REVIEW: Decaffeinated Corpse

Decaffeinated Corpse
Author: Cleo Coyle

This cozy mystery series centered around a much loved NYC coffee shop has been one of my favorites for years! In fact, the first book in this series was one of the first cozy mysteries I ever read. I have read many more since then by so many different authors...but I always return to this series! As part of my ongoing quest to revisit favorite books and ones that have been languising on my TBR for years, I'm re-reading this series. Loving it!

Decaffeinated Corpse is the 5th book in the Coffeehouse Mystery series. An old friend of Coffeehouse Manager Clare Cozi's ex-husband has discovered a naturally decaffeinated coffee bean. What seems to be a wonderful opportunity for Village Blend turns into a nightmare as dead bodies start stacking up. When someone close to Clare seems to be the number one suspect, she's on the case to find a killer.

I had to laugh at the references to decaf espresso as a "Why bother?'' Ha ha! :) Made me smile every time.

I listened to the audio book version of this story. The audio, narrated by Rebecca Gibel, is just under 7.5 hours long. Gibel reads at a nice pace and gives a great acting performance as usual. The mystery progressed at a nice pace and there was a good bit of character development. Clare's almost-relationship could move just a bit faster. Each time I think they are finally going to figure it out....they don't. Not that I was surprised....I've read these books before, even though it's been several years. I still found myself thinking "Oh will you just kiss her already and figure your S out, for God's sake!'' :) But....despite the slowwwwwwww road to "taking it slow,'' I still loved the story!

There are 17 books in this series, with a new one (Brewed Awakening) coming out in December 2019!