Born out of the example of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, the genre "cozy mystery" has come to mean the adventures of amateur sleuths (who otherwise have a different day job) who uncover bodies in their environs with shocking frequency and who manage to assist, or sometimes outwit, the local constabulary. Cozy mysteries are almost always more light-hearted than not, and while murder is by definition violent, the violence and gore of a cozy is normally left in the shadows. We're often treated to romance as a side dish.
And so it is with Cleo Coyle's "Coffeehouse Mysteries" starring Clare Cosi, divorced half-owner of the Village Blend, a coffee shop in New York's Greenwich Village, set in modern day. The series runs to ten titles so far starting with
On What Grounds from 2003. I read the second title in the series,
Through The Grinder, in which one of Clare's customers, Valerie Lathem, has apparently committed suicide by jumping in front of a subway train ... and a picture of a Village Blend take-out cup, gruesomely found intact next to the body, is splashed across the front pages of local tabloids. But the local detective, also a Village Blend regular, thinks it was murder: Ms Lathem was pushed! Enter dashing Bruce Bowman, a dating club that meets on the second floor of the coffee shop, and motherly concern for Clare's daughter Joy ... and more female customers of the Village Blend dying in more suspicious accidents ...well, it's a tale made for an amateur sleuth and Clare goes to work.
It's a charming romance mystery, predictably easy to read, and not terribly complex in plot or plot twists. There are some extraordinary flights of dialogue centred around coffee -- roasting methods, growing details, recipes -- that are frankly forced to the breaking point ... but that is the "hook" (some might say schtick) of this series and for that reason it's forgiveable. I have no doubt the facts are correct so coffee afficiandos will not stay awake with angst. Nor will anyone else as the story is as frothy as a freshly foamed latte. Available at
Amazon for under $7.