Blackberry Pie Murder

Early in bestseller Fluke’s witty 17th novel featuring bakery owner Hannah Swensen of Lake Eden, Minn. (after 2013’s The Red Velvet Cupcake Mystery), Hannah finds yet another dead body—that of the unidentified man she hit and apparently killed while driving on a highway during a summer rainstorm. Of course, it was an accident, but Hannah winds up arrested and arraigned. After one of her two suitors, dentist Norman Rhodes, bails her out, Hannah learns that the stains on the victim’s shirt are not blood but blackberry pie—and an autopsy reveals that he was dead before her car hit him. Hannah is now free to look for a killer, as well as look into the case of a runaway who has been missing for years. Tempting recipes at the end of most chapters, including one for fresh blackberry cookies, will appeal to anyone who loves to bake. Author tour. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Mar.)