Thank you to Connie Martinson for the kind words and encouragement.

Thanks to the Books-A-Million managers who invited me to Birmingham. Great folks, great city, great time!

Thanks to Jill Saxton for catching my Minnesota goofs.

Hugs to Lois Hirt for dental advice—Norman, thank you, too.

Many thanks to Terry Sommers for her incredible Carrot Cake Cookies, and to Paul for tasting, critiquing, and carrying.

Thank you to Sally Hayes for sharing the virtual baking.

Thank you to Jamie Wallace for keeping my Web site, MurderSheBaked.com up to date and looking great.

Hugs to everyone who sent favorite family recipes for Hannah to try so she’ll never run out of yummy sweets to bake. And thanks so much for all the friendly e-mails and snail-mails that send me off to write about Lake Eden with a smile on my face.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Index of Recipes

Baking Conversion Chart

Chapter One

There was a loud crash as someone dropped a platter. A split second later, Hannah Swensen reached up to pick a piece of pepperoni out of her curly red hair. She examined it, identified it for what it was, and just barely managed to resist the urge to pop it into her mouth. Although one bite of the traditional pizza topping might not exceed her calorie count for lunch, it could pave the way to a self-indulgent feast from the menu at Bertanelli’s Pizza, a popular eatery in Lake Eden, Minnesota.

One glance down at the salad she’d ordered and Hannah almost gave way to temptation. It was a perfectly good salad, crispy lettuce in three varieties, several slices of tomato, strips of yellow and red bell pepper for color, and a dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil on the side. Salads were good. Salads were healthful. Salads were much better than pizza when you had to lose at least ten pounds because everything you owned was too tight around the middle, including your very favorite pair of jeans.

“What’s that?” her sister Andrea asked, watching Hannah wrap the meaty missile in a napkin and set it aside.

“Pepperoni. I heard a crash right before it hit. One of Ellie’s new waitresses must have dropped a pizza platter.”