Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice ( The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. In fact, one of the few Lake Edenites missing from the ceremony is Mike, whose conspicuous absence persuades Hannah that she’d better put her rhubarb custard cake on hold while she gets to the bottom of the mystery.Īlthough she ties up false leads a little too quickly, Hannah’s sixth-even without the 14 recipes-would be her tastiest yet.Īnother sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.Ī week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Peter’s Catholic Church watching her partner, Lisa Herman, marry sheriff Herb Beesman. So when Shawna Lee gets killed, it's a good thing that Hannah has an ironclad alibi: Along with most of Lake Eden, she’s at St. Although Hannah’s sometime boyfriend, dentist Norman Rhoades, assures her that Shawna Lee’s soggy confection can’t hold a candle to her Minnesota Peach Cobbler, Hannah’s not so sure, especially since she sees her other-time boyfriend Mike Kingston’s Hummer parked behind the Magnolia Blossom with suspicious frequency. Operated by seductive Shawna Lee Quinn and bankrolled by her rich-bitch sister Vanessa, who inherited piles of cash when her octogenarian husband expired last year, the upscale eatery offers rustic Lake Eden classy décor and an irresistible stream of free-lunch contests that have The Cookie Jar teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

Trouble brews along with decaf when the poisonous Quinn sisters open a bakery across the street from The Cookie Jar.Īt first, Hannah Swenson ( Sugar Cookie Murder, 2004, etc.) can’t believe her once-loyal customers are streaming through the front door of the Magnolia Blossom Bakery.

Peach Cobbler Murder by Joanne Fluke