The official Winter Carnival cake is burnt black, and the woman who baked it is lying dead in her pantry. That is what Hannah finds when she opens The Cookie Jar one February morning. The victim is Connie Mac, a TV cooking star known as America’s Cooking Sweetheart. She was killed while eating one of Hannah Swensen’s famous blueberry muffins. Kensington published this murder mystery in March 2002, as the third book in Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series.
What Is Blueberry Muffin Murder About?
Lake Eden, a small town in rural Minnesota, is getting ready for its first Winter Carnival, meant to become an annual winter event. The aim is to beat the late-February gloom and bring in visitors. The honor of baking the official Winter Carnival cake does not go to Hannah, the town’s own baker. It goes to Connie Mac, who has a cable cooking show and a shelf of bestselling cookbooks. Hannah calls the whole plan a half-baked idea.
When Connie is found dead, the police seal off Hannah’s kitchen as a crime scene. No kitchen means no cookies, and no cookies means no business. Connie’s assistant, Janie Burkholtz, falls under suspicion, and Janie is an old friend of the Swensen family. So Hannah’s plan to save her business is finding the killer herself. She has a second reason, too: to clear Janie.
Lake Eden’s Winter Carnival and Connie Mac’s Bad Temper
On television Connie is all smiles. Off camera she is bossy and bad-tempered, and Janie takes most of it. Fluke lets the whole town see that side of her before the murder. So when Connie dies, plenty of people are glad to see her gone.
The regular cast is here, too. Hannah’s sister Andrea helps with the questions. Their mother, Delores, has opinions about everything. Mike Kingston, the county detective, tells Hannah to stay out of it. Norman Rhodes, the dentist, helps her anyway. The carnival itself, with its ice and its snow, fills the background of every chapter.
Our Review: The Best Villain of the Early Books
Connie Mac is the reason to read this one. She is sweet on screen and cruel in private, a good target for a baker heroine. Fluke has fun with her. The winter setting works, too. A town buried in snow makes the circle of suspects feel small and close.
The mystery is the weaker part. The plot leans on gossip and family scenes, and some readers guess the killer early. The love triangle also stays very calm for a book about a murder: two men court Hannah, and neither seems to mind the other. If you came for a tight puzzle, you may be disappointed. If you like cozy mysteries where the town matters as much as the crime, you will be at home in Lake Eden.
What Critics Said: Two Very Different Book Reviews
Trade reviewers did not agree on this book. Publishers Weekly praised it as a top-of-the-line culinary cozy. Kirkus Reviews was much cooler and found the plot closer to soap opera than to detective work. Both points have something to them. The kitchen and the town are as good as in book one, but the investigation spends a lot of time on relationships.
Blue Blueberry Muffins and the Other Recipes
The book holds eight recipes, printed inside the story. Seven are cookies and desserts, and one is a grilled sandwich:
- Blue Blueberry Muffins
- Peanut Butter Melts
- Twin Chocolate Delights
- Little Snowballs
- Grilled Cream Cheese Sandwiches
- Lisa’s White Chocolate Supremes
- Short Stack Cookies
- Multiple-Choice Bar Cookies
The muffins are the title recipe, and they have a trick. Besides fresh or frozen blueberries, the batter takes half a cup of blueberry pie filling, which is what makes them so blue. Kensington still prints the recipe on its website. If you want every recipe from the series in one place, there is also Joanne Fluke’s Lake Eden Cookbook.
Blueberry Muffin Murder Is the Third Book in the Hannah Swensen Series
Blueberry Muffin Murder comes after Strawberry Shortcake Murder (book 2) and before Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (book 4). The murder is solved within the book, so you can follow it without the first two. The family story and the Mike and Norman question carry on from book to book, though. It pays to start with book 1, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder.
Our review of Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder has the full reading order of the 29 novels, from 2000 to Pink Lemonade Cake Murder in 2023. The newest novel is still Pink Lemonade Cake Murder. The next one, Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Murder, was announced for 2025 and then pulled, so no new book is coming in 2026. What did come out was a trade paperback reissue of this book, in April 2025.
Is Hallmark Still Making Hannah Swensen Mysteries?
Yes. Hallmark has made 14 films so far, all with Alison Sweeney as Hannah. The first five ran as Murder, She Baked, the rest as Hannah Swensen Mysteries. This book became one of them: Reality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Mystery, which premiered in February 2025. Sweeney adapted it loosely. In the film a reality baking show takes over The Cookie Jar, and the victim is the show’s producer.
Two more films followed in 2026: Sugar & Vice in March and Best Served Cold in May. As of October 2026, no further film has been announced.
Who Is Joanne Fluke?
Joanne Fluke is a pen name. She was born Joanne Gibson in Swanville, Minnesota, and she wrote under several names long before Hannah. Teen horror novels came out as Jo Gibson, and Regency romances as Kathryn Kirkwood. She studied psychology and worked as a teacher and a caterer, among other jobs. Today she lives in Southern California. She is a New York Times bestselling author, and by 2016 the Hannah Swensen books had sold more than four million copies.
Quick Facts
| Author | Joanne Fluke |
|---|---|
| Series | Hannah Swensen cozy mystery series, book 3 |
| First published | March 2002, Kensington |
| Setting | Lake Eden, Minnesota, during the first Winter Carnival |
| Sleuth | Hannah Swensen, owner of The Cookie Jar |
| Recipes | Eight, including Blue Blueberry Muffins |
| Film | Reality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (2025), loosely adapted |
| Previous book | Strawberry Shortcake Murder |
| Next book | Lemon Meringue Pie Murder |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who does Hannah Swensen finally marry?
Not Mike and not Norman. She marries Ross Barton in book 19, and the marriage later turns out not to be legal. Our Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder review explains what happened, with a spoiler warning.
Is Reality Bites the same story as the book?
Only in outline. The film keeps the murder at The Cookie Jar but swaps the TV cook for a reality show producer.
Is the book very dark?
No. There is more than one crime, but nothing is graphic. It is a gentle cozy, closer to a family comedy than to a thriller.
What should I read if I like Hannah Swensen?
Try Diane Mott Davidson’s Catering to Nobody or Jenn McKinlay’s Cupcake Bakery Mysteries. Our culinary cozy mysteries page has more.