French Pressed, Coffehouse Mystery #6

Well this book was phenomenal! There were all sorts of twists and turns. This book reintroduces us to Chef Tommy Keitel, whom is both Joy’s boss and lover. He just also happens to be married. We are also introduced to two new characters, both detectives, Detective Sue Ellen Bass and Detective Lori Soles

            We start off with a thrilling beginning in Chef Keitel’s restaurant with Madame and Clare. They have just finished eating and Clare decides she wants to see Joy. While in the kitchen, she sees her daughter get berated and attacked by the sous chef, Brigitte. Clare steps in and saves her. Afterwards a grateful Joy thanks her mother.    

            We soon step into a hot scene with Clare and her hunky boyfriend, Detective Quinn. And just when we think their relationship is going to go to the next level, who should want to walk in after a month long absence? That’s right, Matt Allegro.

            The night ends with a bang when Clare and Matt get a phone call from a distraught Joy, who enters a friend’s apartment to find him dead from a stab wound. They rush over and Clare goes into detective mode, helping out the leading detective. The police release Joy after questioning her and Clare and they then return home.

            To keep an eye on Joy, Clare sells Keitel on her coffee menu for his restaurant. After Keitel gets her signed up, he takes her to his cheese cave and makes a pass at her, which is witnessed by Joy. She storms out and disappears. We later found out she went to her grandmother and told her everything. Joy then returns for work where Tommy breaks up with her publicly and then fires her. After the restaurant closes, Joy returns to collect her things and Clare finds her in the kitchen with Tommy’s body, who just happens to have one of Joy’s knives buried in him. After the police question them, Joy is arrested and charged with the murder of Tommy Keitel.

            Clare gets Mike to help her solve the case.  Along the way to solving the investigation, Clare inadvertently helped Mike solve his case of the May-September gang and they also across more bodies.

            The ending was a little different than in the previous book because the murderer was kind of obvious before the climax, but there were still some surprises that could only be revealed in the Cleo Coyle way. The motive was surprising, though.

            In the epilogue, we meet up with Clare in the hospital. We see Mike Quinn try to convince Clare to go after her PI license, to which she pretty much says maybe too. He just wants her to get comfortable with a gun if she’s always going to get herself into sticky situations all the time. I'm glad to see Joy leaving because she was working my last nerve. She was an annoying daughter. I'm glad this happen to her because she needed a reality check.

Murder Most Frothy, Coffeehouse Mystery #4

OK. So this book was decent but was a long way away from being the best in the series. I mean I'm glad Clare got back on the sex horse again, but there were some things that pissed me off.     Let's start with the fact that David didn't think he was the target. Even though he and the victim looked just alike. So here's how it went down. There was a fourth of July party that was going down at David's Hampton's house. Clare and David's coffee staff were serving, including Joy, and the guests were admiring the fireworks. While the fireworks were going off, someone got off 3 shots and luckily 1 hit its target. Joy really liked the barista who was shot and so did everyone else. Thinking she can find some clues, Clare goes outside. She finds the shell casings and some strange footprints. She leads the police to the shell casings and the footprints, but the footprints have been washed away.
    Along for the Hamptons ride is Joy, Clare's daughter, and Madame, Clare's ex mother-in-law. Joy works for David so Clare can keep an eye on her and Madame is looking for a summer fling.
     While out walking one night, Clare spots someone with those weird shaped footprints and follows them into the water. She spots the boats name and then swims back to shore. She wanders into the neighbor's party looking for David, to make sure he is ok. Before she can find him, she is yanked by security and is being forced out. He is stopped by Matt, who says she is with him.
    When she gets back to David's, she finds him poisoned and they rush him to the hospital. turns out he was poisoned by MSG. He stays in the hospital and Clare is more determined than ever to find the killer. The suspect list consists of a rich heiress, a maitre'd, and a maid.
    The killer wasn't who I thought it was. He didn't even have anything to do with the story. Then again, Coyle did keep the surprise factor that I love oh so much. All I can say is the ending will keep you on the edge of your seat, but at the same time, its funny.

Decaffeinated Corpse, Coffeehouse Mystery #5

This was was not my favorite in the series at all. I mean I loved the plot but one of the murderers was predictable. As for the other, that came out of nowhere. Ok so let me fill you in.

            This story revolves around one of Matt’s friends, Ric, who is a coffee grower in Brazil. Back in Brazil, he’s cultivated the world’s first perfect decaffeinated coffee bean. He smuggled the bean into the county so that he could showcase the bean at the international coffee convention. He’s also come to the US to get a patent for his plant. Clare and her baristas are the first to try the coffee and love it. The Village Blend is going to be the only coffee house to sell it. Things are going well until the creator shows up beaten up behind the Village Blend and his keycard stolen.

            Clare, being the crime solver she is, decides to figure out why he was beaten up and mugged. A few days later, she ends up investigating two murders. She enlists her typical round of detectives, including Detective Mike Quinn and Matt.

            You would think that since Clare has gotten some of her friends out of some serious jams, Matt would appreciate her snooping a little more. He even went as far as calling her Nancy Drew. He didn’t have a problem with her snooping until Breanne came along. What a jackass. You know since she is good at it and all. He doesn’t start to appreciate it in the slightest until he’s arrested. He deserved it anyway.

The plot wasn’t the problem in this book. It was actually decent. My problem was the side plot. Newsflash: Breanne is a bitch! I do not like the person Matt has become since he’s been with her. She is so possessive with him, its ridiculous. Also, Joy is working my absolute last nerve. It’s like she’s trying to see how far she can push her mother’s buttons. If I was Clare, I would slap the sane back in her. What the hell was she thinking coming to the decaffeinated coffee affair with her new boyfriend, who happens to be her much older, very married, BOSS. That girl has lost it. Clare had every right to be pissed. Her daughter has gone from snorting crack to doing a married man. She’s lost it.

All in all, near the end, the murders became evident and so did the motives. The shock factor that Coyle is known for was still there. Still a good read. The characters are really starting to develop and we're starting to understand who they really are and why they act the way they do.

Latte Trouble, Coffehouse Mystery #3

     The third book in the Coffeehouse series revolves around New York's Fashion Week. Lottie Harmon, a village regular, has decided to host a party to show her new collection, Java Jewelry. She's hosting it at the Blend because her collection is based on coffee. Everything seems to be going well. The place is packed, the people are loving the drinks, and people are talking about the jewelry line. As for the staff, everyone is doing good, including the new girl Moira, except Tucker, who seems to have problems with men. Things go from bad to worse for Tucker, when his ex-boyfriend, Ricki Flatt, shows up with his new beau. As Tucker walks to deliver an espresso to Lottie Harmon, Ricki, takes the drink and downs half, the other half is drunk my his date. Not long afterwards both men start having problems breathing and Ricki soon dies. In this book we meet 2 new detectives nicknamed Starksy and Hut. Tucker starts to talk and is arrested for the crime and taken to Rikers.
     With the suspect being Tucker, Clare decides to take it upon herself to solve the crime, since Detective Mike Quinn is out on leave. She ropes her mother-in-law Madame into the investigation and her ex-husband. Who, since he's met Breanne Summour, has decided that Clare's investigations are just her way of meddling.
     The investigation progresses and soon Clare learns things about Lottie that may put her in danger. She also gains a list of suspects, one of who is killed. During the investigation, Clare is kidnapped and taken to Fen's nightclub where he gives her grain alcohol. After he is done with her, she stumbles into the club bathroom where she finds none other than her daughter, Joy, getting ready to do cocaine.
    In the end, Clare gets her killer, right before a fashion show, but not before it cost another person their life. I knew who the killing
    This wasn't my favorite book of the 3 in the series. For one, Joy is working my nerves. She acts like she doesn't have a problem and she is soo naive about life. Another character I don't much care for is Breanne Summour. Her character is so superfical. Perhaps if she was more comfortable in those expensive clothes and her own moisturized skin, she wouldn't be pulling on Matteo the way she did in the book. The third thing I didn't like about this book, was the fact that the murderer was kind of obvious. I predicted the murderer after the first murder took place. but the motive became apparent after Lottie Harmon told about her past. Nonetheless, the story was good, but it could have been great.

Through The Grinder, Coffeehouse Mystery #2

     Clare Cosi is back into her snooping ways in the second book in the coffeehouse series. Female customers of the Village Blend begin dying in what appears to be suicides. Clare has a little trouble believing the victims would commit suicide and when Detective Mike Quinn shows up, she believes her intuition is right on the money. Clare has to navigate the online/speed dating world to get her killer, while all the while putting herself in harm’s way.
     The book starts off in the coffeehouse as usual with the first victim encouraging Joy to try the online/speed dating world. Joy agrees and signs up for SinglesNYC. Since Clare thinks online dating is dangerous, she signs up as well and meets Brooks Newman, who is a weasel. Not long after that the first victim “commits suicide”. The Village Blend hosts a church sponsored speed dating event. Since two of the members didn’t show up, Clare convinces one of the blend patrons to participate while she takes the other spot. In this event, she meets up again with Brooks Newman, who is still a weasel. Close to the end of the event, she meets Bruce Bowman, who she nicknames Mr. Right, and gives him her number to set up a future date.
     Once Detective Quinn finds out she’s dating Bruce, he tells her that he’s a person of interest in the deaths of the 3 victims because he’s tied to all them. Clare refuses to believe it and sets out to prove Detective Quinn is wrong by proving Bruce innocent. The deeper she dives into the mystery, the more her life is in danger.
     In the end, Clare found out who the murderer was, after detective Quinn told her and me, the reader. Let me just say that after reading 90% of the book, I didn’t have a clue who the murderer was. When I found out whom it was, my jaw dropped and I was speechless (and if you know me, you know that’s a feat). Cleo Coyle did an awesome job keeping this murderer under lock and key.
     In summary, the coffee talk was kept to a minimum, the characters are developing their own unique personalities, and the murderers and motives are pretty much a secret until the very end. The author is getting better and better. I can’t wait until the next book.