IQ under 50 and are not only morons, but have never even boiled water. It is, in fact, very difficult to follow the recipes because there is so much fluff in them. Anyone who has tried these recipes, will find, however, that after getting through the wordy crap, the recipes turn out well.

All told, this is another fun book that fans will want to read.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.