Title: A Cold Brew Killing (All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery #3)
Author: Lena Gregory
Published: November 2018
Publisher: Lyrical Underground
Readership: Adult
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Rating: ★★★★
I received a copy of A Cold Brew Killing from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
When an ice cream vendor discovers a frozen stiff, Florida diner owner Gia Morelli has to serve up some just desserts . . .
Gia has become good friends with Trevor, a fun, flirtatious bachelor who owns the ice cream parlor down the street from her popular All-Day Breakfast Café. Trevor has the scoop on all sorts of local attractions and activities. But when he bursts into her diner, trembling and paler than a pint of French Vanilla, she can tell something’s very wrong. Trevor points her toward his shop then passes out cold. When Gia runs down to his shop, she discovers a chilling sight—a dead body in the open freezer. But the ice cream man’s troubles are just beginning. The police suspect him of this murder a la mode, especially when details of his questionable past surface. Gia believes in her friend and is determined to clear his name and find the real cold-blooded killer before someone else gets put on ice . . .
There’s nothing more delightful than curling up on the couch to read a book that just makes you feel warm and cozy inside, and that’s what A Cold Brew Killing was like for me.
Which is kind of weird for a book that deals with the murder of a politician who’s found inside the freezer of the local ice-cream parlour… but there you go.
I’m beginning to understand the types of cozy mysteries that I really enjoy reading, and this book was that for me. It was equal parts enjoyable whodunit with likeable characters that made me want to understand how everything fit together.
Gia’s friendship with local ice-cream shop owner Trevor is thrown into disarray when the body of a man running for mayor is found dead in his freezer. With Trevor suspected of murder, Gia sets out to prove his innocence putting herself in the crosshairs.
Gia was really fun, and I identified a lot with her character. While I may not run a cafe, I can appreciate her strong sense of self and a desire to always give herself 100% to her career and to her friends and loved ones. She’s warm and likeable and a great narrator for the story. She has wonderful relationships with the people around her and makes time for them… even if sometimes she does go digging for information that other people might politely wait for others to offer up.
I loved all the friendships in this book, and how it was the antithesis of the murder plot which saw the hidden pasts of former residents of the town come back to haunt them. It was a nice juxtaposition to read on the page.
While I haven’t read the first two books in the series, I do look forward to future instalments in the All Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery series. It’s just too fun.
Noveltea Corner 