Grade: 4
I was given an ARC of Fresh Brewed Murder by a friend that knew I loved cozies. The book does a good job on touching on issues such as homelessness and gentrification, giving this reader some new awareness, without letting it overtake the mystery storyline. As someone from Portland, I enjoyed learning more about the food cart scene and could picture the parts of Portland through the pages.
The main character, Sage Caplin, is in her twenties and opening a new business with her friend Harley. Not only to sell coffee but they roast the beans themselves. We learn that other food cart pods have been displaced so that new buildings can be erected. The food cart owners are understandably nervous when a developer comes sniffing around. When said developer ends up dead in front of her food cart, Sage must find the killer or risk her new business going under and her going to jail.
Things become more complicated when Sage realizes she has a family connection to the dead man. As this is the first book in a new series, there is a lot of Sage’s backstory and not as many clues about the murder. Hopefully now that the “stage is set” the next book will give the reader more clues to try and figure out whodunnit. I wasn’t surprised who the killer was but I also didn’t have any investment into figuring it out.
Bottomline: I believe the target audience for this series is Millennials and Gen Z’ers but I think anyone that likes mystery can enjoy this book.
Review provided by Roxann P. who is more of a mystery reader than Lori C.
Lori Carroll
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