In this installment of the Coffeehouse Series, Clare's daughter, an aspiring chef with a much-older boyfriend, gets caught up in murder. Can Clare keep her out of jail?
French Pressed is the seventh in the series of very readable mystery novels that feature Claire Cosi, the co-owner and manager of a gourmet coffee house in New York City's Greenwich Village. What she and her partner and ex-husband Matteo don't know about coffee hasn't been discovered. She roasts her own beans, creates her own blends, and pairs her coffees with food as a sommelier would pair wine. She also gets involved in more than her share of crimes.
Solange
Matteo's arm is still in a sling from their last close encounter with a murderer when Clare gets an early morning call from her daughter, Joy. Joy, a culinary student, is interning for the year at one of the city's finest restaurants, Solange. Not only that, but the 20-year-old student is involved romantically with her 50-year-old (married) boss, a relationship of which Clare does not approve.
Joy is calling from a friend's apartment. She'd stopped to see why he had called in sick that evening to the restaurant--something that just "isn't done" in the New York fine dining circuit. When she arrives at the apartment, she finds the friend dead, stabbed with a chef's knife.
Tommy Keitel
Mom arrives about the same time as the police and convinces the officers that her daughter did not have anything to do with the murder. Clare, however, wants to find out who did murder the poor boy. Could it be the volatile French sous-chef, who is using up her last favor (as well as more than one controlled substance) with this job? Could it be the chef (and boyfriend) himself, who seems to be absent for the kitchen a lot?
French Pressed is a well-written, light murder mystery. The characters continue to develop in this series, although a first-time reader would also enjoy the book. The best part, as with the other books, is the liberal sprinkling of coffee lore and knowledge spread throughout the story. There are even coffee recipes in the back of the book.
About Cleo Coyle
Cleo Coyle is a pseudonym for the husband-and-wife writing team of Marc Cerasini and Alice Alfonsi. Their previous mystery novels include Latte Trouble, Through the Grinder, On What Grounds, Murder Most Frothy, and the 2007 release, Decaffeinated Corpse.
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