Joanne Fluke - Cherry Cheesecake Murder

In Memory Of:
Ikuko, a lady I wish I had been fortunate
enough to meet.
Bob Rogers, talented friend.
And Little Al and Betty.

For Ruel, whos always there when I need him.
And for the kids, even when they ask, Are we eating
another experiment?
Or can we have a real dessert?

Thank you to our friends and neighbors:
Mel and Kurt, Lyn and Bill, Gina and the kids,
Adrienne, Jay, Bob M., Amanda, John B., Trudi,
Dale C., Dr. Bob and Sue, Laura Levine and Mark,
Richard and Krista, Nina, the princess of cheesecake,
and Mark Baker, whos been hoping for this title.

Thank you to my editors parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Scognamiglio.
Without you, John wouldnt be here.
And without John, Hannah Swensen wouldnt be here!

Thank you to Hiro Kimura, my cover artist, who truly
outdid himself with those scrumptious cherries on the
cover, and thanks to Lou Malcanji for putting it all
together in such a delectable dust jacket.
Thanks also to all the other talented folks at
Kensington who keep Hannah sleuthing and baking up a storm.

Thank you to Dr. Rahhal and Trina for all you do.

Many hugs to Terry Sommers for proving that you can
bake every single cookie and dessert recipe in this
book and go on to live a normal life.

The Mini Cherry Cheesecake recipe is from Jane at
Mysteries To Die For in Thousand Oaks, CA
Thanks, Jane!

Thanks to Marcy for suggesting the All-Nighter
Cookies, and to Betty for the Double Flake Cookies.

Thank you to Jamie Wallace for her superb work on
my Web site
MurderSheBaked.com

Thanks to Lois Hirt, who knows almost everything
about dentists, and a hug for Kamary, who came all
the way from Michigan to meet me.

A big thank you to everyone who e-mailed or
snail-mailed.
In a perfect world, The Cookie Jar would be just
around the corner and we could all meet for
coffee and cookies.
(Ive got dibs on the Mock Turtles!)

Lake Eden, MinnesotaWednesday, the Second Week in March

Cut!

Dean Lawrence had directed at plenty of locations, but Lake Eden was the worst. These yokels raised boredom to a whole new level. The chubby broad who ran the bakery made a great cherry cheesecake, and that was the only good thing he could say about Podunk Central.

Nothing was working today. They were never going to get this scene. The local lethargy must be catching, and it was time to kick some butt.

Whats with you, Burke? Youre supposed to make people weep for you! Get up. Ill show you what I want here. Dean pushed Burke out of camera range and got ready to play the scene himself.

Midway through the scene, he noticed that the redhead who baked his cheesecakes was staring at him with new respect. Maybe shed be a little more receptive, now that hed impressed her with his talent. He opened the center desk drawer, pulled out the prop gun, and stared at it while he waited for Lynnes line.

I love you, Jody! Dont do this to me!

It was a perfect reading of the line and Dean was glad hed decided to use her in his next movie. He put on a tortured expression as the camera came in for his close-up, and gazed at Lynne with tears welling in his eyes. Im not doing it to you, Lil Sis. Im doing it for me .

He raised the gun to his temple. Lynne looked horrified, exactly as she should, and he gave her a last, sad smile. Then he squeezed the trigger.

The gun went off and Lynne screamed for real. Their director was dead.

Two Weeks Earlier

Hannah Swensen did her best to convince her sleep-logged mind that the insistent electronic beeping she heard was in the soundtrack of her dream. A huge semi tractor-trailer was backing up to the kitchen door of her bakery, The Cookie Jar, to deliver the mountain of chocolate chips shed ordered for the gazillion Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies shed promised to bake for her biggest fan, Porky Pig, whod finally overcome his stutter with the help of a voice coach and was now being sworn in as president of the United States

The dream slipped away like the veils of Salome, and Hannah groaned as she clicked on the light. No doubt her dream was the result of watching Cartoon Network until two in the morning and eating two dishes of chocolate ice cream with a whole bag of microwave popcorn. She silenced the alarm and threw back the covers, sitting up in bed in an effort to fight her urge to burrow back into her warm blankets and pull them up, over her head.