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The Chocolate Chip Murder Mystery
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Plot Summary of The Chocolate Chip Murder Mystery
" Hannah Swensen dropped out of graduate school to return home to Minnesota when her father died. She opened a cookie store chiefly run by her lone employee Lisa, moved in with her one-eyed cat, and (to the dismay of her ferociously matchmaking mother) settled down to a satisfying life of thirtyish spinsterhood.
The morning her non-domestic, real-estate-agent sister Andrea drops off her daughter for babysitting (again!), Hannah discovers former high school star-athlete Ron dead in his dairy delivery truck with a bag of her cookies by his side. "Who would want the universally beloved Rod dead?" is asked by everyone in this first mystery of a recipe-filled series.
Was it the single-mom cosmetics saleslady protecting the identity of her baby's daddy? Was it Ron's perfectionist former coach? Was Andrea's mysterious real estate client really a travelling hitman? Or was the murderer simply an irate customer with a grudge against skim milk?
As Hannah gently and tactfully probes the double lives of her neighbors (she starts trailing a telltale lipstick print on a throwaway coffee cup found at the maniacally punctual Ron's last delivery), uncovering scandal after scandal, she reveals village life that reminded me more of 1955 than the year 2000. For all Hannah's snooping, though, she still has plenty of time to cater those club functions that barely keep her "quaint little shop" afloat AND meet two eminently eligible bachelors! This book is homespun, retro, and corny. And the recipes are full of mistakes. "

, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of The Chocolate Chip Murder Mystery
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Kind of investigator - amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - life in small town
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - small businessman
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 3rd
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
Most similar books to The Chocolate Chip Murder Mystery
The Piano Teacher by Lynn York
Murder of a Pink Elephant by Denise Swanson
Have You Seen Dawn? by Steven Saylor
A Deadly Bouquet by Janis Harrison
Decorated For Murder by M.T. Jefferson


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