Maxine "Max" O'Hara is getting her brewpub ready to host her first Oktoberfest weekend. She has hired an oompah band, and she and her friends, amongst them Candy, will make it a girls' night out of checking out the band. One of the musicians seems to know Candy, who suddenly becomes rather rude and flippant. Another one of the musicians, Doodle Dowdy, leaves Max voicemails saying he has something to discuss, but when Max arrives at the meeting place, Doodle is dead, his head buried in his sousaphone.

I was in the mood for a cozy mystery, and I was rewarded with a story that surpassed my expectations tenfold! I was a little concerned at the beginning because it was obvious it was part of a series, it is book 3 of Brewing Trouble, but Ms. Tremel weaves all the necessary information so seamlessly, I felt I was one of Max's Marauders almost right away. The characters are so well fleshed out that I could picture them clearly, although there was little emphasis on their physical appearances, except maybe for Max and Jake, Max's boyfriend; I wasn't too sure how they looked or how old they are supposed to be, or maybe this is intentional or mentioned in the previous books. I very much appreciated that the elderly characters were not window dressing; they are active participants in the narrative, and they have fabulous backstories as well.

A ROOM WITH A BREW (what a clever title, by the way!) takes place in Pittsburgh, and I never realized how little I really knew of this city, and their awesome food specialties, which titillated my taste buds throughout; the yummy recipes are included at the end, and they are super easy as well! A ROOM WITH A BREW is such an easy read, very well written, and it flows so well that I started reading and never stopped. I think it really stands out among cozy mysteries because the plot is very intricate and involves several characters; it kept me guessing until the end, and there was none of the habitual filler which is sometimes a slight issue with that genre. Gosh, A ROOM WITH A BREW is a really, really great book!