Dead to the Last Drop: A Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle
Series: Coffeehouse Mystery series #15
Published by Berkley on December 1st 2015
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
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I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Once Upon a Grind comes a new installment in the Coffeehouse Mystery series.After the White House asks coffeehouse manager and master roaster Clare Cosi to consult on the coffee service for a Rose Garden Wedding, she discovers a historic pot was used as a CIA “dead drop” decades before. Now long-simmering secrets boil over, scalding Clare and the people around her… Clare’s visit to the nation’s capital is off to a graceful start. Her octogenarian employer is bunking with her in a charming Georgetown mansion, and she's invited to work with a respected curator on the Smithsonian's culinary salute to coffee in America. Unfortunately, Clare’s new Village Blend DC is struggling to earn a profit—until its second floor jazz club attracts a high-profile fan, the college-age daughter of the U.S. President. Clare’s stock rises as the First Lady befriends her, but she soon learns a stark lesson: Washington can be murder. First a stylish State Department employee suspiciously collapses in her coffeehouse. Then the President’s daughter goes missing. Is she a runaway bride or is something more sinister in play? After another deadly twist, Clare is on the run with her NYPD detective boyfriend. Branded an enemy of the state, she must piece together clues and uncover the truth before her life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness come to a bitter end. Includes great American recipes!
Cleo Coyle strikes again as she brings a new exciting release in her Coffeehouse Mystery Dead to the Last Drop. Clare Cosi has taken a major step by moving to DC to be closer to her boyfriend Mike Quinn. In DC she is managing a new location of Village Blend, DC opened by her owner. Things aren’t going so great for Clare. The opening day was a bust and her Chef with his ironclad contract is causing Clare lots of problems. The problems start to seem minor when the First Daughter, going by the musician’s name on Abby Lane shows up at the coffee house to perform with Gardener and his band mates. Suddenly Clare gets more than what she was willing to bargain for. People who work for the government dying, and the violent kidnapping of the First Daughter has Clare wanted and on the run. Not to mention Mike Quinn, Clare’s boyfriend is having his own share of troubles with his boss and as the two find themselves on the run from special agents, they must find not only the person who committed the crime but also how Quinn’s boss might be connected to it.
Wow! This book literally started out in the middle of the action, hooked me and did NOT let me go. It was fun, it was entertaining, and for book 15 of the series, it was NOT boring.
Somehow Clare moving to DC has opened up like a new chapter not only in Clare’s life but also in the series. It definitely felt like a small revamp, but it was also oh so good.
Coyle really knows how to bring it, with well fleshed out characters that keep you smiling. Her writing has become so familiar, it’s like coming home with each new book, and catching up with old friends.
Clare and her employees are as spunky as ever. Clare and Mike are as wonderful as ever and fear not long time lovers of the Coffeehouse mysteries because Coyle has found and clever way to enfold the old characters into the new book and the new scene. So not only does Matt make an appearance in the book, but the banter between him and Clare is as easy, familiar, and funny as ever.
I loved the writing style. It was fast paced and the chapters are short which is great for a mom like me that absolutely hates putting the book down in the middle of a chapter. There is a lot going on, there is a bit of action, a mystery, and I enjoyed the scenes of Clare and Mike on the run as Clare is retelling Mike the events that happen prior to the kidnapping as they are trying to find who did it before Clare is brought in by the agents.
If you are a fan of cozy mysteries and have not yet read this series, I strongly suggest you give this one a shot. What are you waiting for?
On the Run in Washington with Cleo Coyle’s new Coffeehouse Mystery
There are worse fates than being on the run with a handsome federal agent—like spending the rest of your natural life in a federal penitentiary. That’s the dilemma Clare Cosi is facing when White House officials come to believe she aided and abetted kidnappers of the President’s daughter and conspired to end the life of a State Department employee.
These capital crimes are the last thing this hard-working single mom and coffeehouse manager expects to be accused of when she opens a new shop in our nation’s capital, but she must solve both mysteries—and discover who framed her—or she may discover firsthand…
Washington is murder.
If you are new to our long-running Coffeehouse Mystery series, don’t hestitate to pick up DEAD TO THE LAST DROP. You can read it as a stand-alone story, and if you like the ride, you have fourteen more in our series to enjoy. But don’t miss this Washington entry. It’s embedded with twists, turns, and hidden secrets about our nation’s capital that were inspired by my own experiences while living, studying, and working in D.C.
To read the prologue and first chapter, click here.
DEAD TO THE LAST DROP is also a culinary mystery, with an appendix of more than 25 wonderful recipes, including a fantastic version of Black Magic Cake with a “secret ingredient” chocolate frosting to die for.
To see the book’s free Recipe Guide, click here.
Here are some of the places Clare Cosi
will take you on her visit to Washington…
THE WHITE HOUSE
Clare makes two trips to this grand destination, one at the request of the First Lady, who shares a private lunch with her in the Diplomatic Reception Room, a magnificent oval-shaped space famously redecorated by Jacqueline Kennedy and once used by Franklin D. Roosevelt for his legendary fireside chats.
GEORGETOWN
This picturesque neighborhood boasts some of the finest examples of Federal period architecture in the country. Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Graham Bell, and John F. Kennedy are among the past residents. It’s here that Clare lands a posh housesitting gig on “Cox’s Row” in a charming mansion that was once part of the Underground Railroad.
THE SMITHSONIAN
A glittering black-tie party brings Clare to “America’s Attic,” the nickname of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Clare witnesses a fateful meeting here, in front of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, one of the many fascinating artifacts that celebrate American culture, creativity, and cuisine. Yes, cuisine! As a master roaster and expert on the bean, Clare is asked to contribute her ideas to one of the museum’s newest exhibits, Coffee and the Presidency.
THE JAZZ SPACE
This fictional location is based on a real jazz club in Washington called Blues Alley. The mouthwatering menu of our Jazz Space becomes an important plot point in DEAD TO THE LAST DROP, and the recipes for many of the menu’s items are included in the book. You can even visit our Jazz Space online. Come to our website CoffeehouseMystery.com to learn more.
CLEO’S NEWSLETTER: Contests, recipes, news, fun facts, and videos. To sign up, simply write an e-mail that says “sign me up” and send it to CoffeehouseMystery@gmail(dot)com You will receive a reply with links to past newsletters that include free recipes.
TITLE CHECKLIST: Get a free title checklist with mini summaries of all 15 Coffeehouse Mysteries. To download the list as a PDF document, click here.
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CLEO’S NEWSLETTER: Contests, recipes, news, fun facts, and videos. To sign up, simply write an e-mail that says “sign me up” and send it to CoffeehouseMystery@gmail(dot)com You will receive a reply with links to past newsletters that include free recipes.
About Cleo Coyle
CLEO COYLE is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times bestselling authors of the Coffeehouse Mysteries, now celebrating over ten years in print. Alice has worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C., and New York City, and has written young adult and children’s books. A former magazine editor, Marc has authored espionage thrillers and nonfiction for adults and children. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, and MGM. They live and work in New York City, where they write independently and together, including the national bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries.
PHOTO CREDITS:
1 – Black Magic Cake photo by Alice Alfonsi
2—Alice Alfonsi and her husband, Marc Cerasini, who write as Cleo Coyle. Photo by Alice Alfonsi
3 – White House photo courtesy HiraV, Wiki Commons
4 – Cox’s Row of Georgetown courtesy Library of Congress
5 – Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers courtesy Wiki Commons
6 – Jazz Space photo, no credit
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