A Brew to a Kill (Coffeehouse Mystery Series #11)

by Cleo Coyle

Overview

Greenwich Village coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi is rolling with a popular new trend, until someone close to her is driven to kill…
The Village Blend’s Muffin Muse coffee truck is all the rage. But a fatal hit-and-run and a shocking death at a food truck–catered wedding give Clare a clue that something bitter is brewing.

Then she opens a bag of imported coffee beans and finds ten pounds of rocks—the kind that will earn you a twenty-year jail sentence. Is her ex-husband and business partner smuggling Brazilian crack? Is her staff now in danger?

To clear up this murky brew, Clare must sweet-talk two federal agents, dupe a drug kingpin, stake out a Dragon Boat festival, and teach a cocky young undercover cop how to pull the perfect espresso—all while keeping herself and her baristas out of hot water.

Coffee. It can get a girl killed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425255506
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/06/2013
Series:	Coffeehouse Mystery Series , #11
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	158,353
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 6.75(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

CLEO COYLE is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times bestselling authors of The Coffeehouse Mysteries, now celebrating over ten years in print. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, and MGM. They live and work in New York City, where they write independently and together, including the nationally bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "A Brew to a Kill"
by .
Copyright © 2013 Cleo Coyle.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"What a pleasure to read a book by this author." —Portland Book Review

Editorial Reviews

Praise for A BREW TO A KILL:

"Coyle is not sitting back with the 11th entry (after Murder by Mocha) in her popular series.  She has taken the coffeehouse on the road, cleverly incorporating the food truck fad and introducing fresh new characters.  Newcomers to the series can easily pick up the storyline.  A collection of astonishingly varied and drool-inducing recipes is included."—Library Journal

"A foodie’s delight, packed with information on coffee and desserts, along with appended recipes and a satisfyingly rich mystery."—Kirkus Reviews

"Fans of the Coffee House series will savor another serving of Clare’s pluck as she deals with her ex-husband, her imperious ex-mother-in-law, and her current beau, a police officer."—Booklist

"Coyle... lavishly details an ethnically diverse New York City in her lively 11th coffeehouse mystery featuring Clare Cosi."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

The pseudonymous Coyle (the wife-husband writing team of Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini) lavishly details an ethnically diverse New York City in her lively 11th coffeehouse mystery featuring Clare Cosi (after 2011’s Murder by Mocha). When a hit-and-run driver grievously injures Lilly Beth Tanga, Clare’s Filipina business associate, in front of Clare’s coffeehouse, the Village Blend, Clare figures the perp must be their arch-rival Kaylie Crimini, the abrasive and pugnacious owner of a competing food truck. But as quick-acting accident investigation squad member “Mad Max” Buckman cogently reasons, the intended victim was most likely Clare herself. As Clare utilizes her multitalented group of friends—baristas, politicians, cyclists—to find out who wants her dead, she slowly uncovers a fiendish plot involving some Brazilian drug lords. Compensating for the occasional lapses in logic is an addendum of tempting recipes mentioned in the story, including one for homemade Nutella. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Clare Cosi's new food truck (the Muffin Muse) is motoring along through New York City, but the good times grind to a halt when her friend Lilly Beth Tanga is critically injured in a hit-and-run accident just on the other side of the truck. Second bombshell: Clare's business partner (and ex-husband), Matt Allegro, informs her that she was probably the target because of his involvement in a shady coffee-cum-drugs import deal from Brazil. Clare's no fool; partnering with the DEA, she runs a sting. VERDICT Coyle is not sitting back with the 11th entry (after Murder by Mocha) in her popular series. She has taken the coffeehouse on the road, cleverly incorporating the food truck fad into her plot and introducing fresh characters. Newcomers to the series can easily pick up the storyline. A collection of astonishingly varied and drool-inducing recipes is included.

Library Journal

A rivalry between food trucks becomes a deadly affair. Clare Cosi (Murder By Mocha, 2011, etc.) has invested a lot of money in the Village Blend's Muffin Muse coffee truck. So she's not happy to be harassed by a rival whose Kupcake Kart truck parks in front of Clare's coffeehouse. Although the rival is run off, the night turns deadly when Clare's friend Lilly Beth is run down by a van in front of the store. The police call it attempted murder, but although Clare does all she can to solve the crime, it may be the least of her troubles. A recent trip to Brazil has netted her ex-husband Matt, her partner and coffee buyer for the Village Blend, not only some superb new coffee beans, but the enmity of a crack dealer who made Matt an offer he did refuse. Clare and Matt's visit to the warehouse for more beans leads to the discovery of crack hidden in the shipment and their arrest by DEA agents. Luckily, Clare's main squeeze, NYPD drug specialist Mike Quinn, has the connections to set them free. Clare gets a full-time bodyguard posing as a waiter, but now she and the police must decide if she was the real target of the hit-and-run, which may have been part of a series. Politics, business rivalries, drugs--with so many possibilities, it won't be easy to solve this case. A foodie's delight, packed with information on coffee and desserts, along with appended recipes and a satisfyingly rich mystery.

Kirkus Reviews