Murder Most Frothy
Coffee House Mystery, Book 4
Written by Cleo Coyle, Narrated by Rebecca Gibel
Unabridged Audiobook, Length: 7 hours 31 minutes
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Release Date: January 1, 2012
ASIN: B006RZGIDA
This fourth book in Cleo Coyle’s Coffee House mystery series finds the significant women in Clare Cosi’s life summering in the Hamptons as house guests of new friend David Mintzer. Clare is still earning a living as Coffee Barista but for the summer at David’s new restaurant Cup of Joe where she sees that things are set up correctly and teaches the ropes to all the new employees. Then she is able to walk the beach daily, swim, and relax in her off hours.
David sees the excellent job Clare is doing as well as her daughter Joy who is also working and dating and learning some life lessons in the process. Being so close and in the course of her investigations, Clare finds Joy being enticed by a famous boy at David’s July 4th mega-party who gives her his number which Clare then publicly tears up. In this audio version, you can really hear how much this angers Joy. Clare questions Joy actually dating a boy from a mega rich family who has made its fortune in pharmaceuticals, especially when she sees Joy and her boyfriend buying drugs.
I’m jumping ahead of myself. Did I mention that Clare’s ex-mother-in-law Madame was also a house guest looking for a summer fling, just as Joy is doing? All three ladies work a mega party on July 4th at David’s mansion on the beach. On the evening of the 4th David retires early due to a migraine. Clare checks on him as the party dies down only to see splintered wood from a bullet. She opens the door to the master bathroom to find a dead man who looked very much like David until David stumbles in after waking from a nap that got rid of his migraine.
Police were called but were very busy plus were detained by holiday traffic. Clare took it upon herself to check for evidence. She runs down to the beach and finds empty and full shell casings with a line of webbed feet, like from swimming flippers, leading into the water. Without hesitation, Clare swims out to the black and empty yacht to get the name of the boat. She fights the currents to return to shore and lands at the neighbor’s party! She spots the man in the wet suit but can do nothing publically about it in.
Clare jumped right in and did the police’s work, but they don’t feel very appreciative. David is, however, so Clare’s fears of losing her job for the summer are unfounded. As a matter of fact, Clare is given a sort of promotion at the Cup of Joe which gives her access to the private employee’s lounge, where she hears the terms the current buyer is giving. He’s embezzling money from the restaurant! Clare discovers more as well. Thankfully she has David’s ear, and the pieces of the puzzle start to come together.
This book was full of surprise twists and turns and plots twisting with subplots and winding up at totally different endings than suspected. I can’t exactly call this a cozy but I can’t call it hard boiled; it is somewhere in between, perhaps a hard cozy? Whatever exact genre this might fit into, it was extremely enjoyable and had elements of suspense, surprise, humor, love, parenting, and investigations by an amateur who is becoming better with each book! Definitely recommended.
– Sandie Herron
