Eat, Drink and Get Buried

The coffeehouse mysteries by Cleo Coyle is my favorite cozy mystery series. Eat, Drink and Get Buried is the 22nd book in the series and it's a winner. In this installment of the series the Village Blend coffeehouse caters a rooftop party where, of course, a murder occurs when someone is thrown off of the roof.

Synopsis 

Years ago, when master roaster Clare Cosi was a newly divorced mom raising her daughter, Joy, Ava Welsh became Joy's best friend. Now the painfully shy girl next door has grown into a successful New York businesswoman, and Clare is delighted to be catering Ava's coffee-themed party, especially when her boyfriend, Ryan, confides his plan to propose that very night. 

Then a scream shatters the celebration. A woman is thrown off the balcony to her death, and Ryan—who abruptly flees the party—is accused of murder. Clare vows to help Ava clear his name.

Her digging uncovers suspicious connections to a deadly event from which a teenaged Joy and Ava barely escaped with their lives. The stakes rise ever higher as a ruthless killer attempts to keep the ugly truth buried—even if it means sending Clare and her caffeinated crew six feet under. 

My Thoughts

I loved this story. It has all of the elements of a satisfying mystery. There were plenty of twists for Clare to look into. The murder occurred early in the story so that most of the story could be spent investigating the crime.

The characters who helped Clare find the killer were her baristas. Clare's fiance Mike Quinn made a brief appearance as did her daughter Joy and ex-husband Matt. It's unusual for these characters not to be heavily involved in tbe story. Aside from the secondary characters who were killed or were suspects, baristas Esther and Tucker aided Clare in clearing musician Ryan Riggs from the murder charge. Esther has a big personality. She is a colorful woman who loves poetry. Tucker is an actor wannabe who always has a friend who can assist in resolving one clue or another for the group of sleuths. Together with Clare, this circle of friends use all of their resources to find the real killer. All of them believe that Ryan was set up.

The New York City setting is always prominent in this series. In Eat, Drink and Get Buried the cold misty evenings prevent Clare, Ryan, Esther and Tucker from being able to see details of the vehicles that were trying to run Ryan over or the person driving. The reason Clare is convinced of Ryan's innocence is because she saw a car trying to run him over. In the kerfuffle Ryan's prosthetic leg becomes unattached from his body. I didn't catch why this was so important to the story.

Cozy mystery lovers will enjoy this book. I highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.