Tag: Cleo Coyle

*****5 stars

Brewed Awakening, the 18th mystery in the Coffeehouse cozy mystery series, of which this book introduced me, is a highly recommended read for those who like books with twists, adventure, mystery, humor, clean romance, art, and delightful recipes.

The main character of the series, Clare Cosi, a coffee shop owner and a divorcee who still works with her ex-husband and his family, is also an amateur sleuth who assists her boyfriend, Detective Mike Quinn, on cases. In the second chapter of the book, after Mike proposes to her, Clare awakes on a park bench in Washington Square Park with Amnesia. While she can recall her ex, Matt Allegro, and her daughter, Joy, she remembers them from 15 years ago when Joy was a child. She recalls hardly anything of her present life including her relationship with Mike.

As the story progresses, Clare and her coffeehouse co-workers, her ex, and her fiancee all try to discover what happened to her while attempting to thwart Dr. Lorca, a psychiatrist who wishes to admit her to a medical facility away from any contact with them. Aware that Clare’s memory loss is tied into a crime she witnessed and that also involves a missing woman, her friends know the urgency of retrieving her recall of the incident. Her fiancee also has his personal reason for wanting Clare to remember him.

As a Long Islander, I particularly enjoyed the New York and Long Island’s East End settings. All the characters were well depicted, and I liked the mock jealousy between Mike and Matt who obviously both love her. Some recipes included at the back are mentioned in the book and are also available with others online at the included website. The ending features a nice twist and resolution. I look forward to catching up with this series written by a husband and wife team and highly recommend this book.

This book is on blog tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

Brewed Awakening (A Coffeehouse Mystery)
by Cleo Coyle

About Brewed Awakening

Brewed Awakening (A Coffeehouse Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
18th in Series
Berkley (December 3, 2019)
Hardcover: 368 pages
ISBN-10: 0451488873
ISBN-13: 978-0451488879
Digital ASIN: B07GQHK51D

From Cleo Coyle, the New York Times bestselling author of Shot in the Dark and Dead Cold Brew, comes a delicious new entry in the “fun and gripping” (The Huffington Post) Coffeehouse Mysteries.

When coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi awakens on a bench in Washington Square Park, she has no idea she’s been missing for the past week, or that her friends and family have been frantic with worry. Now that she’s back, everyone is overjoyed, including a handsome NYPD detective who claims to be her fiancé. But to Mike Quinn’s crushing distress, Clare doesn’t remember him, or much of anything about the last decade of her life.

Clare’s missing memory is tied to a crime she witnessed. An acquaintance of Clare’s elegant employer–and fellow member of an exclusive Gotham circle known as “The Ladies Who Brunch”–invited Clare to her posh hotel to sample gourmet wedding cakes. The pair took a stroll after their indulgent tasting and, according to security camera footage, a masked figure snatched the hotel heiress at gunpoint with Clare looking on. Did the kidnapper take Clare, too? The camera went dark, just like Clare’s memory. Soon authorities grow suspicious. Is Clare really a victim? Or merely acting like one? Evidence is mounting that she set the woman up.

To clear her name, Clare must find a way to reclaim her memories and rescue the heiress before this high-stakes crime ends in tragedy. Otherwise, instead of walking down the aisle, Clare may find herself perp-walking to prison as an accomplice to kidnapping and murder.

About Cleo Coyle

CLEO COYLE is the pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini.  CLEO COYLE grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After earning scholarships to study writing at Carnegie Mellon and American Universities, she began her career as a cub reporter for The New York Times. Now an author of popular fiction and New York Times bestselling media tie-in writer, Cleo lives and works in New York City, where she collaborates with her husband (also a bestselling author) to pen the Coffeehouse Mysteries for Penguin. Together Cleo and her husband also write the Haunted Bookshop Mysteries under the name Alice Kimberly. When not haunting coffeehouses, hunting ghosts, or rescuing stray cats, Cleo and Marc are bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for NBC, Lucasfilm, Disney, Fox, Imagine, and MGM. In their spare time, they cook like crazy and drink a lot of java. You can learn more about Cleo, her husband, and the books they write by visiting www.CoffeehouseMystery.com.

Author Links

Visit Cleo online: www.coffeehousemystery.com

Friend Cleo on Facebook:www.Facebook.com/CleoCoyle

Follow Cleo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleocoyle/

Purchase Links

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