MURDER MOST FROTHY: Coffeehouse Mystery #4 - Cleo Coyle

From the back of the book: Endless Summer, Bottomless Cups

Clare Cosi's new friend , millionaire David Mintzer, has an offer no New York barista could turn down: an all-expenses paid summer away from the sticky city. At his Hampton mansion, she'll relax, soak up the sun, and, oh yes, train the staff of his new restaurant. So Clare packs up her daughter, her former mother-in-law, and her special recipe for iced coffee for what she hopes will be one de-latte-ful summer.....

Soon, Clare tends the coffee bar at her first Hamptons gala. But the festivities come to a bitter end when an employee turns up dead in David's bathroom---a botched attempt on the millionaire's life. Thanks to the Fourth of July fireworks, no one heard any gunshots, and the police are stuck in holiday traffic. Concerned for everyone's safety, Clare begins to investigate. What she finds will keep her up at night---and it's no the java jitters......

Includes recipes and coffee-making tips!!!

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I do like how Clare gets involved in the solving of the murders that occur around her. She's taken it out of NYC this time..seems thar's murder in them thar Hamptons among the rich and big housed.

Clare takes her time and sees all varieties of suspects, all viable and up to something that could have included committing murder. She's not always right, but that doesn't keep her from continuing on the hunt and trying to get the police to listen.

Clare has to deal with her headstrong daugther, headstrong ex-mother-in-law and her headstrong ex-husband along the way....as well as the headstrong rich friend she's trying to help.

I love love love this series. It makes me want to go buy a foo-foo coffee and solve a mystery.

Five foo-foo coffee beans...

ROAST MORTEM: Coffeehouse Mystery #9 - Cleo Coyle

From the back of the book: Clare Cosi, manager and head barista of the landmrk Village Blend coffeehouse, has perfected the pulling of steaming hot espresso. But can she keep New York's Bravest from getting burned?

When the firefighters of Ladder Company 189 pull Clare's friends out of a blazing cafe, she happily comes to their rescue. As a favor to the men, she visits their firehouse kitchen to teach them the finer points of operating their newly donated espresso machine. But more than their coffee turns out to be hot. Somebody's torching cafes around the city and firefighters are beginning to die in suspicious ways...

Believing the two events are related, Clare investigates, staking out a five-borough bake sale and sniffing out clues in the pizza joints of Brooklyn. When her detective boyfriend, Mike Quinn, is pulled into the fire of a false accusation, Clare is desperate to put out the flames. But will she be able to come to Mike's rescue before someone tries to extinguish her?

Includes recipes and coffee-making tips!

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Smokin'! This is the best Coffeehouse/Clare Cosi yet! Most times a series will start to head south with nine on the shelves, but not this one. Each book is better than the last.

The mixture of the coffeehouses being torched brings Clare into the picture with credibility, which not all cozies can do with any sense of veracity. My favorites are the ones that do it in aces, and this one does it nicely roasted spades.

Okay, enough of the playing card euphemisms...

I liked seeing plenty of Clare and Mike's growing relationship as much as I liked seeing how well Clare gets along with Matt, her ex-husband and still business partner..and friend. They help each other out and the tension seems to have dissipated that was always near the surface in past books. Probably helped that Breanna, Matt's current fashionista wife, wasn't in the book except as honorable mention. Don't like her...there..it's said...

Learning more of Mike's past was enlightening. There is a rivalry between Mike Quinn the cop and his cousin Michael Quinn the firefighter, a rivalry in all things, including the attentions of Clare.

Defnitely plenty of twists and turns through the story and the 'Whaaaa..?!' moments were priceless and believable.

I was honored to have an email from Cleo Coyle not long ago asking if I'd like an advanced copy of ROAST MORTEM before it comes out on 3 Aug 2010. I emailed right back with a very composed, "Yes,yes,yes,yes...please!!" Okay, I was a wee bit giddy....sigh...there it is...

Five the girl is giddy and the book is smokin' fab beans and five diamonds to go with....

HOLIDAY GRIND: Coffeehouse Mystery #8 - Cleo Coyle

From the back of the book: The holidays bring more than eggnog lattes and gingerbread biscotti to the Village Blend. When manager and head barista Clare Cosi finds a red-suited body in the snow, she adds solving Santa's slaying to her coffeehouse menu...
Clare's grown very fond of Alfred Glockner, the part-time comic and genuinely jolly charity Santa who's been using her coffeehouse as a place to warm his mittens. When she finds him gunned down in a nearby alley, a few subtle clues convince her that Alfred's death waas something more than the tragic result of a random mugging, despite the conclusions of the police.
With Clare's boyfriend, NYPD detective Mike Quinn, distracted by a cold case of his own, and ex-husband, Matt, "investigating" this year's holiday lingerie catalogs, Clare charges ahead solo and discovers this Santa had a list that he was checking twice--and the folks on it were not very nice. Then someone tries to ice Clare, and she gets really steamed.
Between baking delicious Christmas goodies and fending off the attentions of a persistent professional Elf, Clare sets out to solve St Nick's murder. But she'd better watch out, because if she fails to stop this stone-cold killer, she may just get the biggest chill of her life
INCLUDES RECIPES AND COFFEE-MAKING TIPS!
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This one of my top favorite cozy series. I was pleased that I won this from Cleo Coyle's site, CoffeeHouseMystery and it's a signed copy! This is chock-full of a superb story and loaded with foo-foo coffee info like Tips For Being Your Own Barista, Coffehouse Terms, Guide to Roasting Terms, and (my favorite) Coffee Drink Recipes, Coffee Syrups, Caffe Latte Recipes (including the Fa-L-La Lattes in the book). And there are Holiday Recipes for the food depicted in the book too. YUM!
This one is my favorite of the series. It shows even more the growing relationship between Mike and Clare and the difficulties and wonderfulness that it is. Clare's ex-husband, Matt, is in the throes of his new marriage and all that that entails and it's causing headaches for Clare as well.

I am always curious how the author will have the main character get involved in the mystery that needs solving. Sometimes they can be a wee bit awkward, but Cleo Coyle always has Clare getting involved rather seamlessly. It's because it's someone she knows or someone she cares about asks her to get involved.

Five yummy holiday beans....

ESPRESSO SHOT: A Coffeehouse Mystery - Cleo Coyle

I started reading this series because the premise of the mysteries takes place around coffee. I loved coffee, but can't drink it these days. Still love the location of the series. It's Greenwich Village in a wonderful coffeehouse called The Grind. It's managed by Clare Cosi, who has found herself in the middle of solving murders. This is #7 and the best of the Coffeehouse Mystery series yet!
Clare is busy running The Grind and prepping her part in Matteo's, her ex-husband, upcoming wedding to Breanne Summour, uber -fashion magazine beyotch. So Clare doesn't have time for the murder of the stripper who was killed in front of her or the murder of Breanne's assistant, but finds herself dragged into the melee after her ex, her current boyfriend (the cop), and her ex-mother in law all ask her to assist.
Like cozies can be, it's a predicament that people not usually known for their mystery solving prowess find themselves in. This one works rather well and I read it with what's-going-to-happen-next glee!
Five fabu cozy mystery beans.....