Holiday Grind

Title: Holiday Grind

Author: Cleo Coyle (Alice Alfonsi w/ husband Marc Cerasini) — Also writes as Alice Kimberly (of the Haunted Bookstore Mystery series)

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Copyright Date: 2009

Print Date: November 2009

ISBN: 9780425230053

Pages: 279 + Coffeehouse Terms, a Guide to Roasting Terms, Tips for Being Your Own Barista, Coffee Drink Recipes, Coffee Syrups, Caffe Latte Recipes, Fa-la-la-la Lattes, and Holiday Recipes

Series: 8th book in the Coffeehouse Mystery series

Book Description (from dust jacket):

The holidays bring more than eggnog lattes and gingerbread biscotti to the Village Blend. When manager and head barista Clare Cosi finds a red-suited body in the snow, she adds solving Santa's slaying to her coffeehouse menu.

Clare's grown very fond of Alfred Glockner, the part-time comic and genuinely jolly charity Santa who's been using her coffeehouse as a place to warm his mittens. When she finds him gunned down in a nearby alley, a few subtle clues convince her that Alfred's death was something more than the tragic result of a random mugging, despite the conclusions of the police.

With Clare's boyfriend, NYPD Detective Mike Quinn, distracted by a cold case of his own, and ex-husband, Matt, "investigating" this year's holiday lingerie catalogs, Clare charges ahead solo and discovers this Santa had a list that he was checking twice — and the folks on it were not very nice. Then someone tries to ice Clare, and she really gets steamed.

Between baking delicious Christmas goodies and fending off the attentions of a persistent professional elf, Clare sets out to solve St. Nick's murder. But she'd better watch out, because if she fails to stop this stone-cold killer, she may just get the biggest chill of her life...

Includes recipes and coffee-making tips!

Comments:

Another of Clare Cosi's adventures. All the usual characters showed up, including the ex, Matt, which I kinda didn't expect since he got married in the last book. I found the idea of so many different Christmas flavored lattes interesting. Not that I know anything about lattes, since I don't drink anything that has coffee in it (I can't stand the taste).

In the book she has a fictional Christmas charity called the Traveling Santas. In the afterward she discusses (and promotes) a couple real Christmas-time charities (the PO's Operation Santa Claus and the Salvation Army's Red Kettles).

I noted under the pages stat that there are several extras, including details about terms, recipes, etc. The author notes that she has included almost a mini-book's worth of information and such as something of a gift to her readers.