Like me, Joanne Fluke grew up in Minnesota. Her Eden Lake, MN setting triggers so many memories whenever I read her mysteries in the Hannah Swensen Mystery With Recipes series. Eden Lake is a lot like the Lake Minnetonka area of suburban Minneapolis where I grew up, but perhaps a little further out from the Cities...
In this installment Hannah promises family members what she will track down the killer of a long lost Uncle Gus, who comes to visit for the first time in many years for a family reunion at "the lake." He seems like a jerk, and one likely to have had enemies during high school, as well as enemies back in Atlantic city where he runs a club.
On the personal side of things, Hannah begins to recognize that her dentist friend, Norman, is more than a friend, and cop friend, Mike, is only giving lip service to allowing her access to information in order to help solve murder cases. Mike, in fact, is worried that if Hannah knows too much it will jeopardize how well a case can stand up in court. When Hannah realizes that Mike is just humoring her, and also playing the field with other single women in town, it begins to make her choice of beaus a little more obvious.
I always have to ignore the scrumptious recipes in Fluke's books because they are very definitely not on my diet. I can salivate while I read and still get enjoyment from the book.
One minor irritation-- Fluke has been too long in California. She apparently does not realize that Minnesota is on Central time, and only one hour from Eastern. She repeatedly states that there is a two hour time difference between Lake Eden and Atlantic City. Geography is obviously not this author's strong suit-- but her editor should have caught this!
Liz Nichols
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