LEMON MERINGUE PIE MURDER

A lemon meringue pie, two pieces cut and only one eaten (an important clue or an insult to her cooking?), an empty bottle of wine and only one of two take-out dinners consumed—these bits of evidence set Hannah Swenson, amateur sleuth and owner of the Cookie Jar Bakery in Lake Eden, Minn., on the trail of a murderer in Fluke's fourth fun, frothy cozy (after 2002's Blueberry Muffin Murder). Who could have killed voluptuous Rhonda Scharf, whose half-buried body Hannah's interfering mother discovers in the basement of an old house one of Hannah's swains has just purchased? The investigation proceeds unhurriedly, with plenty of time for cookies, coffee and small-town gossip. Enticing recipes for cookies and other treats, presented with helpful procedural hints, are an extra bonus. (Mar. 11)