Mystery, coffee and tech fans, your new fun read is Billionaire Blend by Cleo Coyle

Cleo Coyle's coffeehouse mystery series just might be my favorite series, and I read a lot of them! It's set in a New York coffeehouse and manages to stay relevant, timely, fun and fascinating. This latest one, Billionaire Blend, is special in that it's partly set in New York, and partly set all over the world. It's a great read and makes a great gift. My review is below. And the blue roses on the cover do play a role in the mystery! Find out more at get recipes (I'm making skillet lasagna from the book tomorrow!) at coffeehousemystery.com. And I link to Amazon, where you can also get the Kindle ebook edition, because I get a small kickback, but I encourage you to buy books from your favorite bookseller, and use your local library. Want to help your favorite authors? Request their books from your local bookstore. It shows them that there's demand.

Cleo Coyle has done it again with an intricate, page-turning mystery, romantic drama between Village Blend owner Clare Cosi and her now-living-in-DC cop boyfriend Mike Quinn as well as that between Clare's daughter Joy and her cop boyfriend, Emmanuel Franco, and techie drama galore. While billionaires seem to be a dime a dozen ever since Christian Grey rolled onto the scene (don't miss the great Fifty Shades joke embedded in Billionaire Blend), this one is different.

Eric Thorner is a tech whiz billionaire who wants the best, including the best coffee. He's used to getting his way, and he wants Clare's coffee expertise--as well as her body. When he almost dies in an explosion outside her coffee shop, he tries to sweep her off her feet and makes her an offer that neither she nor her ex-husband and current business partner Matteo (Matt) Allegro can refuse. Together the three travel the globe, which is a new twist for this series; usually we only hear about Matt's coffee sourcing exploits when he's returned. While one of the things I love best about this series is its New York-centered view and tidbits of history about the city, it was fascinating to see Clare get out of her familiar settings and to learn about how coffee affects people in various locations.

There's always been a nod to the old-fashioned way of doing things in this series, even though it's firmly set in modern times. From Matt's mother's elegance to the Village Blend's sense of artistic and Big Apple history, Clare's family and business have never been about doing things faster and speedier. So the fun technological prowess of Thorner and his company, from bathroom holograms to very smart phones to the seemingly omniscient Miss House, who gives Clare directions and seems to have eyes everywhere, is a treat.

This is one of the most tightly plotted series I've read. I do recommend reading them in order, though technically you don't have to. There are so many little clues and red herrings and references here that make this book both a page-turning mystery and simply a fun read. Even after you're done with the whodunnit, there are recipes galore, including skillet lasagna, which also give a bit of backstory to the characters and when/why they've made each recipe. Coyle adds depth to all the ongoing relationships in the series, romantic and familial--the sideline about Joy's restaurant job in France and the unexpected opportunity to cook for fancy billionaires is a delight--and lets Clare's smarts shine through while never making anything easy to guess. Enjoy this with your favorite cup of coffee, and be prepared to keep refilling it as you stay glued to the story.

2 cozy mysteries I highly recommend

You may or may not know I'm pretty into cozy mysteries. Here are the 2 latest from series I am obsessed with, and I highly recommend both these mysteries and the series. Both are also on Twitter (@sueannjaffarian and @CleoCoyle) and are awesome.


Hide and Snoop by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Odelia Grey series)
Buy from Amazon, Kindle, Nook or IndieBound (for independent bookstores)

My review:

I've been a dedicated reader of the Odelia Grey series for a few years, so much so that picking up the latest mystery feels like revisiting old friends I haven't seen in a while. This book is my favorite so far, because it shows a lot of character and relationship development for Odelia and Greg when a young child enters their life. The office politics are ratcheted way up, as "corpse magnet" Odelia copes with not having her old boss Steele to, well, boss her around. Instead, she has the ultimate mean girl, who dumps her young niece with a horrified Odelia, but her heart is melted as fast as you can say "Cheesehead Squirrel" (the girl's nickname for Odelia). This is a fast-paced, exciting mystery that kept me guessing, as always, and tugged at my own heartstrings. Odelia is as gutsy, stubborn and outspoken as ever, but she also shows a new side of herself that reminds me why I am a fan of this series in the first place, because it's not just about murders, but about love and family and how far people will go in the name of them (and yes, sometimes that includes murder). An excellent read, and if you're new to the series, you can start with this one, though I'd recommend reading my way through the Odelia Grey series from the beginning.

A Brew to a Kill by Cleo Coyle (coffeeshop mystery series)
Buy from Amazon, Kindle, Nook or IndieBound (for independent bookstores, I'm linking to all Cleo Coyle's titles)

My review:

I'm a relatively new reader of Cleo Coyle's coffeeshop series, but it has everything I like about cozy mysteries: family, romance, small business, food and smart investigation. It also has plenty of coffee trivia and New York City ambience and in this case, food trucks, along with a dose of city politics and rivalry! The Village Blend decides to branch out with a coffee and dessert truck, which causes internal strife before Clare and her ex-husband Matteo, as well as external strife when her rival sees her as stiff competition. When her friend gets run over outside the Village Blend, it gets personal and Clare takes on a new mission to hunt down the hit and run driver, which includes posing as a wedding cake buyer. Once again, this series stays extremely current while also giving us insight into the Village Blend's and New York City's past, and ups the intrigue and personal drama between Clare, Matteo and Clare's partner Mike Quinn, when the three have to share living space. This is a fast-paced mystery with an amateur sleuth who proves she's tough but also has quite a heart, one that foodies especially will enjoy.