Blackberry Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Hannah Swensen is back in her bakery and can focus on her business now.  She's creating new recipes and spending time with family and friends and life is good.  At least it is until she's driving home in foggy stormy weather and goes around a fallen tree.  As she comes around the tree, she hits a man she couldn't see...

Kensington Books sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  It's being published this month, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.

Hannah explains what happened and thinks it's over with but she's rudely arrested in a restaurant and put in jail for murder.  Her brother-in-law is the sheriff, and he's suddenly at odds with his wife over this action.  Mike refused to do it, so he's been suspended.  He may be a cop but he's also Hannah's friend and knows it was not intentional.  She finally gets bail put up for her by Norman (another love interest for Hannah) and then it becomes apparent she's going to have to figure out how that man got there, who he is, and why he was there.  The police seemed to have stopped their hunt when they picked her up.  Luckily, Mike is off and he can help.

This was a pretty good mystery with good recipes thrown in but I'm growing increasingly impatient with Hannah and her love interests.  The author just keeps Hannah in limbo, loving them both but making no decisions.  I'm ready for her to settle down.  I also had a problem with the ending of this story.  It seems to be finished and then on the last page the attorney brings up another issue.  I suppose that is supposed to be a cliff hanger but it left a bad taste in my mouth.  This is a series and each book should stand alone.  This makes me feel like you need to buy the next one to finish the original story.

It is the author's story and her characters but they've become real enough to me I want to have a talk with Hannah.  I'd say Ms. Fluke succeeded in making me care about her characters!