Reviews

Dead Cold Brew by Cleo Coyle

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theavidreaderandbibliophile's review against another edition

3.0

Dead Cold Brew by Cleo Coyle is the sixteenth book in A Coffeehouse Mystery series. Clare Cosi is the manager and master roaster at Village Blend in Greenwich Village, New York. Clare loves the job despite the contact with her ex-husband, Matteo “Matt” Allegro. Matt visits to tell Clare about a great opportunity. Victor Fontana is the head of a consortium that has built a new ship that is a re-creation of the S.S. Andrea Doria. The original ship sank sixty years ago in 1956. Village Blend is one of five companies competing to be the exclusive supplier of coffee for the ship. Clare needs to come up with a unique blend for the competition. Clare is thrilled until she reads the morning paper. Someone is going around shooting cops. Clare’s boyfriend is Lt. Michael “Mike” Quinn. Mike is the head of the OD Squad for the NYPD. Mike stops by Village Blend with Detective Sully Sullivan to reassure Clare. Sully leaves and they hear a gunshot. Sully has been shot and Clare sees someone resembling Panther Man leaving the area (this does not go over well with the police). Matt receives a visit from an attorney. It seems a special inheritance has been left for Matt and Sophia Campana (and their children). Upon opening the lockbox, the discover a letter and the Occhio del Gatto (Eye of the Cat). This gem was supposedly sunk with the Andrea Doria. The one person who may have answers is Gustavo Campana. He was on board the Andrea Doria. When the group goes to visit Gus, they discover him unconscious in his apartment. Gus was poisoned and Clare sees someone fleeing the scene. Someone is after the diamond. Clare wants to find out what happened sixty years ago on that ship, but she is also worried about the safety of Mike with a cop killer on the loose in New York. Will Clare be able to unravel this mystery before the killer strikes again?

Dead Cold Brew is nicely written and full of action. The novel is packed with characters and activities (I did not tell you everything that occurred in this book). I found it difficult to keep track of the various people and their plot lines. The pace of the novel is slow (the book seemed to go on forever). The author is very descriptive and includes details of drinks, scenery, food items, etc. Some information is repeated throughout the book. I give Dead Cold Brew 3 out of 5 stars (it is okay). I wish the author had picked just one storyline for this book (either the sunken ship along with the gem or the cop killer). I do, though, like how she ended up tying the events together. While both mysteries may seem complicated, the solution is simple. I was able to solve the mysteries early in the book. The clues might as well have been neon arrows pointing to the perpetrator. While Dead Cold Brew is the sixteenth book in the series, it is the first book in the series that I have read (I was hoping to discover a new cozy mystery series). Dead Cold Brew can be read alone (you will be a little confused in the beginning). The author provides the needed background details on the main characters.

kimdavishb's review against another edition

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5.0

COLD DEAD BREW, the sixteenth book in the Coffee House Mystery series by Cleo Coyle, is one of my favorites in the series! The story is suspenseful, combining current day events such as the appalling targeting of police officers along with the historic tragic loss of the luxury Italian ship, the Andrea Doria. The author effortlessly weaves the sixty-year-old calamity into her plot involving a decades old murder connected to the Italian Campana family, who have become friends and godfather to Clare Cosi’s ex-husband. When a mysterious legacy is left to Clare’s daughter and as the secrets and lies that have remained hidden for so many years threaten to surface and destroy the Campana family, Claire resolves to find the truth before her family is pulled into danger.

COLD DEAD BREW starts off with a bang and the suspense doesn’t let up the entire book! It kept me on the edge of my seat reading late into the night — I couldn’t stop until I reached the very last page. Clare Cosi is co-owner of the Village Blend coffee shop with her ex-husband. She is a strong protagonist and a take charge type of person, willing to solve any situation that she is challenged with. I enjoyed seeing her interaction and the development of her relationship with Detective Mike Quinn. She also has a unique bond with her ex-husband and business partner, Matt, that lends itself to making me wonder about future story lines. I loved how the author includes many fascinating New York historical facts and places in the story, some dating back to the pre-civil war era, which adds to the appeal and makes me want to visit some of those places! The writing is so creative you never realize you’re learning until after the fact. With the central location based around a coffee shop, plenty of tidbits are provided about coffee along with recipes for both food and cold brew alike…. which I’m grateful for because after reading this book you’ll be both hungry and thirsty for a great cup of brew!

I willingly provided a review after receiving an advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

machadofam8's review against another edition

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5.0

This series gets better with each addition! Everything about it works - the setting, the characters, the plot. And the recipes are easy to follow and always turn out great.

lauren_drinkard's review against another edition

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2.0

This was a pretty terrible book.

cfulton20's review against another edition

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1.0

did not enjoy this one bit might have been the reader.

barrod221's review against another edition

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3.0

A cozy mystery with all the pros and cons of a cozy mystery. You have to suspend belief and put up with some clunky dialog but the mysteries are good and the characters well worn.