by Cleo Coyle
First published 2025
Clare Cosi faces a crisis when foot traffic at the Village Blend coffeehouse slows to a crawl. The master roaster needs fresh ideas to save the landmark shop she manages. Her staff suggests creating a Writer's Block Lounge to draw customers. Madame, the shop's elderly owner, objects strongly. She reveals that writers once gathered in the second floor lounge years ago, but their group fell apart after something terrible happened. Clare pushes ahead despite the warning. Soon aspiring novelists, playwrights, and poets fill the tables. These dedicated writers work night jobs as taxi drivers, bartenders, and Broadway ushers while pursuing their creative dreams during the day. Clare admires their determination as her crew keeps them caffeinated and motivated. The plan seems perfect until fiction becomes reality in the worst way. A hidden secret from the past surfaces and leads to murder. Clare must solve the mystery and identify the killer before more exhausted writers face permanent silence.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, adult-fiction, cozy-mystery
Vibes: atmospheric, community-focused, cozy, engaging, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family, mystery-with-past-secrets
Setting: Village Blend, New York
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
368 pages · Hardcover · Berkley
Content warnings: murder