On What Grounds

I am a die-hard cozy mystery fan. A cute theme, an endearing pet of some sort and a sprinkle of murder on top -- love it. The kitcsch-ier the better, as far as I am concerned. Perfect summer reading for me.

I also love coffee. My morning cuppa is my daily treat that gets my day started.

So, when I came across the Coffeehouse Mystery series by Cleo Coyle, I thought it would be a great blend of two of my favorite things.

I wasn't wrong.

However, this first book in the series did point out I am wrong about several things.

1. I store my coffee improperly.

2. I brew my coffee incorrectly.

3. And, I have never ever had a "proper'' espresso drink.

Which brings me to a great point about this book -- the author actually includes interesting information show more when it comes to the background theme -- coffee. There is a lot of information about coffee, brewing coffee and making coffee drinks in this book! It isn't just fluff added for ambiance.....there's great factual information (and recipes included as well).

So let's cut to the chase -- the plot. Clare Cosi has returned to New York and the job she held for 10-years, managing Village Blend, an upscale coffeehouse. The Village Blend has been in business for 100-years, but the last manager almost ran it into the ground. Clare moves back to Manhattan to repair the damage, at the request of the owner (who also happens to be her ex-mother in law).

But, just as all of her belongings have been moved into the apartment above the shop and she is settling back into her old job, Clare comes to work to discover her assistant manager unconscious at the foot of the basement stairs. The police believe it was a freak accident, but Clare knows foul play was involved.

Clare is soon on the case, aided by a police detective and her ex-husband. If they can't prove their suspicions that someone pushed Annabelle down the steps, the Village Blend might face lawsuits from Annabelle's nasty step-mother.

All in all, I liked this book. The mystery was interesting and kept my attention. I enjoyed the factual information about coffee and how it should be properly prepared. I liked the characters for the most part, but as in most cozies, there really wasn't a lot of in-depth character development. It's a light mystery read....not a deep, involved thriller. So I'm ok with that.

The cover-art is eye-catching. Always a plus with me. Recipes included -- also a nice addition to a food/beverage themed cozy.

Cleo Coyle is the pen-name for Alice Alfonsi and her husband, Marc Cerasini. There are 14 books in the series so far, with the 15th scheduled for publication in September 2016. This author duo also writes under the name Alice Kimberly. As Kimberly, they wrote the Haunted Bookshop Mystery series. There were 5 books in that series and a sixth scheduled for publication, before the series was dropped. I remember being frustrated because I loved the series....but it just halted with no explanation. I would assume it was some sort of publisher/contract snafu.....which seems to be a common occurrence unfortunately. I will just have to enjoy the Coffeehouse Mystery series and continue to hope that the Haunted Bookshop will return at some point.

I will definitely be reading more of this series!! Now....I just need to find a coffee shop that makes a proper espresso! show less

There was much I enjoyed about ON WHAT GROUNDS. I loved the setting being a historic coffeehouse in New York City. The author painted a vivid picture of the people and places in Greenwich Village. (There was a very touching scene when Clare remembers the outside wall of St. Vincent’s Hospital after 9/11). Throughout the book, there are detailed descriptions of various coffees and brewing techniques. As a coffee lover myself, I found that interesting, though it slowed the story down a bit.

My favorite part of the book was the cast of characters. Each one had a distinct and memorable personality, and the witty dialogue between them was fun to read. It was great to read a book where the female lead was 40-ish. Clare had the traits of a show more great amateur sleuth – smart, stubborn, caring and nosy. Yes, she was a major coffee snob, but I liked her. There was a great scene with Clare and Matt, their 19-year old daughter Joy and her new beau Mario. I loved watching two stubborn alpha males butt heads while Clare tried to keep things civilized for Joy’s sake.

ON WHAT GROUNDS is an entertaining cozy mystery with some nice twists along the way. The wonderfully crafted characters will draw you further into the story, and all of the java talk will make coffee lovers swoon. Recipes from The Village Blend are located at the back of the book. I’m looking forward to more from this series. show less

This cozy mystery was a darned good book with lots of moving parts (which I appreciate in a good mystery), and almost no loose threads that I could detect—even the main character’s illegal parking in NYC was brought to a conclusion (but there is the question about Mario). It ended with a satisfying surprise as to the culprit(s). I get that the theme of the series is coffee, but it was coffee overload for this tea drinker; I’ll bet coffee lovers loved it. Glad it was our buddy read pick. I would’ve never picked it up because of the coffee theme, but I enjoyed it!

"Okay, I'm sorry, but decaf drinkers annoy me."

It's fun in a "cozy mystery" sort of way to read these books dedicated to drinks, foods, or hobbies. I'm a latte girl myself and thought a fun coffee shop series sounded delish enough to try. I can already tell by this first book that I'll be continuing with this long-running series for awhile.

Some mysteries seem focused on themes without teaching the reader much about the subject, but that's certainly not the case here. It almost was too textbookish for the first half, as the author paused from the story as the main character mentally filled in techniques, different equipment, and coffee bean jargon for the discerning learner. It's clear she has passionate opinions about the right coffee show more techniques and how important it is to pay attention to pretty much everything when it comes to making a stellar cup of java.

I liked the tips - really - but it was a little too much for awhile. Finally that dies down some to let the story shine over the coffee, only keeping quips to show the character's personality and tendency to overdo coffee lore to anyone who dares ask her a question or make a compliment.

Example writing of this -

"(The thing to remember when adding sugar is to use white granulated- it disolves much faster and smoother than cubes or brown sugar.)

Some of my customers even add a bit of frothed milk, but this version of espresso "stained" with a bit of milk is technically called a caffe macchiato (machia being Italian for stain, spot, or speckle."

The main lure - besides that fragrant smell of coffee described so well it makes me crave a cup myself - is the small and intimate cozy scene of the well-known coffee shop, staffed by quirky characters who come across as convincingly but enjoyably flawed and eccentric.

It came alive and flourished under the writer's technique. Cleo Coyle may write matter-of-factly when it comes to coffee bean know-how, but she puts humor convincingly in her sentences when she's whipping up comedic scenes, tension, or amateur snooping.

I'm not sure how the character can convincingly keep running into murder victims to where it makes sense and doesn't come across as too outlandish...but for this introduction book, it fit. The murder connection was realistic enough to work (for most of the book they questioned whether it was a murder at all!), and there's plenty of incentive for her to do some investigating.

The beginning is a little dry but the middle sublime with a darker ending wrap-up on the last page. Recommended for cozy fans or coffee slurpers.

The end of the book has a generous amount of recipes, food and coffee-related. show less

When Clare Cosi agrees to return to the Village Blend as manager and part owner, she hasn't counted on being in such close proximity to her ex-husband. Nor did she count on discovering one of her employees near death after a fall down the basement stairs. Was it an unfortunate accident, or was she pushed? Clare's gut tells her it was attempted murder, and she sets out to prove it. One more thing Clare hasn't anticipated – her attraction to the taciturn detective assigned to the case!

This first-in-series mystery compares favorably to one of my favorite cozy series, Laura Childs' teashop mysteries. It has the feel of a mash-up of Childs' teashop series and her scrapbooking series. It's hard to get the balance right in the first book of show more a series. Often the mystery plot seems secondary to the introduction and development of the main character(s) and the supporting cast. This one spends more time on the mystery plot and less on character development, and that's the way I like it. I'm sure I'll get to know the regulars better as the series progresses, and I look forward to spending more time with them in the Village Blend. show less

DNF @ 11%, unabridged audio

Cozy mysteries are among my favorites. But there is more to a cozy mystery than a quaint shop, a collection of recipes and a list of famous visitors who enjoyed the delicious food in said shop.

In this story, the murder occurs in the first chapter. The remainder of what I managed to struggle through was a treatise on family histories and character background in tell-not-show mode. Here’s a clue: this audio book is eight hours long. Other, better written cozy mysteries I’ve read are between five and seven hours. After an hour’s worth of filler-writing, I’m so irritated with this mess that I don’t care if the murder is solved or if the main character is next.

Too many good cozy mysteries out there, ... show more moving on. show less

I’ve read several authors asking whether blog tours and internet presence really translate into sales, so I suppose this book review is proof for me that they do. I “met” Cleo Coyle in a blog interview where she was promoting her latest book, Holiday Grind, and the concept of coffee and mystery intrigued me sufficiently—plus her name was easily remembered—that I looked up her books on my next visit to a bookstore. There I found and promptly bought book one of her series, On What Grounds. The cover features a tipped over coffee cup, splashed dregs, and a comfortable looking room subtly overwritten with different coffee blends—mmm. Just my kind of thing.

Not that I’m going to start making super coffee, buying and grinding the show more best beans, or baking the excellent recipes the author includes. But just knowing what some of those fancy names mean is satisfaction on its own. And the mystery? That was satisfying too. And the relationships… and the intriguingly savvy coffee-house owner, Madame.

Empty-nester Clare Cosi makes a fun heroine—independent, clever, confident but not overly so. Her daughter’s left home, as has her former spouse, so she moves back into town, with cat, to run the Village Blend, only to find an unexpectedly absent assistant and unwelcome guest. The assistant’s absence is easily explained by the fact that she’s lying unconscious at the foot of the stairs, but nothing else is so simple—not even the daughter.

Add a policeman learning to savor real coffee, the unemptied trash, and a sign that mysteriously appears and disappears, and you have the ingredients for a fascinating mystery to accompany that cup of coffee. Add Clare’s coffee tips and you’ll wish you could sit in the Village Blend to drink it. Book two coming soon, I hope, to a bookshelf near me. show less