Maggy Thorsen Mysteries Box Set

The first three titles in the Maggy Thorsen Coffeehouse Mystery Series

Uncommon Grounds: In her delightful debut, Balzo puts a 21st-century spin on the traditional cozy, replacing tea with coffee as the comfort beverage of choice. Maggy Thorsen, a divorcée whose husband left her for his 24-year-old dental hygienist, and two women friends are eager to open a coffee shop, Uncommon Grounds, in the small Wisconsin town of Brookhills, whose inhabitants include such recognizable types as the local gossip and tennis moms. The challenge becomes even greater when Maggy discovers the body of one of her partners, Patricia Harper, on the floor of their coffee shop. Determined to find out who killed Patricia and why, Maggy delves into the mystery with a sense of humor that would make Miss Marple smile. In her search for the truth, she works with, and sometimes against, the new and unpredictable county sheriff, Jake Pavlik—and uncovers at considerable personal risk the secrets of some of the town's most prominent citizens.

Grounds for Murder: Exactly how hot is the competition at the annual coffee trade industry conference in Milwaukee? Scalding. What's not hot? Finding Marvin LaRoche, owner of the HotWired coffeehouse chain store stone-cold dead under a banquet table in the middle of the convention. And everybody knows that Maggy was no great fan of Mr. LaRoche, nor of his overly competitive business practices—so it's up to Maggy's own amateur sleuthing skills to get herself out of the hotseat!