Tag Archives: Reader-Friendly Products

Review: Dark Side of the Moon by Ahmad Taylor

by

Dark Side of the Moon
Ahmad Taylor

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
Are You Afraid of the Dark? Take the Suspense-filled, Action-packed journey to the Dark Side of the Moon. When former government agent Derrick Thomas awakens to find his family missing and in harm’s way, he must do battle against a clandestine organization intent on keeping him from discovering the truth about a global cover-up and the whereabouts of his family. Government agent Derrick Thomas awakes from a disturbing dream to find a message from his father asking for help. As he sets out to lend his assistance he quickly discovers that not only can he not find his father, but that a clandestine government agency is out to derail his search before it can begin. After the murders of two of his father’s colleagues and the further disappearances of his mother and sister, Derrick is thrust into a fight for his own life and a struggle to uncover details of a secret government experiment which his family may be part of. Will he be able to save them and uncover the truth before he becomes the next victim of an organization bent on keeping him silent?

My Thoughts:
When Ahmad Taylor contacted me about his book, I was immediately interested. After all, I love science fiction, and I’m a space junkie. In fact, just before reading it, I’d finished yet another re-watch of the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon.

Dark Side of the Moon is everything it’s title implies. Good science fiction mixed with gripping suspense and really believable action sequences. I loved the futuristic touches that showed us how much this was not present day – specifying glucose, for example, instead of merely candy.

If some of the dialogue had unusual phrasing (it didn’t quite flow the way normal speech should in a few passages), it didn’t adversely affect the story at all, and I loved the characters, especially protagonist Derrick.

Taylor is a talented storyteller, and the world he created for Dark Side of the Moon felt plausible and even highly possible.

If you like science fiction, you simply MUST read this book.

Goes well with Junior Mints and Popcorn.

Review: Ride the Tiger, by Pat Silver-Lasky

by

Ride the Tiger
by Pat Silver-Lasky

Product Description (from Amazon.com):

Fame, Money and Sex. That’s what Hollywood is all about. Madelaine Brent wanted them all and she always got everything she wanted. But sometimes everything is too much and somebody can get murdered.

My Thoughts:

When I was offered the chance to read this book, Ride the Tiger, by Pat Silver-Lasky, I jumped at it. While it takes place in a time not too far from our own, it feels like old Hollywood, with divas and directors and intrigue around every corner.

I loved the dual opening – the very first chapter with a murder on the beach, and then immediately moving to Maddie on her medical vacation to Mexico for a “rejuvenation” treatment. (My parents live in Mexico, and while their medical care is excellent, they’ve told me enough stories to know it’s also much more casual than here in the states – so those scenes really rang true.)

Madelaine – Maddie – reminds me of so many movie stars – living her outward life and inner life on completely separate planes, and her husband Charles with his British accent also seemed like the perfect archetype.

I can’t really speak about more characters – I’m hesitant to even bring up Maddie’s male roommate in Mexico – because while this is a story about Maddie’s life, it’s also mystery/thriller (this is why I never talk about plot – I cannot bear giving spoilers).

I thought Silver-Lasky’s characters were wonderful. Chilling, compelling, poignant, and even bitchy, when the time was right. Her plot, also, was gripping. I was never bored, and while I suspected the killer fairly early, there were enough twists and turns to keep me reading all the way til the end.

I also loved the way Silver-Lasky’s knowledge of Hollywood history shone through the novel. As I said, it takes place in what is essentially the present, but she made it feel like something from the golden age of film, with rich descriptions and perfect dialogue as well as lovely references to places and people of both then and now.

If you take a chance on only one new-to-you author in the next year, Pat Silver-Lasky should be that author, and Ride the Tiger should be the book.

Goes well with an egg-white omelet and pink grapefruit juice.

Review: Saving Gracie, by Jill Teitelman

by

Saving Gracie
Jill Teitelman

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
“Why didn’t I ask where the Women’s Lib train was going before I jumped on?” Ruth Kooperman wants to know. Saving Gracie is the story of her rocky journey from carefree East Village poet to last-minute mother to single suburban mom. (I’m pretty sure God didn’t expect me to deal with menopause and toilet training at the same time.”) And when demonic middle-age mortality threatens to steal her dearest friend, dark female humor to the rescue. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll laugh again. This memoir-like tale covers all the bases: late-life motherhood and dating, single parenting, marriage, divorce and the humorous side of even the darkest times.

My Thoughts:

When I was offered a copy of Saving Gracie to review, I jumped at the chance because the description seemed like something I’d really enjoy. I was not wrong. In fact, I’m incredibly glad to have been introduced to Ms. Teitelman’s writing, because if she writes anything else in this wonderful voice, I HAVE to read it.

Saving Gracie is at once a sort of late-bloomer’s coming-of-age story and a romance. The first part is the internal development of the novel’s protagonist (and first-person narrator) Ruth Kooperman. At the beginning of the story, Ruth is fiercely independent, child-free (and approaching an age at which childbirth is unwise if not impossible) and single, prone to bad choices in men. Through the course of the novel we watch her grow into motherhood, into stable relationships, and finally, into a relatively sane, relatively stable woman.

But that’s just part of the story. It’s also a romance. Or really, three romances. It’s a romance between Ruth and the two men who occupy her heart during the course of the novel, Jake, with whom she has a child, but not a marriage, and Marty, whom she marries. It’s a romance between Ruth and her son Joey. And finally, most importantly, it’s a romance of sisterhood between Ruth and Gracie – one of the sane mothers she meets while checking out a school for Joey.

Like Ruth, Gracie has a wicked sense of humor. But she’s also got a twenty-plus-year-old marriage (to Max, who seems like a great person, and who I wish I had as a neighbor), and, in many ways, represents what Ruth would have been if she’d ever found the nice (rich) Jewish boy her parents wished she would.

The friendship between Ruth and Gracie doesn’t even begin until a third of the book is over, but its impact is still strong, and really, we need that much setup – and that much growth from Ruth – before either we (or Ruth) are ready for Gracie’s arrival. We need Ruth to be open for a new kind of friendship.

Despite a poignant ending, I thoroughly enjoyed Saving Gracie. I thought the characters were all very real, and, having grown up on the east coast (though I’m Italian and not Jewish), I could hear the cadences of their speech in my head, even though there’s no dialect written into the dialogue.

Saving Gracie is the kind of novel that you live inside while you’re reading it. When I would pull myself away to do something mundane like eat or let the dogs out, I found myself wishing I was in Boston in winter, instead of Texas where it’s 80 degrees in December.

Put plainly: this book is amazing, and everyone should go read it, now.

Goes well with bagels, cream cheese, and a cup of mushroom soup.

Review: Whirlpool, by Eileen Enwright Hodgetts

by

Whirlpool
Eileen Enwright Hodgetts

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
The year is 1923 and the jazz age is in full swing. Evangeline Murray, a young widow from Ohio, is recruited by the Women’s Freedom Movement to represent the spirit of modern womanhood by going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Evangeline eagerly embraces her opportunity to achieve fame and fortune, until she sees the power of the River and begins to understand the risk she is taking. Joshua McClaren, an enigmatic battle-scarred veteran of World War I, and the best boatman on the river, reluctantly agrees to launch the headstrong Evangeline. Joshua has seen hundreds of bodies surface in the Whirlpool below the Falls, and has faced death on the battlefields of Flanders and has no respect for the charming, impetuous Mrs. Murray, and her desire for fame. Before the barrel can be launched, each of them will have to face their own demons, painful secrets will be revealed and the Niagara Rivers will claim two more lives. Inspired by true stories of the Falls, Whirlpool is a romance, an adventure, and the closest that most of us will ever come to taking the fateful plunge over the Falls.Whirlpool is a fiction that is based on reality. Seven people have tried to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Four have succeeded and three have died. The first person to make the attempt was Annie Taylor, a middle aged school teacher from Michigan who made a successful journey in 1901. Barrel riding at Niagara Falls is now forbidden by law, but at the beginning of the 20th century Niagara was a haven for daredevils of all types, and many of their exploits are included in the novel.

My Thoughts:
We live in an age where people put anything and everything on YouTube, to the point that, even when something disturbs us, we’re largely unaffected by it. If someone were shoot Niagara Falls in a barrel today, we’d share the video on Facebook, and make rude comments about what they were wearing. In 1923, however, stunts like that weren’t widely disseminated by smartphones and wifi tablets – it was up to the person doing it to make a splash (yes, that was a pun) with the press.

Whirlpool is, in part, about a young widow going over the falls in a barrel to make a political statement about women’s equality (something, I might point out, that we’re still fighting for almost a hundred years later), and that character, Evangeline Murray is a good choice for the role: independent, smart, and with little to tie her to the rest of the world.

But while Whirlpool is about Evangeline, it isn’t only about her. She’s part of a quartet of women – trouser-wearing Cornelia, simpering Iris, and sturdy Nell are the other three – and all of them are equally three-dimensional, interesting, and different from the rest. Reading about them is watching feminism launch its own wooden barrel, and I found myself nodding my head to various things each said.

Then there are the men. Standout, of course is Joshua McClaren, Nell’s widowed brother, who is a WWI vet and an expert on the river and, as much as anyone can be, the Falls.

(The Falls, it must be said, are a character – or characters – in their own right.)

Of course there are the inevitable romances, political exchanges and near-death experiences, but what, in other hands, would play like a Silhouette romance is, thanks to author Hodgetts’ deft care, a really compelling story of people who could be real, and situations that feel like the real life stories they were based upon.

Whirlpool is an excellent read, not just because of the period, not just because of the history lessons it sneaks in, but because, first and foremost, it’s a really good story.

Goes well with: A hot toddy. And maybe some bread pudding.

Review: The Preacher and the Prostitute, by Brenda Barrett

by

The Preacher and the Prostitute
by Brenda Barrett

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
Maribel struggled to forget her past, when she used to dabble in prostitution, made porn videos and was a nude poster girl. She became a Christian and turned her life around and made a decision to use her singing talent to give glory to God. However, she quickly realized that a young, single, attractive, talented girl was never going to remain unnoticed at church. First, she captures the attention of a jealous church sister who is determined to dig into her mysterious past and then the new pastor who seemed to reciprocate her affection. After falling in love with him, her past rears its ugly head and Maribel realizes that she has to tell her new-found love the truth about her history before she can accept his marriage proposal. Can a preacher and an ex- prostitute be happy together?

My Thoughts:
When author Brenda Barrett saw my intro post at a website where bloggers and authors can connect with each other and sent me an email, it actually got lost in my spam filter for two weeks. When I finally rescued her message, I initially wrote a polite note telling her that while I am all about supporting women writers, her book is a Christian romance, and that’s not a genre I’m really fond of. She asked me to give it a try, anyway, promising that it wasn’t “preachy,” and because I felt bad about having had her mail in digital limbo I agreed.

You’d think, on the surface, that I wouldn’t be able to relate to The Preacher and the Prostitute at all. After all, like the author, the lead character, Maribel, is Jamaican-born, and the flavor of Christianity represented in the book is something that brings to mind words like “gospel choir,” and “Baptist,” whereas I’m a culturally-Catholic, currently-vacillating-between-Episcopalian-and-Unitarian-Universalist, Italian/German/Welsh woman who was born in New Jersey and grew up in Colorado and California, and spent time in South Dakota before moving to Texas.

The thing is, fundamentally, this book isn’t about ethnicity or religion, it’s about something much more universal: women finding themselves. Maribel’s story could be any woman’s story. How many of us are one paycheck away from turning to money-making methods of questionable morality? How many of us just want to find the right partner, the best friends? How many of us have a deep, dark secret we haven’t shared with our spouse or partner? How many of us are trying to rebuild ourselves, not in the image society first presented to us, but in our OWN image?

This is the story that Ms. Barrett tells, through Maribel and her journey, and she tells it deftly. The scenes with all the church women, dressed to the nines and talking gossip and gospel in balanced ratios sing with truth, and bring nods of understanding accompanied by amused smiles and audible chuckling. Maribel’s relationship with her “best friend” is also incredibly truthful, as is her battle with herself about what, and when, to share her story.

Barrett handles dialogue in a way that suggests a musical ear. Every character is distinct on the page, which makes them live more in the mind’s eye (and ear). Nothing seemed overly contrived – not too formal, not too far into caricature.

As for the Christian aspect of the book, yes, many of the scenes are set in and around church, and yes, Maribel’s partner is a pastor, but Barrett was right when she told me the book wasn’t preachy. It’s simply an honest depiction of one slice of the cultural pie, a portrait of people who try to live their faith in a world that doesn’t always make doing so easy.

Bottom line: I went into reading The Preacher and the Prostitute expecting a formula romance with heavy Christian overtones, and what I got was a rich story with romantic elements that were well-balanced by universal truths and a thematic question: Will he like me if he knows who I really am?

Goes well with…hot tea and butter cookies. I recommend Pepperidge Farm Milanos.

Ms. Barrett is doing a giveaway of her book, which you can participate in (one lucky winner will receive a $50 gift card to Amazon). Link: http://fiwibooks.com/giveaways/book-review-blog-tour-and-amazon-50-gift-card-giveaway

Review: The Legend of Rachel Petersen, by J.T. Baroni

by

The Legend of Rachel Petersen
by J.T. Baroni

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
Did his book raise the dead? Outraged when The Post Gazette overlooks him for a promotion, thirty-nine year old sports writer, Christian Kane quits and moves to the country to write fiction. Inspiration flows from a grave he stumbles upon in the woods. He compiles The Legend of Rachel Petersen, a fascinating story revolving around the dead twelve year old girl lying beneath the weathered tombstone. His book becomes a Best Seller; then Hollywood makes it in to a blockbuster movie. Kane becomes rich and famous, but only to have Rachel rise from the grave to seek revenge on him for slandering her name!

My Thoughts:
When J.T. Baroni asked me to read his book, The Legend of Rachel Petersen, I said yes because I love reading dark fiction in the autumn, and The Legend of Rachel Petersen was a perfect choice.

At first, this book is the story of Christian Kane, a sports journalist who is perceived as being obsolete because of his lack of tech-savvy. He doesn’t own his own computer, and carries a cell phone only because it’s required by his boss. At first, his wife, Shelby, comes across as a bit of a bimbo. The reality is that – tech knowledge aside – neither is true. The Kanes move to the woods and Christian decides to try writing fiction.

Anyone who has ever tried to come up with a fresh take on vampires knows that doing so is incredibly difficult. Christian is no exception, and it’s because of Shelby’s insightful comments that he scraps his formulaic story. On a walk through the woods, he stumbles across the grave of a little girl, and that becomes his inspiration.

At that point what could have been an ordinary ghost story becomes the literary equivalent of nesting dolls, with stories, within stories, within stories. There’s Kane’s own novel about the story of this long-dead child’s grave being discovered by two young boys tracking a deer; then there’s the boys’ story of discovering dead girl’s – the eponymous Rachel’s – identity and the truth of her life and death, and then there’s the dual story told to them, and seen by us, that explains why she was buried in the middle of the woods.

It could be a cheesy set-up, but Baroni never lets us forget which level of the tale we’re in, and his writing voice does a good job at changing to reflect each strata of story.

Also deftly handled is the twist at the end of the novel, which surprised me even though I’d been warned that a twist was coming.

The Legend of Rachel Petersen is J.T. Baroni’s debut novel. I look forward to his next work, because this tale was gripping and ghostly in just the right proportions.

Goes well with venison stew and apple cider.

Review: The Sparrow and the Hawk by Meg Lacey

by

The Sparrow and the Hawk
by Meg Lacey

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
Jillie Harte, code name the Sparrow, a documentary film maker is an agent for the NAS (Normal, Abnormal, Strange) Agency. Her assignment-find The Carmaletta Choker before it falls into the wrong hands and destroys the world. Franklin Doherty and associates are suspected of having the choker, and they are definitely the wrong hands! To get close to Franklin, Jillie is producing a film on “Decoration, Fashion and Accessories Throughout History,” featuring his antique collection. Her assignment is complicated by Griff Ryland, her new, hot cameraman, who is also looking for the necklace. Griff is an enigma. Is he friend or foe? And why is she so distracted by his “pure sex on a stick” appeal? Like the Sparrow, Griff, aka the Hawk, needs to retrieve the choker. It disappeared from his dimension years before, and his job is to bring it back. Since he can shapeshift into a hawk or a mountain lion at a moment’s notice, Griff feels certain of success. But he doesn’t bargain for a sassy, sexy redhead-and for his overwhelming urge to settle their differences in bed. Now Griff and Jillie must not only overcome the deadly dark forces who want the choker, but they must also face their developing relationship. And they thought saving the world from evil and chaos was hard!!!!

My Thoughts:

When I received the ARC of The Sparrow and the Hawk, the latest novel from Meg Lacey, I was already excited. I’d been asked to review it, and was already in love with the story just from the description.

Reading it only cemented my love for this genre-blurring adventure. It’s a paranormal romance, but it’s also an urban fantasy, a black comedy, and a mystery/thriller with a dash of horror. It’s fast-paced, funny, and completely absorbing, and the only flaw is that it’s BOOK ONE in an intended trilogy, so while the core story is wrapped up, there are enough dangling threads to leave readers like me knotted up in frustration and anticipation.

Let’s talk about the main characters: Jillie is an unconventional heroine. Sure, she works for the NAS (Normal, Abnormal, Strange) agency, but she’s also very real – and flawed. She’s a little impulsive and she acts like she has something to prove – as if she’s not working for her own fulfillment but to please her dead mother. Then there’s Griff, whose back story unfolds more slowly. We, the reader, know he’s a shapeshifter, but Jillie does not, though she does know (as do we all) that he’s sex on a stick. (A note about Lacey’s world building here: I like that Griff’s shapeshifting comes at a cost – he has to expend real energy in order to do it, which means it’s not an instant fix to every problem.)

The other characters, sinister Declan, flamboyant Franklin, and Nigel (who seems to run hot and cold) as well as the women (Perdita, especially) are all vivid, as well. Franklin’s house really caught my attention, reminding me of a cross between the Winchester Mystery House and the game board from Clue. (When Jillie makes an offhand remark about the game of Clue, I felt vindicated.) And Franklin himself is a character I would have liked to know better. When we meet him is mostly-dark, but I think seeing his progression – descent, even – would make an interesting pre-quel.

Lacey knows how to set a scene. From Franklin’s house to the Arizona desert to a sort of otherspace within each where the walls between normal and strange completely crumble, there is always a sense of place. You can’t always track the journey from point A to point B, but you always know what each point looks and feels like.

Bottom line? I loved this novel. I’m looking forward to a time when my review queue is a little thinner so I can re-read it. I CANNOT WAIT for the next in the series.

Goes well with…hot tea and a chocolate chip muffin.

Review: Secrets Clad in Light, by Kyra Gregory

by

Secrets Clad in Light
by Kyra Gregory

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
London, 1888. Henry decides to abandon all social conventions and rescue his lover, Seth, from an abusive household. He has replayed the moment in his head and has always known it wouldn’t be easy. He has never thought that it would be Seth who would cut his time too short. With Seth barely breathing, Henry must make the hardest decision of his life: try to save Seth, possibly condemning him to a life of suffering, or let him pass on in peace. But the arrival of a young stranger forces Henry’s hand, doing little to ease his qualms of uncertainty as everything he thought he knew changes.

Caught between self-doubt and his own selfish desires Henry learns to fight it all, using this stranger as a light to shine on what he hopes is the right path… All the while aware that there is still so much he doesn’t yet know…

My Thoughts:
Like many mystery lovers, my introduction to Victorian England was through the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. While Kyra Gregory’s novel Secrets Clad in Light doesn’t feature any detectives at all, she’s captured an underside of London that Holmes and his Baker Street irregulars would find familiar. Add to the general mood a subterranean lair in the sewer tunnels and, later, and abandoned bakery turned into a home, and the vivid descriptions will have you (at least at times) wishing for a hot shower and a change of clothes.

But a sense of place is only part of a story, and in the other parts – character and plot – Gregory does not disappoint. Her lead character, Henry is complex and three-dimensional. You see his love for Seth, his concern for him, his concern that he is forcing a relationship, or not making the right choices. In the mysterious Mary, part healer, part helpmate, we glimpse the way women of this period were still hobbled by the conventions of society. And then there’s Seth, Henry’s love, who is injured in the first pages of this novel, and remains essentially mute through the end of the book. In other hands, such a character would fade into near-nonexistence, but Gregory uses body language and non-verbal noise to convey his thoughts and feelings, and leaves us with a man who is no less vivid as his speaking associates.

Also of note is Gregory’s choice to do a period romance about two men. While the story is, itself, chaste (especially as modern romances go), in the late 19th century, such a relationship was certainly not one that would ever be displayed openly – even if “openly” meant “to other denizens of the sewers.” Still, the book puts plot and setting above social commentary. The lovers happen to both be men, but that relationship serves the story without overpowering it.

It struck me, as I was writing interview questions (check back here on 9/25 for the answers) for the author, that the late 19th century, right at the cusp of electricity obliterating gaslight, was really the last time that people in the modern world could live “off the grid.” I have to wonder if that knowledge inspired the author at all, but whether or not it did, Secrets Clad in Light is eminently readable, and even has a compelling twist ending.

Goes well with a steaming mug of English tea (Darjeeling perhaps?) and a bowl of stew.

Retro Reading: Murder Ink, by Dylis Wynn

by

Murder Ink
Dylis Wynn

Originally published in 1977, Murder Ink is subtitled “The mystery lover’s companion,” and that description is absolutely adequate, because this book is a collection of essays, reviews, trivia and tidbits all about mystery fiction. Gems include an ad-flyer for the perfect Gothic nightgown, a discussion of pen names, and even one author’s fantasy of dining with Nero Wolfe.

My experience with Murder Ink goes back to 1984. My stepfather picked up a copy on a discount table, and it quickly became mine. After all, I’m constantly reading, and I love mysteries.

Ms. Wynn compiled a revised version of Murder Ink in 1994, but I don’t have a copy of it (yet). She also released a volume called Murderess Ink that focused on women in mysteries, which I’ve read, but don’t own.

Even though the original Murder Ink is pretty dated now, I still love it, and I find myself responding to different selections at different times. For example, a recent game of CLUE made me remember the poem in Murder Ink all about the game.

Review: A Brew to a Kill by Cleo Coyle

by

A Brew to a Kill
Cleo Coyle

Product Description (from Amazon.com):

Coffee. It can get a girl killed.

A shocking hit-and-run in front of her Village Blend coffeehouse spurs Clare Cosi into action. A divorced, single mom in her forties, Clare is also a dedicated sleuth, and she’s determined to track down this ruthless driver who ran down an innocent friend and customer. In the meantime, her ex-husband Matt, the shop’s globetrotting coffee buyer, sources some amazing new beans from Brazil. But he soon discovers that he’s importing more than coffee, and Clare may have been the real target of that deadly driver. Can ex-husband and wife work together to solve this mystery? Or will their newest brew lead to murder? Includes recipes.

My Thoughts

Cleo Coyle’s new Coffeehouse Mysteries have been coming out in early August for the last couple of years, which means I always use birthday money to buy them for myself. A Brew to a Kill was one of the best birthday gifts I’ve ever received. :)

This new installment of the caffeinated adventures of Clare Cosi and company incorporates two nifty modern trends, social media and cupcakes, and adds a mystery that introduces us to an old colleague of Mike Quinn’s who might be almost as cool (but only almost) as well as new friends, but rest assured the entire gang from the Village Blend is well represented, in all their slam-poetry and art-creating glory, and ex-husband Matt and his mother Madame are both deeply involved in the mystery that involves Brazilian coffee, Asian cooking, drug trafficking, class snobbery, and a mobile version of the Village Blend (if only there was such a coffee van in my neighborhood – Starbucks should deliver, at least in suburban Texas).

Of course there’s a secondary storyline about the ongoing romance between Clare and Mike, but their relationship gets a new twist thrown into it in this book. To borrow a phrase from a favorite character in a totally different genre and medium, “Spoilers, Sweetie.” Translation: I don’t do plot reveals – you’ll have to read the actual book.

What I love about Coyle’s characters is that in both the Coffeehouse Mysteries and in the Haunted Bookshop series (which next installment cannot come soon enough) the protagonists are adults. Clare is in her forties, and Penelope is a single mother. They both have multi-dimensional lives with jobs, homes, and friends, and come across as completely real people. The men, too, are very vivid. Both Mike and Matteo are guys who could easily step off the page. (I confess, however, that in my mind’s eye Mike Quinn is played by Chris Noth and Matteo is played by Michael Sheen, who is Welsh, yes, but has that dark, curly hair that is generic European).

And then there are the recipes. I’ve tried several of the recipes in the Coffeehouse books (the Donut Shop Muffins are a favorite) and not only are they well written, but they never fail to please. For someone who is notorious for having a book with her at every meal, the fact that the author gives us the ability to reproduce key foods makes the books live longer.

A Brew to a Kill was an excellent read, and I’m excited to know that another Coffeehouse Mystery is due out before Christmas. Long live Cleo Coyle! Long live the Village Blend.

Goes well with: a double cappuccino and anything chocolate (I read my copy while enjoying chocolate raspberry birthday cake).