by Cleo Coyle
Part of Coffeehouse Mystery
First published 2009
Clare Cosi manages the Village Blend coffeehouse in New York City, and she has landed an unusual gig: building a gourmet coffee and dessert bar for her ex-husband Matteo's upcoming wedding. The bride is Breanne Summour, a formidable magazine editor who treats the entire event like a military campaign and everyone around her like collateral damage. Clare keeps her head down and focuses on the espresso pulls and pastry selection. Then people in Breanne's orbit start dying. The deaths look like accidents, but they stack up fast enough to feel like something else entirely. Clare knows this crowd, knows the tensions running beneath the polished surface of the wedding preparations, and she cannot convince herself to look away. The closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes that whoever is responsible may not be finished. Clare has to figure out who is behind the deaths before the wedding day arrives and the body count climbs higher. The stakes are personal in ways that go beyond professional loyalty, and solving this one will cost her more than a few sleepless nights behind the bar.
Genres: mystery, crime, adult-fiction, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, engaging, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, ex-spouse-involvement, multiple-murders, personal-stakes
Setting: New York City, Village Blend
350 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Berkley
Content warnings: death, murder