In the thirteenth installment of the Coffeehouse
Mystery series coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi becomes
embroiled in the attempted murder of a billionaire causing
concern to both her ex husband and current squeeze.
I'll cut to the chase. Although I greatly enjoyed earlier
books in this series, I did not enjoy BILLIONAIRE BLEND.
After pondering this for a good period of time, I came to
the conclusion Clare's involvement in this particular
mystery seems a bit stretched. She has little to no
emotional connection to the victim, he is merely a customer
at the time of the bombing. She pokes her nose into the
investigation long before she is asked to, because her
coffeehouse is badly damaged in the explosion. I could
perceive the authors' attempts to make this reason enough
for her to throw herself in harm's way, but the way the
scenes played out it felt more as if she was simply being an
arrogant and nosy citizen, without any concern that her
actions would impede the work of the investigators.
I also found the first 24 chapters a bit meandering, with
side trails into Claire's relationships with the men in her
life as well as with her daughter. For staunch fans of the
series, this may be of interest, but to someone primarily
concerned with enjoying a cozy mystery it did little more
than bog down the story.
It is rare for me to be harsh in a review. What I think I
found most disappointing is that in previous books, Cleo
Coyle managed to pull off a terrific balance between the
private life of Clare and the investigations she pursues,
with realistic and understandable reasons for her
involvement. Perhaps it is just my skewed perception, but
with BILLIONAIRE BLEND, she missed the mark. I don't say the
book is not worth reading, there are worse choices you could
make, but, for me, it failed to meet my expectations.
Landmark coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi has served her
share of New York's rich and famous, but even she is
surprised by her explosive introduction to a mysterious
Internet billionaire...
When a car bomb nearly kills the charming young tech whiz
Eric Thorner, Clare comes to his aid and receives a
priceless thank you. Not only does the billionaire buy her a
barista's dream espresso machine, he hires her for an
extraordinary project: creating the world's most expensive
coffee blend. The police arrest Eric's alleged attacker, yet
death continues to surround the unlucky mogul, leading Clare
to question whether the lethal events are premeditated or
merely freak accidents.
Clare's boyfriend, NYPD detective
Mike Quinn, has a theory of his own--one Clare refuses to
believe. Meanwhile, Eric jets Clare around the world on a
head-spinning search for the very best coffee, and Clare
gets to know his world--a mesmerizing circle of money with
rivalries that could easily have turned deadly. But is this
mysterious young CEO truly marked for termination? Or is he
the one making a killing?
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