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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Audiobook Review: Roast Mortem by Cleo Coyle


TITLE: Roast Mortem
SERIES: Coffeehouse Mystery, Book #9
AUTHOR: Cleo Coyle 
NARRATOR: Rebecca Gibel
PUBLISHER: AudioGO Ltd.
PUBLICATION DATE: December 1, 2012
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook, 10 hrs and 14 mins
GENRE: Mystery
When the firefighters of Ladder Company 189 pull Clare's friends out of a blazing cafe, she happily comes to their rescue. As a favor to the men, she visits their firehouse kitchen to teach them the finer points of operating their newly donated espresso machine. But more than their coffee turns out to be hot. Somebody's torching cafes around the city, and firefighters are beginning to die in suspicious ways...Believing the two events are related, Clare investigates, staking out a five-borough bake sale and sniffing out clues in the pizza joints of Brooklyn. When her detective boyfriend, Mike Quinn, is pulled into the fire of a false accusation, Clare is desperate to put out the flames. But will she be able to come to Mike's rescue before someone tries to extinguish her?

MY REVIEW: 

I received this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own. 

Listening to Cleo Coyle makes me hungry! Seriously!! The way that Coyle describes aromas, tastes, and textures has me – quite literally – salivating! This lady should write a cookbook!! I take as much pleasure in listening to her describe different foods and coffee blends as I do in her mysteries.

I  read my first Coyle book back in January, which was Holiday Grind, the eighth book in the series. I was so excited to see the next audiobook available for review that I jumped at the chance!

Roast Mortem is the ninth book in the series. Even though I am a latecomer to the series, I have not had any issues following along. Coyle does make reference to past events to bring new readers up to speed, which I so appreciate! It also piques my interest because I want to know more about what happened earlier on.

For those also new to the series, the protagonist is Clare Cosi who is the manager of the Village Blend coffeehouse in Greenwich Village. Clare’s ex-husband, Matteo “Matt” Allegro, is responsible for sourcing the beans and travels all of the world to find the best of the best, and Clare roasts the beans and comes up with the blends that make her coffeehouse famous. Until I read Coyle’s books, I had no idea there was a fine art to pulling an espresso. I am sure that the baristas that I have frequented have not received the kind of training that Clare gives her employees!

The mystery surrounding this installment in the Coffeehouse Mystery series involves coffeehouses that are being set ablaze in what Clare believes are bombs set by an arsonist. Her sleuthing leads her to believe that a member of the NYFD is involved, and Clare treads on dangerous ground when the clues lead her to Captain Michael Quinn’s unit. The Captain, who we met in Holiday Grind, is the cousin of Clare’s boyfriend, NYPD Detective Mike Quinn. There is bad blood between the relatives, and we find out more about their history and what led to their falling out.

Coyle spins a mystery in such a way that there are so many possible scenarios, and I have fun trying to figure it out before Clare does! I really enjoyed Roast Mortem and, as I learn more about the characters, I love them even more! As I previously mentioned, I really must read this series from the beginning because I want to know more about the relationship between Clare and Matt.

If you haven’t yet tried this cozy mystery series, I highly recommend it!

Memorable quote: 

“So go the astonishing ironies of middle age. Live long enough and you come to love the thing you loathed, embrace the thing you dreaded.” 

This is my first narration by Rebecca Gibel, and she was wonderful! Her smooth, rich voice completely drew me into the story. I especially fell in love with her “Madame” vocalization, which was so endearing. My only complaint is that the printed version of the book includes all of Coyle’s fantastic recipes at the end. I wish there was an electronic file that came with the audiobook that included all of those lovely recipes! 

MY RATING:

4 stars!! It was really good, and you should put it on your TBR list! A big thanks to AudioGO and Audiobook Jukebox for the opportunity to review this audiobook!

This book qualifies as: 

#17 for my 2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
#17 for my 2013 Read-a-Latte Challenge
#6 for my The In the Middle Reading Challenge 
#14 for my Monthly Mix-up Mania: 2013 to 2015 Edition     

View all my reviews

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