BOOK REVIEW: Death By Coffee by Alex Erickson

Death by Coffee (Bookstore Cafe Mystery #1)

by Alex Erickson (Goodreads Author)

Paperback, 320 pages

Published May 26th 2015 by Kensington

Goodreads synopsis: When Krissy Hancock and her best friend Vicki decide to open a bookstore café in their new town of Pine Hills, they decide to call it "Death by Coffee," after Krissy’s father’s most famous mystery novel. Little do they know how well the name fits

   On their very first day of business, Brendon Lawyer huffily takes his coffee…to the grave. It seems he had a severe allergy to peanuts…but how could there have been nuts in his coffee? And who stole his emergency allergy medication?

   Fortunately, Krissy’s love of puzzles and mysteries leads her not only to Officer Paul Dalton, but also to many of her new neighbors, who aren’t terribly upset that the book is closed on Brendon. But one of them is a killer, and Krissy needs to read between the lies if she wants to save her new store—and live to see how this story ends…

I knew this book was going to be right up my alley. I love a good mystery and I love coffee.  A no brainer, right? Well, in this case, right-e-o! I just loved this book. I enjoyed getting to know the residents of Pine Hills through the eyes of Krissy Hancock, daughter of a best selling mystery author whose most famous work was called "Death By Coffee." And that is where Krissy and Vicky got the name for their combo bookstore and coffee shop.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly considering this is a murder mystery, one of Krissy's first customers a brash insurance salesman gets knocked off at the beginning of the book. And as per small town protocol, they immediately deemed it an accidental death. But Krissy was sure that it was "murder" and thus began her own investigation.

Some of the scenes between her and the townsfolk were a bit awkward since she only went to interrogate these people and didn't make any bones about wanting to know who they were sleeping with and where they were the time of the victim's demise. I thought there could have been more of a easing into conversations but Krissy just went at them all in attack mode. If I knew her in person, I probably wouldn't want to be around her too much if that was how she interacted with people.

I enjoyed the twists in the plot and the fact that the police chief was trying her hardest to get her son hooked up with Krissy. I hope to get more insight into the town's residents in the next book entitled, "Death By Tea" coming out in December 2015. I look forward to it. Definitely check this series out. It will be just your cup of tea... err... coffee.. lol.

4 Stars.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

Contact author, Alex Erickson on Twitter @AEricksonbooks