"Can Clare Cosi make this Fairy Tale have a happy ending before her own Prince Charming gives up?"
Reviewed by Teresa Cross
Posted December 29, 2014
Mystery | Holiday | Mystery Cozy
Cleo Coyle did it again with the latest cozy mystery novel
ONCE UPON A GRIND
from the Coffeehouse Mystery series! The writing
duo and husband and wife,
Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini use a pseudonym, Cleo
Coyle to write and with
every story they bring their characters alive. I feel when
I open the first page I
walk back into the Village Blend and follow my friends on
their next adventure
and I cannot get enough.
In the ONCE UPON A GRIND, Clare Cosi, the Village Blend
Coffeehouse
manager is on her way to solving the next mystery that has
her business partner
and ex-husband arrested for a murder she is out to prove
he did not commit.
With The Fairy Tale theme in New York leaving a princess
found drugged and
Clare's coffeehouse supplying "magic" coffee beans that
help her have visions,
will this be enough for her to be able to get to the
bottom things before it is too
late? She may have to walk with the high and mighty at a
secret Prince Charming
Club to get her answers.
Cleo Coyle is one of my favorite authors because the
storyline is always
unpredictable as it should be in a mystery, and the
characters keep me coming
back. They are down to earth, next-door kind of people
with personalities that
keeps you laughing. As you read you cannot help but relate
to any one of them.
Everyone probably knows an Esther or Madame and the flavor
that they bring to
life. Cleo Coyle's writing connects me to the characters
in a way that I can feel
the emotions of fear, confusion, and uncertainty. I love
the excitement of
finishing Cleo Coyle's books, thinking about it for days
afterwards, and thinking I
cannot wait for more!
A powerful description of the setting keeps you intrigued
with Cleo Coyle's
mystery novels as well. Taking place in New York, as I
read I can almost hear the
cars passing buy on the busy streets as Clare walks out of
her coffee shop to
feeling the chill in the air on an October day. I can even
smell and taste my
favorite espresso drink when one is being made to calm
someone's nerves.
(Warning: do not attempt to read without a cup of coffee.)
This is how a great
writer makes the New York Times Bestseller list when they
are able to connect all
your senses at once in their writing.
The Coffeehouse Mystery series is easy to follow
and is written to where you
can pick up with anyone of them to read and easily catch
up to who is who in the
storyline. Though I recommend reading the whole series
because you do not
want to miss one exciting detail! ONCE UPON A GRIND by
Cleo Coyle satisfies my
rich taste for a yummy mystery. A plus as always with her
novels is the delicious
recipes at the end and with this one a guide to coffee
tasseography is included as
well.
SUMMARY
From New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle comes an
enchanting new entry in her "satisfyingly rich"
Coffeehouse Mystery series. Coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi and her merry band of
baristas give their coffee truck a ""Jack and the
Beanstalk"" makeover for a Fairy Tale Festival in New
York's
Central Park. Clare’s coffee hunter ex-husband contributes
a
bag of African beans with alleged magical properties, and
his octogenarian mother entertains customers with readings
of the grinds. Clare remains skeptical about Matt's
""magic"" beans, until she receives a vision that helps
her
find a young model’s body in the park's woods. The police dismiss “sleeping beauty” as the victim of a
drug
overdose, but Clare uncovers evidence that points to a
list
of suspects—from a New York Giant to quite a few wicked
witches—and a cold case murder that reaches back to the
Cold
War. Now Clare is really in the woods with a dangerous predator
on her heels and an investigation that leads from a secret
Prince Charming Club right back to her own NYPD detective
boyfriend. If she doesn't solve this mystery, those magic
beans predict an unhappy ending. Includes wicked good recipes!
What do you think about this review?
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