Facing an upcoming trial in which she's been charged with vehicular homicide by an overzealous prosecutor, cookie maker and all-around baker Hannah Swensen is apprehensive about her future. While she knows the traffic accident that occurred during a torrential summer thunderstorm was just that, a tragic and unavoidable accident, it doesn't change the fact that she'll soon face a jury of her peers. With her future in the balance, Hannah is only too glad to distract herself with her mother Delores' upcoming nuptials.

What Delores doesn't know --- but her three daughters, Hannah, Andrea and Michelle, do --- is that Doc Knight, her fiance, has planned an impromptu wedding in Las Vegas. The girls have taken the liberty of packing their mother's things and meeting the engaged couple at the airport, where Delores will be apprised of the wedding plans.

"While regular readers of these books will find all their usual favorites, cunning characters and lip-smackingly good recipes sprinkled throughout the story, they'll also find ample mystery and intrigue as the stakes are higher for Hannah than they've ever been before."

While in Vegas, Hannah is the recipient of a pleasant surprise herself. Doc Knight's best man turns out to be none other than a dear old friend of hers from college, Ross Barton. While she had spoken to Ross on the telephone the night before, he'd slyly kept the secret that he'd be seeing Hannah the next day at the nuptials.

Before she knows what's happening, chemistry takes over and a flicker of attraction quickly fans into a flame of desire between Hannah and Ross. What does this say about her feelings for her two longtime suitors, Norman the dentist and Mike the police detective? With a new man thrown into the mix, things are sure to get stickier than the stickiest batch of Hannah's tastiest cookie dough.

Once she's back in her hometown of Lake Eden, Minnesota, Hannah must quickly shift into a more somber mood to face the trial that could potentially change her life forever. While she's sorry about the loss of the life she inadvertently took while behind the wheel of her cookie van, she certainly doesn't want to serve time in prison.

Before the trial can begin, however, another tragedy strikes. Judge Colfax, the elderly judge with a reputation for incompetence who's to preside over Hannah's trial, is murdered. A mortal enemy has used the judge's own gavel to bash his head in. Unfortunately, since Hannah's fate was in the judge's hands, she is the prime suspect for this dastardly deed. As far as she's concerned, it's up to her and her merry band of family and friends to prove her innocence and find the killer.

DOUBLE FUDGE BROWNIE MURDER is the 18th installment in Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series. While regular readers of these books will find all their usual favorites, cunning characters and lip-smackingly good recipes sprinkled throughout the story, they'll also find ample mystery and intrigue as the stakes are higher for Hannah than they've ever been before. Will she come out on top with a new love and a future, or will she end up behind bars for a murder she didn't commit? Only repeated turns of the page will tell.