Dead to the Last Drop

September 5, 2016
Cozy fans who enjoy a tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top whodunit laced with frequent references to delicious food are most likely to enjoy Coyle's 15th coffeehouse mystery (after 2014's Once Upon a Grind). The book opens with Clare Cosi's significant other, NYPD Det. Mike Quinn, bursting into the Village Blend, her upscale Washington, D.C., coffeehouse, and hustling her away. He warns her that both their lives are in danger and asks that she tell him everything about Abby Lane, a jazz piano player who often plays at the Village Blend. Clare does so in a series of flashbacks that reveal that Abby is actually Abigail Parker, the daughter of the U.S. president. Mike explains that Clare is now a suspect in Abby's kidnapping and the prime suspect in the murder of a State Department employee. The plot twists can't be taken seriously, but those willing to suspend disbelief may find the book a pleasant diversion. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune.