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.

7 course cozy murder mystery meal article at Bookish

I wrote my first piece for Bookish about cozy food mysteries (or should that be food cozy mysteries?) and walk you through a murder mystery dinner in seven courses, including wine, cheese, soup, steak, mashed potatoes, cupcakes and coffee! The piece didn't include the book covers so I'm including them below, with links to Amazon paperback and Kindle (yes, I do get a small cut if you buy books through my links, and greatly appreciate all of you who have, but I also recommend checking out cozies at your local library, as I often do). If you like the article, I'd love it if you'd click "like" at the bottom and/or pass it on. Thanks for reading! Some corrections are in the works and these are the book titles I was writing about, but I wanted to post now while I have a moment, lots of catching up to do this week.


How to Dine on Killer Wine (Kindle edition)


Clobbered by Camembert (Kindle edition)


A Spoonful of Murder (Kindle edition)


Affairs of Steak (Kindle edition)


If Mashed Potatoes Could Dance (Kindle edition)


Red Velvet Revenge (Kindle edition)


A Brew to a Kill (Kindle edition)

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.

Want to read: Ink Flamingos by Karen E. Olson

Ink Flamingos is the fourth and final (boo) book in Karen E. Olsen's tattoo mystery series starring Las Vegas tattoo artist and amateur sleuth Brett Kavanaugh. I discovered the series at Bookpeople in Austin (before I'd gotten my tattoo) last year and have been hooked ever since. I'm six chapters in and totally hooked!

I love that there are elements of romance, family (her brother is her landlord), Brett running her own business, Las Vegas life, and, of course, tattoos and artwork and how selling your art when it's inked on someone's body becomes so personal, plus that tattoos always play an intimate role in the murders. These are fast-paced and wild and fun and I'm sad this is the last of the series but highly recommend them. I look forward to reading Olson's other mysteries as well.



Author Karen E. Olson writes on her blog:

I have a lot of people emailing me, telling me they love the series and would love to see it continue. There are two things going on here. First, the publisher has not extended my contract. Second, I'm done with the series. I think four books is perfectly fine for a cozy, amateur sleuth mystery series. Sometimes I have issues with those cozy series that go on and on and on, and I wonder why the amateur sleuth doesn't decide to move out of town, disappear for a while because once you've got dead bodies piling up in your life, I'd think you'd get a real complex about it. I know Brett does. That's why this has to be the last one. She's done. Done with solving crimes. She's onto bigger and better things in her life.

I hope you'll check out the book. It's a fun, fast read and Brett is dodging tattoo bloggers and stalkers. The plot is intensely personal for her.

3 June books (and 2 others) I cannot wait to read: Ink Flamingos, Uncommon Criminals, Fins are Forever

Here are three books I'm thrilled will be coming out in June and cannot wait to devour. Like, plan to buy on release day or stalk in case I can find them sooner.







2 more YA books I also want to read:

Read this: Murder in Vein: A Fang-in-Cheek Mystery by Sue Ann Jaffarian plus my interview

I interviewed one of my favorite writers, mystery author Sue Ann Jaffarian, for She Writes; click to read her answers to these questions:

1. You write three mystery series (Odelia Gray, Ghost of Granny Apples and Fang-in-Cheek) and hold a full-time paralegal job. How do you juggle writing and having a day job, and keep track of so many protagonists?

2. All three series feature amateur, accidental and/or reluctant detectives, and fall under the category of cozy mysteries. What do you like best about writing cozy mysteries and what drew you to this type of mystery?

3. Your latest book, Murder in Vein, finds waitress and student Madison Rose suddenly at the mercy of some kindhearted vampires who take her in after she’s almost murdered. The book also pokes fun at the vampire craze, featuring people who desperately want to become vampires to the point of committing crimes. What do you think of people who call themselves vampires, and did you do any fun research for this book?

4. Location is very important to each of your series, whether it’s Los Angeles or Julian, California, for Ghost a La Mode or varying locations, like a corn maze, for Odelia Gray, yet it’s something that can get overlooked, especially with such twisting and turning plots you come up with. How do you see the role of place in your books, and do you have a favorite setting of the ones you’ve written about?

5. Odelia Gray is a feisty, plus-size amateur sleuth who’s often forging ahead in her investigations even when she’s been warned by those who love her to lay low. You’ve been lauded for her portrayal of women of size by the likes of actress Camryn Manheim and others. How do Odelia’s size and her personality intersect, and do you see Odelia as a role model?

Also check out her blog, where I got these images from:





Here's my review of her new vampire mystery Murder in Vein: A Fang-in-Cheek Mystery from Amazon:

I'm a fan of Sue Ann Jaffarian's other mystery series, but don't tend to read vampire stories so wasn't sure what I would think, but I loved this whodunnit, which delves into the world of vampires and vampire envy. Madison Rose finds herself shocked to discover that vampires are real, and that she almost died because of them. She goes to live with her new vampire "grandparents," who wind up becoming the only family she has, only to become the target of those who think if they kill her, they are on the fast track to permanent (as opposed to retractable) fangs. Jaffarian sends up vampire envy while introducing a whole new cast of characters, including a vampire council, with her own twist on the genre. She manages to make this a believable world, as she did with Ghost a la Mode, and Madison is an engaging heroine who is by turns wary and curious about the undercover community that takes her in. If you're a Jaffarian fan, you'll definitely want to check this out, and if you're a newcomer to her work, you'll enjoy the sly humor as well as the covens, clubs and coffins that populate Murder in Vein.