Part of Bookstore Cafe Mystery, book 14
First published 2025
Krissy Hancock leaves her bookstore café Death by Coffee in Pine Hills, Ohio to visit family in California. She discovers a copycat business called Death by Java run by Valerie, her high school rival who bullied her years ago. Valerie has mimicked everything about Krissy's store, including having a resident cat, though this one terrorizes customers instead of charming them. Krissy witnesses Valerie arguing bitterly with a health inspector who seems determined to shut down the business. Despite her annoyance at being copied, Krissy tries to help her struggling former classmate navigate the crisis. When the health inspector turns up dead inside Death by Java, Valerie becomes the prime suspect. Krissy must use her amateur detective skills to clear her rival's name while her boyfriend works with local police. She gathers evidence piece by piece, determined to solve the case before Valerie faces murder charges for a crime she may not have committed.
Genres: fiction, mystery, contemporary, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth
Vibes: character-driven, cozy, engaging, lighthearted, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, enemies-to-allies, found-family, small-town-mystery
Setting: Pine Hills, Ohio, California, Death by Coffee, Death by Java
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
320 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Kensington Cozies
Content warnings: death, murder