Bean There, Done That

July 21, 2008
At the start of Balzo’s spirited third Maggy Thorsen mystery (after 2007’s Grounds for Murder
), Rachel Thorsen, the wife of Maggy’s ex-husband, Ted, shows up at Maggy’s Brookhills, Wis., coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, and confides she suspects Ted is cheating on her. When Rachel disappears and is later found murdered, Ted is the chief suspect. Since Maggy and Ted share a son, she feels compelled to help, despite her budding relationship with Sheriff Jake Pavlik. Convinced that Ted is the killer, the members of Rachel’s wealthy family spare no expense in trying to prove him guilty. It’s up to Maggie to find the truth, even if that means helping the man who dumped her. An engaging sleuth, Maggy puts her own humorous, breezy spin on everything, from coffee lore to the colorful locals, in a cozy that will leave readers guessing until the end.

September 1, 2008
Brash, sassy Maggy Thorsen, amateur sleuth and owner of a Milwaukee coffee shop, is back in another high-speed adventure. Her bitter divorce still rankles, even after all this time, so she is shocked when her ex-husband Teds new trophy wife, Rachel, drops by the coffee shop and asks Maggy to help her find evidence that Ted is cheating on her. With the phrase some things never change running through her head, Maggy reluctantly agrees. But that same evening, Rachel disappears. Her family is quick to point the finger of blame at Ted, and although Maggy wouldnt mind seeing her ex brought down, she is too good-hearted to want him to take the blame for a crime he didnt commit. Maggy is determined to find out what happened, even if it upsets her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Sheriff Jake Pavlik. Lively pacing, snappy dialogue, tongue-in-cheek humor, and a cast of attention-grabbing charactersnot the least of whom is Maggys giant pooch, Frankmake for another successful entry in this agreeable series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)