A Promising Start to the Bookstore Café Mysteries

Goodreads | Death by Coffee

Release date: May 26, 2015

Publisher: Kensington

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Synopsis:

When Krissy Hancock and her best friend Vicki decide to open a bookstore café in their new town of Pine Hills, they decide to call it “Death by Coffee,” after Krissy’s father’s most famous mystery novel. Little do they know how well the name fits…

On their very first day of business, Brendon Lawyer huffily takes his coffee…to the grave. It seems he had a severe allergy to peanuts…but how could there have been nuts in his coffee? And who stole his emergency allergy medication?

Fortunately, Krissy’s love of puzzles and mysteries leads her not only to Officer Paul Dalton, but also to many of her new neighbors, who aren’t terribly upset that the book is closed on Brendon. But one of them is a killer, and Krissy needs to read between the lies if she wants to save her new store—and live to see how this story ends…

Review:

Death by Coffee introduces readers to Krissy Hancock and her best friend Vicki as they open a bookstore café in the small town of Pine Hills—only to find themselves dealing with a murder on their very first day in business. When a customer dies from what appears to be a peanut allergy, Krissy’s curiosity quickly pulls her into the investigation.

I was initially really into this one. I liked that the mystery got moving quickly rather than spending half the book setting everything up, and the combination of a bookstore, café, small town setting, and murder was exactly the kind of cozy mystery setup I was looking for. There was definitely potential here, and I could see why this series has such a long life ahead of it.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm started to fade as the story progressed, and a lot of that came down to Krissy. I found her more frustrating than endearing at times, which made it harder for me to fully connect with the story. I wanted to like her and the people around her more than I actually did at this point.

That said, I’m not ready to give up on the series. There are enough elements here that worked for me, and honestly, when a cozy mystery series has this many books, I tend to assume there’s something worth sticking around for. I’m curious to see how the characters develop and whether Krissy becomes more likable as the series progresses.

Perfect for Readers Who Love

• Bookstore cafés

• Small town cozy mysteries

• Amateur sleuths who can’t resist a mystery

• Food and book themed settings

• Quick moving mystery setups

• Long running cozy mystery series

• Friendships and community casts

• Series where the characters have room to grow

Overall rating: 3/5

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