“The perfect cup of coffee is a mystifying thing. To many of my customers, the entire process seems like some sort of alchemy they dare not try at home….” Ten years ago, Clare Cosi left an unhappy marriage along with a job she loved: managing the historic Village Blend coffeehouse in New York’s Greenwich Village. For a decade, she was happy raising her daughter in the quiet suburbs of New Jersey; but now that Joy is grown and gone, life has gotten way too quiet for Clare. With a little cajoling from Madame, the Blend’s flamboyant, elderly owner, Clare agrees to return to her old job, and right from the start she gets one heck of a jolt. On her first morning back as Village Blend manager, Clare unlocks the front door to find her beautiful, young assistant manager unconscious in the back of the store, coffee grounds strewn everywhere. As Anabelle is rushed to the hospital, police arrive to investigate, but Detective Mike Quinn finds no sign of forced entry or foul play, and he deems it an accident. Clare disagrees; and after Quinn leaves, there are a few questions she just can’t get out of her mind, like why was the trash bin in the wrong place? If this wasn’t an accident, are her other baristas in danger? And are all NYPD detectives this attractive?

My Review: This is my new favorite series.  I love the setting –  a coffeehouse in Greenwich Village, New York City –  I can relate to the main character – Clare Cosi, and the mystery keeps me engaged.  It is difficult to figure out “who did it.”  There is usually a twist in the end, so I THINK I know, but I really don’t – I like that!  In the end it all comes together and makes perfect sense.  Again, this author has added recipes and hints for making great coffee!  I haven’t exactly read these in order but I’m on my fifth story, Murder Most Frothy, I have downloaded two of them to my Nook, and have bought the ones which aren’t available to download on my Nook.  I look forward to reading the rest.  A new one is available for pre-order titled Roast Mortem will be I believe book 9 in the series.  I plan to read them all.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 20th, 2010 at 11:56 am

This post was written bySally and is filed under Chick Lit, Cozy Mysteries, Fiction, Women's Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.