Series: Coffeehouse Mystery series

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Review: Dead to the Last Drop: A Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle + Guest Post + Giveaway

December 7, 2015 Lily B Giveaway, Guest Post, Review 17 ★★★★½

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
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Rating:
Heat Rating: one-flame

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.

Rules

Must be 13 years old or older to enter. (People under must have a parent enter for them)
Must be a follower of the blog
Winners will be notified by e-mail within 72 hours of the giveaway ending and will have 72 hours to respond to that e-mail or else a new winner will be chosen. So please do not skip the option of putting in the e-mail that you check most frequently.
Entries that do not follow the rules will be disqualified.

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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

Once Upon a Grind (Coffeehouse Mystery #14) by Cleo Coyle

October 10, 2015 Lily B Review 49 ★★★★½

Once Upon a Grind by Cleo Coyle
Series: Coffeehouse Mystery series #14
Published by Berkley on September 1st 2015
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 464
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Rating:
Heat Rating: one-flame

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 Billionaire Blend—a mystery with a sleeping beauty that is “so much fun to read.”*
It’s Fairy Tale Week in New York City, and Clare Cosi has given her coffee truck a “Jack and the Beanstalk” makeover for the Central Park festival. Her ex-husband has contributed a bag of African coffee beans with alleged magical properties, and his octogenarian mother is giving out readings of the grinds. But Clare remains skeptical—until she receives a vision that helps her find a young model’s body in the park’s woods.
The police dismiss “sleeping beauty” as the victim of a drug overdose. But when Clare uncovers evidence that points to murder, she winds up with a dangerous predator on her heels and an investigation that leads right back to her own NYPD detective boyfriend. If she doesn’t solve this mystery fast, those magic beans predict an unhappy ending.
*Once Upon a Romance

It’s a Fairy Tale Week in New York City and Central Park is hosting the festival. To get into the spirits, Clare Cosi has given her coffee truck and its employees a Jack and the Beanstalk appeal. For the most part everything seems great until her boyfriends ex shows up and insists Clare watches the kids, her own ex-husband brings magic beans with supposed magical properties, and his mother wants to give a Clare reading of the grind. Clare doesn’t want to believe it, until she has her own vision that leaves her unsettled.

When Mike’s kids go missing, it’s up to Clare to try to find them. Going by the hunch of her visions, Clare makes her way into the park’s woods in hopes of finding Marks kids. Her search not only turns up the kids, but looking for their little dog after had also led her to a pink princess body. Her ex Matt is immediately a suspect when the cop on the job jumps into the conclusion that just because Matt had to play her prince for the day, he must have been the only person who has seen her, and thus the last person in her presence.

Filled with interesting fairy tale visions, magic coffee beans, great characters, and crystal keys, Once Upon a Grind is an excellent read. I am from New York City myself, which is what originally appealed to me about this book. I was so curious, I found myself pleasantly surprised at how well Cleo Coyle handled the New York City culture and blended it seamlessly into a great story.

It made me smile and it made me laugh. Clare is an awesome character. Thought caring, kind, and determined, she is not immune to flaws. Clare has her own internal battle going on about her relationship with Mike and mowing to Washington D.C, which means giving up what she has in NYC, can she do it for the man she loves or does she stand to lose him?

I personally liked the addition of the magic beans into the story. It made it sort of enchanting, and really interesting. I looked forward to the visions because they were so creatively handled. I think Coyle did a remarkable job blending them into the story, where it almost made it sort of believable.

The secondary characters were awesome and really contributed to the whole story. I liked some of the sideline plots that were going on. Like personal issues with Clare’s employees, and Clare meets some interesting characters. I think it added to the book and made the background secondary characters come to life. I couldn’t help but allow the cast to grow on me. Thus probably why I couldn’t stand Mike’s ex wife Leila. I found her irresponsible and selfish, but at the same time I understood that she does the things she does because she is so self-centered that she does not know how else to live her life. When the time came to protect her children, she was one wild mother bear and that made me respect her more.

Enough of my rambling, this book was great. I found Once Upon a Grind to be a cozy mystery with a lot of heart. If you love cozy mystery with a bit of fairy tale and magic beans mixed into it, give this one a shot, you might not regret it. Though well over 400 pages, I found that I wasn’t bored with the story at all and already missing it.