This is a question that Joanne Fluke, author of the Hannah Swensen mystery series, has been researching for the past ten years.

Fluke has been baking cookies for Hannah Swensen fans from the day her mystery series debuted in 1999 "There’s nothing like a couple of home baked Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies to turn an ordinary book signing into a special event." Pairing her novels with freshly baked cookies is a natural -- Fluke’s amateur sleuth owns a bakery and coffee shop in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and every book contains cookie and dessert recipes. With delectable titles like Strawberry Shortcake Murder, Peach Cobbler Murder, Key Lime Pie Murder, and her latest release, Carrot Cake Murder, Fluke is thinking about adding a warning label to the covers of her books for anyone who’s on a diet.

"Readers love testing recipes for me," Fluke says. "I baked over a two hundred dozen cookies for the L.A. Times Festival of Books last year, and I came home with nothing crumbs in the bottom of my cookie jar. Hannah’s popularity is growing fast and if the books keep flying off the shelves and the cookies continue to disappear, I just might have to order a commercial oven and a neon sign with Hannah’s favorite quote, EAT DESSERT FIRST!"

Fluke comes from a long line of Minnesota cookie bakers. "My grandmother used to bake every winter morning to warm up the kitchen, and Mom never had to wake me up twice. The scent of vanilla, cinnamon, or chocolate always got me downstairs, dressed for school, in record time."