Penelope Thornton-McClure and her bookshop's ghost-in-residence, Jack Shepard, are back on a new case in this delightful paranormal mystery from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle.
A big bestseller leads to small-town trouble.
Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure didn't believe in ghosts, until she was haunted by the hard-boiled spirit of 1940s private investigator Jack Shepard. Now Jack is back on the job, and Pen is eternally grateful.
After an elegant new customer has a breakdown in her shop, Penelope suspects there is something bogus behind the biggest bestseller of the year. This popular potboiler is so hot that folks in her tiny Rhode Island town are dying to read it-literally. First one customer turns up dead, followed by another mysterious fatality connected to the book, which Pen discovers is more than just fiction. Now, with the help of her gumshoe ghost, Pen must solve the real-life cold case behind the bogus bestseller before the killer closes the book on her.
From Cleo Coyle, the New York Times bestselling author of Dead Cold Brew, comes a delicious new entry in the "fun and gripping" (the Huffington Post) Coffeehouse Mystery seriesA smartphone dating game turns the Village Blend into a hookup hotspot-until a gunshot turns the landmark coffeehouse into a crime scene. As Village Blend manager Clare Cosi fixes a date for her wedding, her ex-husband is making dates through smartphone swipes. Clare has mixed feelings about these match-ups happening in her coffeehouse. Even her octogenarian employer is selecting suitors by screenshot! But business is booming, and Clare works hard to keep the espresso shots flowing. Then one night, another kind of shot leaves a dead body for her to find. The corpse is an entrepreneur who used dating apps with reckless abandon-breaking hearts along the way. The NYPD quickly arrests one of the heartbreaker's recent conquests. But the suspect's sister tearfully swears her sibling was framed. Clare not only finds reason to believe it, she fears the real killer will strike again. Now Clare is "swiping" through suspects in her own shop-with the help of her globetrotting ex-husband, a man who's spent his life hunting for coffee and women. Together they're determined to find justice before another shot rings out.
"From Cleo Coyle, the New York Times bestselling author of Dead to the Last Drop, comes a gripping new entry in the Coffeehouse Mystery series.
The perfect proposal leads to a chilling cold case ...
Coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi sheds tears of joy when her NYPD detective boyfriend surprises her with an engagement ring. But her bridal bliss is put on hold when a chilling mystery brings a wave of deadly danger to those she holds dear.
After everything Clare and Mike have been through, they deserve a little bit of happily ever after. So when Mike decides to put a ring on Clare's finger, Clare's eccentric octogenarian employer is there to help. She donates the perfect coffee-colored diamonds to include in the setting and the name of a world-famous jeweler who happens to be an old family friend. But while the engagement is steeped in perfection, the celebration is not long lived.
First, a grim-faced attorney interrupts their party with a mysterious letter bequeathing a strange hidden treasure to Clare's daughter. Next, the renowned jeweler who designed Clare's ring is found poisoned in his shop. Both events appear to be connected to a cold-case murder involving a sunken ship, an Italian curse, a suspiciously charming jewel thief, and a shocking family secret. With deadly trouble brewing, Clare must track down clues in some of New York's most secret places before an old vendetta starts producing fresh corpses.
With recipes to die for, including how to make cold brew coffee at home!"
From the New York Times bestselling author of Once upon a Grind comes an exciting new installment in the Coffeehouse Mystery series.
Clare's visit to the nation's capital is off to a graceful start. Her octogenarian employer is bunking with her in a charming Georgetown mansion, and a Smithsonian curator invites her to work on its culinary salute to coffee in America.
Clare's new Village Blend, DC is struggling to earn a profit-until it attracts a high-profile fan, the college-age daughter of the president. Clare's stock rises as the first lady befriends her, but she soon learns a stark lesson: Washington can be murder.
First she finds a dead body in a back booth. Then the president's daughter goes missing. Is she a runaway bride or is something more sinister in play? After another deadly twist, Clare is on the run with her NYPD detective boyfriend. Branded an enemy of the state, she must piece together clues and uncover the truth before her life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness come to a bitter end.
When coffeehouse manager turned amateur sleuth Clare Cosi roasts “magic” beans for Fairy Tale Week, she brews up a vision that leads to a sleeping beauty in Central Park; a big, bad wolf of Wall Street; and an East Side enclave with storybook secrets.
Fairy tale fever has descended on New York City. Broadway fans are flocking to Red Riding Hood: The Musical; museums are exhibiting art inspired by the Brothers Grimm; and Clare Cosi gives her coffee truck a “Jack and the Beanstalk” makeover for a Central Park festival.
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. But Clare remains skeptical—until she receives a vision that helps her find the body of a young model in the park’s woods.
The police dismiss the “sleeping beauty” as the victim of a drug overdose. Then Clare uncovers evidence that points to a roster of suspects, from a wolf of Wall Street to a New York Giant and a wicked witch of the West Side.
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.
“Cleo Coyle’s coffeehouse mystery series is among the best of the foodie/cozy mystery genre.”—Fresh Fiction, praise for the series
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?
“Highly recommended for all mystery collections.”—Library Journal (starred review), praise for the series
Cleo Coyle serves up a yuletide treat in her Coffeehouse Mystery novel Holiday Buzz, a New York Times bestseller.
Holiday time is party time in New York City, but after a sparkling winter bash ends with a murder, Village Blend coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi vows to put the killer on ice.
At the Great New York Cookie Swap, pastry chefs bake up their very best for charity. Clare is in charge of the beverage service, and her famous Fa-la-la-la Lattes make the gathering even merrier. But her high spirits come crashing down when she discovers the battered body of a hard-working baker’s assistant. Police suspect a serial attacker whose escalating crimes have become known as “the Christmas Stalkings.” Clare’s boyfriend, NYPD detective Mike Quinn, finds reason to believe even more sinister forces are involved. Clare isn’t so sure, until she finds a second bludgeoned baker and becomes a target herself. Now Clare must investigate “Saint Nick,” crash a pro-hockey party, and dodge a pair of reality TV divas—because she’s not going to rest until justice is served.
“Coyle’s coffeehouse series captures the New York experience, from high-society parties to gritty backstreet deals. The fine mystery is followed by some holiday recipes that will even pack the pounds on readers who are only browsing them.”—Kirkus Reviews
A shocking hit-and-run in front of her Village Blend coffeehouse spurs Clare Cosi into action. A divorced, single mom, Clare is also a dedicated sleuth, and she's determined to track down this ruthless driver who ran down an innocent friend and customer. In the meantime, her ex-husband Matt, the shop's globetrotting coffee buyer, sources some amazing new beans from Brazil. But he soon discovers that he's importing more than coffee, and Clare may have been the real target of that deadly driver. Can ex-husband and wife work together to solve this mystery—or will their newest brew lead to murder?
Clare's been hired to create a gourmet coffee and dessert bar for a New York wedding to be held at the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art. Famous chefs will be there, celebrities, members of the press, well-known politicians--so why isn't she thrilled to have this chance to shine? Because the person tying the knot is Matteo Allegro, her ex-husband and current business partner. And while Clare has no plans to ever marry Matt again, she's afraid he's making a terrible mistake. The bride-to-be is Trend magazine editor Breanne Summour. Beautiful, wealthy, and sophisticated, the snarky tastemaker has never been a low maintenance kind of gal, and now she's in full-blown bridezilla mode. The only way that Clare can possibly deal with her is to put her misgivings aside and focus on buisness. But as a successful amateur sleuth, murder is Clare's business too, and when fatal accidents begin befalling people close to Breanne, Clare becomes suspicious. Is someone trying to sabotage the wedding? To kill Breanne? Between persuading a sexy Italian sculptor into lending her a one-of-a-kind fountain and roasting some of the rarest coffee beans on Earth, Clare starts to investigate. But what she unveils, amid melted chocolate and steaming mochaccinos, may just get her burned...
When the firefighters of Ladder Company 189 pull Clare's friends out of a blazing cafe, she happily comes to their rescue. As a favor to the men, she visits their firehouse kitchen to teach them the finer points of operating their newly donated espresso machine. But more than their coffee turns out to be hot. Somebody's torching cafes around the city, and firefighters are beginning to die in suspicious ways...Believing the two events are related, Clare investigates, staking out a five-borough bake sale and sniffing out clues in the pizza joints of Brooklyn. When her detective boyfriend, Mike Quinn, is pulled into the fire of a false accusation, Clare is desperate to put out the flames. But will she be able to come to Mike's rescue before someone tries to extinguish her?
Clare's grown very fond of Alfred Glockner, the part-time comic and genuinely jolly charity Santa who's been using her coffeehouse as a place to warm his mittens. When she finds him gunned down in a nearby alley, a few subtle clues convince her that Alfred's death was something more than the tragic result of a random mugging, despite the conclusions of the police. With Clare's boyfriend, NYPD detective Mike Quinn, distracted by a cold case of his own, and ex-husband, Matt, "investigating" this year's holiday lingerie catalogs, Clare charges ahead solo and discovers this Santa had a list that he was checking twice--and the folks on it were not very nice. Then someone tries to ice Clare, and she really gets steamed. Between baking delicious Christmas goodies and fending off the attentions of a persistent professional elf, Clare sets out to solve St. Nick's murder. But she'd better watch out, because if she fails to stop this stone-cold killer, she may just get the biggest chill of her life.
Clare's daughter, Joy, is immersing herself in the foodie culture with an internship at Solange, one of New York's hottest French restaurants-and she's getting pretty intimate with the older, married Chef Tommy Keitel as well. Clare's not buzzed about the relationship, but what twenty-something takes romantic advice from her mother? Resolved to keep a closer eye on Joy, Clare makes a deal to micro-roast and French press exclusive coffee blends for Tommy, a man she wouldn't mind seeing roasted and pressed. Then the competitive kitchen turns cutthroat, and Joy's a suspect. To clear her daughter of the crime, Clare knows she must catch the real killer...even if it lands her in the hottest water of her life.
