Thursday, August 25, 2011

Review & Giveaway: Murder by Mocha by Cleo Coyle


Hardcover, 320 pages
Expected publication: August 2nd 2011 by Berkley Hardcover
ISBN: 0425241432 (ISBN13: 9780425241431)
primary language English

Clare Cosi, general manager and  barista at The Village Blend coffeehouse along with her ex-mother-in-law, Madame Blance Dubois, have entered a business agreement with Madame's old friend, Alica. They will be marketing a new product called Mocha Magic Coffee, which will be comprised of the blends beans, chocolate by Voss and an herbal aphrodisiac from Alicia. The new coffee drink will be only be sold at Aphrodite's Village, an online website for women run by seven Aphrodite "sisters." 

After Detective Mike Quinn, Clare's love interest, convinces Clare that the Mocha Magic Coffee has something a little more potent than herbs in it, a substance that could be illegal, she is afraid news of this will ruin the coffeeshop. Being part of the Aphrodite Village has proved to be very profitable for the sisters and the competition is fierce to get one of those coveted slots. Is someone covering up what is actually in the product just to amp up the sales figures? 

When greedy ambitions and revenge overcome a moral conscience, the results are murderous. At the launch party, one of the "sisters" is murdered followed by another one of the sisters meeting an untimely death. Clare starts her own investigation but as the bodies start stacking up and it's plain to see Clare could be the next one, she knows it's time to stop the murderer.  ASAP!

Meanwhile, Mike is working on a cold case that might have a bearing on Madame and Alicia's relationship in the past. Madame and Alicia aren't too forthcoming about any of those circumstances. One more thing for Clare to worry about as her daughter Joy is now dating a young police officer involved in the investigation.

Murder by Mocha is the 10th in series and there is enough for new reader to not feel like they are missing anything yet not too repetitive for readers who have read the series from the beginning.  It's like visiting with old friends in each book but with each successive story, we get a little bit more insights into one or two of the main characters.

Coyle presents her most complicated case so far.The prologue grabbed me in this one right away as it was narrated by the killer and interspersed among the chapters the reader gets more input from the killer's point of view. Towards the end of the books there were a few over the top scenarios but they did not detract from the overall well constructed mystery. I enjoyed my visit in the Village and all the recipes at the end very much. 4****

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Berkley in exchange for my honest opinion.

To celebrate the release of Murder by Mocha, Berkley is allowing me to give away 1 copy of the book. Open to US only. Deadline to enter is September 2nd at 5 PM. This is the first time I have used the doc. ( I know, where have I been?) Please leave a comment saying you filled out form just to make sure I didn't mess up somewhere. Pain in the patoot? Yeah, definitely, but humor me this one time. Thanks!




Good luck!

16 comments:

  1. I love the angle that there may be something more sinister in the blend they are preparing, and for that alone, the book sounds like it would be intriguing to me. This was a great review, and I could tell just by reading it that you enjoyed this one a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like this series and am looking foward to reading this book. I filled out the form.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Filled out the form. I'm a big fan of this series and looking forward to Murder by Mocha.
    kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. It sounds like a well written series! Thanks for the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I filled out the form! It seemed easy enough, I hope it makes thing easier for you too! Looking forward to this cozy for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Kaye,

    i filled out the form.......

    thanx for the giveaway!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I filled out the form and it was easy.

    I'm a fan of the Cleo Coyle coffeehouse series and am nearly caught up with them. I'd love to win a copy of this book. Thanks for the chance!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I follow the Mystery Lovers Kitchen blog and the female half of this writing team (Alice) is on there. I really like her blog posts so I'm thinking I'd like to read the series. I'm glad to hear they stand alone in case I want to read just this one. It does sound quite good.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Kaye,

    I filled out the form. =)
    Thanks for the giveaway, I love this series!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I entered! I love her books and haven't read this one :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I filled out the form. I actually would love to win so that I can surprise my sister with the book. She's become a huge fan since I introduced her to the series. :)

    Jen
    Romancing the Book

    ReplyDelete
  12. I filled out the form. It seemed to work. (I just struggled with creating a form myself, so I know where you're coming from.) The mocha murder mystery intrigues me--the title made me think "not a bad way to go." I have a craving for a mocha right now!

    ReplyDelete
  13. There seems no end to the variations for these cozies!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I absolutely love this series and this would be just WONDERFUL=)
    Thanks bunches!
    Luvdaylilies at bellsouth dot net

    ReplyDelete
  15. I filled out the form.
    I love this series. I've read all her books so far.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I filled out the form.
    Thank you for the giveaway! I'm looking forward to reading this book, I have the entire series here in my shelf! :)

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.