Roast Mortem is the 9th book in the Coffeehouse Mysteries set in NYC. Clare Cosi is the now empty nester single mother who is in business with her ex and her ex mother in law while managing the Village Blend in Greenwich Village. This makes for some interesting dynamics at times in the stories but overall it is a unique and well constructed set of characters that have logical roles and reactions in the different mysteries.
Those who like coffee or well written mysteries will like this series. A familiarity with NYC is a bonus for recognizing destinations and neighborhood that are parts of the stories but definitely is not a requirement to enjoy them.
Clare is a strong woman and her intelligence and logic are well demonstrated in this book. I appreciate the research and accuracy of the facts in firefighting and NYC history that are included in the story. I had not read this series in 3-4 years and am happy to have started reading it again and look forward to finishing up the series.
Roast Mortem by Cleo Coyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Coffee lovers will definitely enjoy this book, especially if you are at all interested in how an espresso machine works. Clare Cosi, manager of Village Blends, installs an espresso machine while tryign to solve a mystery. Through this installation and the serving of cafe drinks, there is plenty of description on how the machine and the process works. The possible pitfalls are detailed as well. For those not interested, and I admit after awhile that included me, you can just skim over those parts similar to a recipe description in cooking/baking cozy.
I enjoy this series and hadn't read it in a number of years. Now I am excited to catch up on the books I hadn't read yet. Clare is a more mature sleuth but not a senior citizen. Thus, she is a rarer amateur detective. Another pleasant difference is her civilian meddling isn't met with as much opposition as many books present. The mystery itself is well written and has quite a surprise ending on who the guilty party is.
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Challenge Prompts
The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:
- Library Love #LibraryLoveChallenge Book #34
- AtoZ #2022AtoZReadingChallenge #AlphabetSoupChallenge R
- Finishing the Series #FinishingTheSeries2022 Series: 22 Book #1
- Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022 Book #46
- Back List Reader #Backlistreader Book #37
- Cruisin thru Cozies Free choice #29
- Cloak & Dagger #CloakDaggerChal Book #47
- Craving for Cozies Book #45
- Medical Examiner Challenge 2 Toe Tags
- Beachcomber Challenge
- Crime Scene- restaurant; garage
- Weapon- fire; asphyxiation
- Detectives- Clare Cosi
- Victims- Bigsby B; Jamie Noonan
- Six Shooter Challenge Target #82 Shot #1
- BooklistQueen #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2022 #15. With a Two Word Title
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