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BIO
Like Hannah Swensen, New York Times bestselling author Joanne Fluke was born and raised in a small town in rural Minnesota, but now lives in sunny Southern California. She is the author of CREAM PUFF MURDER, CARROT CAKE MURDER, KEY LIME PIE MURDER, CHERRY CHEESECAKE MURDER, PEACH COBBLER MURDER, SUGAR COOKIE MURDER, FUDGE CUPCAKE MURDER, LEMON MERINGUE PIE MURDER, BLUEBERRY MUFFIN MURDER, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE MURDER, CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MURDER, and she also contributed a story to the New York Times bestselling holiday anthology SUGAR & SPICE. She is currently working on her next Hannah Swensen mystery and readers are welcome to contact her at the following e-mail address, Gr8Clues@aol.com, or by visiting her website at www.MurderSheBaked.com.
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INTERVIEW
 November 6, 2009
Joanne Fluke's 12th novel, PLUM PUDDING MURDER, finds baker-turned-amateur detective Hannah Swensen in the middle of yet another murder mystery, this time amidst the chaos of the holiday season. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Amie Taylor, Fluke reveals the inspiration behind her appealing protagonist and secondary characters (both human and feline), and reflects on the direction of Hannah's unpredictable love life throughout the course of the series. She also explains how --- after writing a dozen novels --- she manages to keep track of character and plot details, discusses her upbringing in Minnesota and how she's adjusting to her current life on the west coast, and talks about her next release, APPLE TURNOVER MURDER.
Bookreporter.com: We can all relate to the hustle and bustle that surround the holidays. Watching Hannah juggle a business, a big dinner and a murder mystery was quite enjoyable. Do you have as much fun writing this series as we do reading it?
Joanne Fluke: Probably more. When I'm writing a scene that really tickles me, I often laugh out loud. Writing about Hannah and her friends is pure pleasure for me.
BRC: Where did the idea for the character of Hannah Swensen come from?
JF: Hannah is the best friend I always wanted, and she's running the little cookie shop I always dreamed of opening in my old hometown. I love Hannah's quick retorts. She’s much faster at snappy comebacks than I am, but that's probably because I can take my time writing them for her.
BRC: Are the supporting characters based on anyone you know, or do they just spring from your imagination?
JF: They’re a mosaic of various characteristics I’ve noticed in people. It's a bit like the baby who has Dad's eyes, Mom's hair, Grandpa's ears, Grandma's hands, and Aunt Emma's nose. I've never met anyone exactly like any character in the Hannah books, but they all seen very familiar to me. (I did write in an old high school boyfriend in one of the books. He was the victim. That might have had something to do with the fact that he dumped me for a cheerleader right before the prom.)
BRC: What influenced you to create Moishe, Hannah's wayward cat?
JF: There was a real Moishe. He was our Billie’s “boyfriend” and I used him as a model for Hannah’s feline roommate. Because our neighborhood cat had only one good eye and a torn ear from a battle, we named him after the Israeli general Moishe Dyan. The Moishe in the books has our Billie’s personality and some of her quirky traits.
BRC: Will Hannah ever choose between Mike and Norman, or is there a chance a new man could come into her life and steal her heart?
JF: We’re going to have to wait to see if Hannah chooses one over the other. I have very little to say about Hannah’s love life. I can throw her a curve, of course, like Ross or perhaps even another new boyfriend, but she has a mind of her own. People think I’m crazy when I say that, but it’s the truth. I've tried making Hannah do things that don't “fit,” and it never rings true. I always have to go back and rewrite it her way. There are days, many of them, when I feel like Hannah's biographer.
BRC: After writing so many Hannah Swensen novels, do you ever have to go back and look over past events in order to keep track, or do you just know your characters and stories inside out?
JF: I keep character lists by first name and last name, a list of Lake Eden organizations, stores, street names and highways, and a list of the main characters, their physical descriptions, hobbies, favorite foods, etc. And of course, I keep a master file of the recipes. Sometimes all that documentation doesn't count for a hill of beans, and I have to go back and reread a chapter from a previous book. There are other times when I'm sure I'm remembering something correctly, but readers will e-mail to tell me I'm wrong. It's a bit like trying to be accurate when you're recalling events in your own past --- that fish you caught 20 years ago keeps getting bigger and bigger.
BRC: Do you come up with all of the recipes yourself, and if so, how do you have time to write along with concocting one tempting treat after another?
JF: Some of Hannah’s recipes started out as old family favorites from my mother, grandmother and my aunts, but many I dream up all by myself. Sometimes Hannah will use a recipe sent in by a reader. When that happens, she’ll say something like, “I just got this recipe from Lisa’s cousin Terry, or Mother's friend Alma.”
You're right about time. It takes a lot of it to test all those recipes. And don't forget that sometimes the recipes don't work. Then I have to start over from scratch. I really need an extra day a week just for baking. It could come right after Sunday and we could call it "Yumday." You'd get a three-day weekend and I'd have time to come up with lots of new recipes.
BRC: Do you have a favorite recipe from this series? How about a favorite book?
JF: That’s like asking me if I have a favorite child. I love them all. But... if I had to choose... no! I really can't do it!
BRC: Can you tell us a bit about growing up in Minnesota and how it has influenced your novels?
JF: I was born and raised in Swanville, Minnesota. The sign outside town said we had a population of 217, but I think that was counting the dogs and cats. Just about everything in my books is infused with the small-town experiences I had. I suppose the most important influence was waking up on cold winter mornings to the aroma of vanilla, chocolate, or cinnamon drifting up the stairs. My mother and grandmother always waked on winter mornings to warm up the kitchen and they never had to call me twice for breakfast!
BRC: From what I understand, you live in California now. Is there any part of you that misses Minnesota? What do you particularly like about California?
JF: There are a lot of things about Minnesota that I miss. I loved the small-town feel, the fact that you could let kids play in the vacant lot and you didn't have to worry about crime, that there were four seasons and once spring arrived, you felt you'd really survived something. Whenever I get homesick, I write about Hannah. It's like taking a trip back to my old hometown again.
What do I like about California? The weather! I threw away the windshield ice scraper I had in my car, and got rid of my snow shovels. I did keep the sled, though. You never know...
BRC: What does a typical work day involve for you? Are there any special things that help you get into writing mode?
JF: I get up early to work before the phone starts ringing. I’m fairly disciplined and usually get my quota of 10 pages a day. When I stop, I always leave Hannah in the middle of a situation. That way I know exactly what I'm going to write the next morning, and I'm not faced by one of the scariest things a writer can face --- a perfectly blank page.
BRC: While so many of us name you as one of our favorite authors, can you tell us what authors you enjoy reading yourself?
JF: There are so many good writers out there that I hesitate to recommend any particular one, but here are a few that I’ve often enjoyed. Laura Levine's Jaine Austen Mysteries makes me laugh out loud. She's outrageously funny. Leslie Meier is also a favorite of mine. When I want to read a good thriller, I choose something by Beverly Barton, John Lutz, or Lisa Jackson, but only if it's broad daylight and I'm not alone in the house! When I don't have a looming deadline and I have time for a little research, I like to decipher the old family recipes handwritten on the backs of envelopes, loose scraps of colored paper, and tattered file cards that are jumbled up in the 27 shoeboxes in my kitchen cupboards. (Over the years, I've discovered a universal truth --- the recipes with the most chocolate splatters and smears of butter on them are the best.)
BRC: What can you tell us about Hannah's next adventure, and when can we expect to see it in print?
JF: It’s called APPLE TURNOVER MURDER, and it will be published in March 2010. Despite the fact that Hannah's past will come back to haunt her, she'll bake a lot of delectable goodies at The Cookie Jar, find a body while she's doing a favor for a friend, and sift through clues to find the killer. I'd tell you more, but then I'd have to make you the victim in my next book.
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INTERVIEW
 March 23, 2007
Joanne Fluke is the bestselling author of the Hannah Swensen mysteries, which revolve around a small-town bakery owner with a penchant for amateur sleuthing. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Roz Shea, Fluke explains how the books have evolved from her original ideas and describes the step-by-step process of writing each one. She also discusses how she develops and tests recipes, recounts her first experience deep-frying a candy bar and reveals what she has in store for her protagonist in future installments.
Bookreporter.com: Your long list of successful novels includes suspense thrillers and murder mysteries. What led you to write about murder? And how did you come up with the idea to create a mystery series based on the owner of a bakery?
Joanne Fluke: I've always loved to bake and I wanted to do a baked-goods cookbook with anecdotes about small town Minnesota life. My editor suggested doing it as a mystery series, and that's how Hannah was born.
BRC: The characters in Lake Eden seem so true to an actual small Midwestern town. Is it modeled after a real place?
JF: I was born and raised in a small Minnesota town, actually much smaller than Lake Eden. The characters and setting reflect a lot of small towns I've been in, but no town or person in particular.
BRC: You always feature a tasty dessert in the titles of your books. How does a recipe inspire each mystery?
JF: Desserts are associated, in my mind at least, with certain events or seasons. For instance, key lime pie is a little exotic in rural Minnesota, but it's the sort of thing a farm wife might try for submission to the baking competition at a county fair. So, KEY LIME PIE MURDER is set against the background of Lake Eden's Tri County fair.
BRC: My favorite aunt wrote a cooking column and moderated a radio cooking show in the Iowa town where I grew up. She tried out all her recipes on her family and friends, often with amusing results. How do you test your recipes?
JF: I test all Hannah's recipes on my family, friends and neighbors. I also have several volunteer bakers who test them, following the recipes and instructions that will be in the book. I try hard to make all Hannah's recipes simple and yummy. From the letters I get from readers who have tried them, I succeed more often than not.
BRC: Hannah is a natural to judge a county fair baking contest. Have you ever served as a judge for such an event?
JF: No, that's something I've never done. I think it would be very tough because those farm ladies really know how to bake.
BRC: Do readers send you recipes, or do you ever hold contests for readers?
JF: I get a few recipes from readers, although I usually tinker with them. Whenever I use one, Hannah will say something like, "I got this from Lisa's Aunt Judy."
BRC: I hope I don't divulge a plot point by asking this burning question: Have you ever personally eaten (no crossing your fingers behind your back, now) a deep fried Milky Way bar?
JF: Oh yes! We'd heard about them and I thought the whole idea was over the top, but my husband begged me to try making them. So, we went out and bought a small deep fryer and a bunch of candy bars. I whipped up some experimental batters and played around with the method until we got some that were up to Hannah's standards. They were sinfully yummy, but very messy!
BRC: In KEY LIME PIE MURDER, Hannah helps out a claustrophobic friend by appearing in a magic trick in a closed cabinet. When you develop a storyline like this, do you imagine the situation, or do you actually test out the action yourself?
JF: You're not going to catch me climbing in a box like that! I'm a little claustrophobic myself. No, a writer's most important tool is her imagination. I've been blessed with a good one.
BRC: How long does it take to write a Hannah Swensen mystery?
JF: That's not easy to answer because I don't just sit down and do it. It progresses by stages. In the beginning, I sit down with my husband, who was a TV story editor, and we just talk about it. "Who are we going to kill this time?" "Who would want to kill him (or her)?" "What would the motive be?" When we have a victim and a number of possible killers, each with a motive, I go off and go to work on an outline. That part might take a week or a few months. At the same time I'm developing recipes. When I have a fairly detailed outline, I sit down again with my husband, who is very good at spotting holes in the plot. Eventually I'm ready to do the actual writing, which takes several months. From start to finish takes the better part of a year.
BRC: Hannah's love life is as complicated as ever, though her cat, Moise, seems to have made his decision about who she should choose. Do you plan to keep your readers in further suspense, or will Hannah finally settle down with the bold sheriff or the heroic veterinarian?
JF: Hannah has a mind of her own and won't take any advice from me about her romantic life. People think I'm crazy when I say that, but it's true. I've tried making her do things that weren't in character, but I've always had to go back and rewrite it the way she'd have it. Right now, she seems content to leave things as they are. Perhaps one day she'll want to choose one or the other of the guys, but only when she's ready to do it. And don't forget, there's also Ross in the picture.
BRC: Are you cooking up the next tasty murder for Hannah to solve, or is it just simmering on the back burner?
JF: I just finished CANDY CANE MURDER, a novella coming out this October in a collection of three murder novellas. In it I get to achieve a life-long ambition --- I kill Santa Claus. (I think it's because I didn't get the doll house I wanted as a kid.) I'm also starting the outline for CARROT CAKE MURDER, the next full novel in the series. It involves a cherished Minnesota tradition, a large family reunion complete with three-bean salad. Guess what? Someone gets murdered. It'll be published in March of 2008, so I'd better get back to work.
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