Alex Erickson's Death By Coffee

Books? Coffee? Crazy cats? Murder?

I'm in!

There's a new cozy mystery series in my life and it's Alex Erickson's Bookstore Cafe Mysteries! The first in the series, Death by Coffee, is being released today (here in the US, anyway) and I just finished reading it thanks to receiving an advanced copy from NetGalley. As always, getting the book for free had no influence on my opinion.

Krissy Hancock, daughter of mystery author James Hancock, moves to small town USA where everyone knows everyone to open a bookstore cafe with her best friend. It has pretty much everything you would expect from a fast-reading cozy: the dead guy who probably had it coming and few would miss, the almost instant romantic connection with the local law enforcement, the over-exuberant customer (who happens to be pretty much obsessed with Krissy's father), the love triangles, the gossips, the secrets ... and an amateur sleuth who can't seem to help but stick her nose into the investigation when it's originally thought to be an accidental death. Krissy's always had this problem of wanting to live like a character in one of her father's books -- often getting herself into trouble in the process. This time is no different even in spite of that romantic connection with the local law enforcement.

As I said, it was a fast read. I probably could have finished it in a day or two if I hadn't gotten distracted by that little thing called life over the weekend! It wasn't the most complicated mystery and I found that I was patting myself on the back over figuring a few things out before Krissy had (which, from time to time, is nice). All in all, though, I was extremely pleased and look forward to revisiting Krissy and her new home of Pine Hills when the second book (Death by Tea) is released in November!