French Pressed (Coffeehouse Mysteries, No. 6)
by Cleo Coyle
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Book Reviews of French Pressed (Coffeehouse Mysteries, No. 6)
Book Review: Best Cup Yet!
Summary: 5 Stars
Just finished French Pressed by Cleo Coyle and I think it's the best of the series so far. Clare's daughter, Joy, is interning at Solange, one of New York's hottest French restaurants. She has made a terrible misstep and gotten herself romantically involved with her boss, the charismatic, older, married head chef at the restaurant. Clare is her mother and horrified, of course, to find out about her daughter's affair. Nevertheless, what 20 year old daughter takes romantic advice from her mother?
Clare can't convince Joy to break off the affair, so she spies on her at the restaurant. The night she comes by for dinner, all heck breaks loose in the kitchen. The head chef is gone missing and the woman he leaves in charge comes down hard on Joy, even waving a knife in her face. Clare intervenes and saves her daughter from possible harm and decides then and there to get herself hired by the head chef, so she can keep an eye on things where her daughter is working.
Then things really get scary. The competitive kitchen turns deadly and Joy is suspected of murdering a co-worker. To clear her daughter of the crime, Clare must enlist the help of her new boyfriend, Detective Quinn.
This is a fast-paced read with many funny moments and just as many emotional highs and lows. It takes you to places in New York City that tourists seldom see. The author really does know the city where she sets her series. I started with On What Grounds and also read Murder Most Frothy (set in the seaside resort of the Hamptons). I will look forward to reading the other books, too. You may want to start at the beginning of the series, as the characters do grow and change. But the author explains things well enough that you will not be lost if you haven't read a previous book. Start here and see if you want to read the entire series. Once you take a sip, you will probably want to drink the while cup. Good job!
Book Review: Next cup of a reliable mystery series
Summary: 5 Stars
I've enjoyed this cozy mystery series since its inception. French Pressed is a very good novel that both tells a standalone mystery and -- more important to those of us who have been following Claire since she took over managing the Greenwich Village coffeehouse -- moves the characters along in their own development.
This time the focus is on Claire's daughter, Joy, who has been working on her chef internship at a high-end Manhattan restaurant -- and working on a relationship with the married celebrity chef, too. As you learn in the first few pages, SOMEone has decided to eliminate another intern (and Joy's friend)... and the police are convinced that the murderer is Joy. Claire has to find the real culprit to save her daughter.
It works. The situations are plausible, the settings believeable (even the ones with which you and I might not be familiar, out in Brooklyn), and it's easy to keep turning the pages. And, unlike some mysteries in which the appealing-characters cast never seems to change, these people get along with their own lives. Madame has a new love interest; Esther the barrista is dating someone of whom Claire disapproves; there's movement going on in the background to interest us, not just the story in the spotlight. Which, I think, is one reason that I'd pick up anything by Cleo Coyle and walk right to the checkout counter.
Many cozy mysteries build in some love/relationship tension (which man will the protagonist end up with?), and this series is no exception. Some, however, drag out that "will she won't she" for far too long, making me want to shout, "Make up your mind already!" Happily, I can report that Claire's love relationship does finally get resolved.
I enjoyed this story. If you've been following along in the series, there's no reason to delay getting this next installment. If you're new to it... hmm, DO start at the beginning.
Book Review: you can spell the perking coffee
Summary: 5 Stars
Clare Cosi, manager of the famous Village Blend Coffeehouse, is having dinner at Manhattan's Solange French cuisine restaurant with her former mother-in-law. Her daughter Joy works as an intern in the kitchen; Clare is concerned because Joy is violating the cardinal rule of restaurant employment having an affair with the married chief chef Tommy Keitel, who is also three decades older. To keep a closer eye on her offspring, Clare cuts a coffee deal with Tommy that enables her entrance to the vaunted kitchen. Inside she sees Tommy's second in command looking like she wants to kill Joy.
Later Joy calls her mom and tells her she found her friend Vinny dead in his apartment with a knife in his back. The police interrogate Joy as they consider her a viable suspect. Later, she becomes the prime suspect in Keitel's death because earlier that night he broke their affair publicly and he was dispatching her to another restaurant to complete her internship. Clare who has solved other homicides begins an inquiry into both homicides with the help of her boyfriend Detective Mike Quinn to prove her daughter is innocent.
French cuisine, specialty caffeine, and cozy lovers will find FRENCH PRESSED a delicious tasty mystery, but do not read on an empty stomach. The whodunit is cleverly constructed so that fans will not only fail to figure out who the culprit is but begin to think Joy did it. Quirky Clare has come a long way since she went THROUGH THE GRINDER and made her first cup of coffee, but remains a strong caring independent woman. She makes this perky series so good that readers can smell the coffee.
Harriet Klausner
Book Review: A cup of java and a good book
Summary: 4 Stars
Cleo Coyle amazes the reader with her ability to perpetuate the events of intrigue that occur in and around the high-brow coffee shop in Manhattan. She has finely honed her characters of Clare Cosi, manager and amateur sleuth - Mike Quinn, precinct police officer and new love interest for Clare - and of course, the comedic ex-husband, Matt. Drawn together with other good and familiar characters, like Madame, owner of the coffee shop, mother of Matt and ex in-law of Clare she brings an element of class and prestige to the story line.
We also love to read about Joy, daughter of Clare and Matt, who in this book is interning for a chef position. Wonderfully, her youthful antics adds angst and joy to Clare's motherhood, simultaneously. French Pressed revolves around daughter, Joy, and the crime and pursuit of a killer takes its' toll on a young Joy.
One of the delightful parts of reading a Cleo Coyle book is the extensive but not intrusive information on coffee the reader picks up. Never overdone, but definitely a part of the story is the acquisition, global reach and fine-tuning, so to speak, of the care and use of coffee beans. This is a great read to take along on a trip, cuddle up with on a rainy Saturday afternoon or put in your bag to read in the waiting room. You cannot miss with this one.
Book Review: This Coffee is Still Fresh!
Summary: 5 Stars
By the time an author gets this deep into a series, fatigue sets in, plots become routine, and it's fairly easy to guess the killer. Not so in the 6th installment of Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mysteries. "French Pressed" is definitely a bit darker(pardon the pun)in tone and flavor than the first four, but this is a good thing. A lot of cozies try to stay light and bubbly, but as we all know, darkness lurks, and while murder is never clean, Coyle manages to describe the gore of death without being too graphic or over the top. Being a food professional, I appreciate her descriptions of restaurant life, the crazy chefs, the competitive tension,the drug use, and yes, the sexual relationships that may spring up between employee and boss. It's nice to see Claire's relationship with the detective progress, and being an woman in Claire's age group, the realities of having relationships being a single 40 something(or very near it!). I have to say that, in Claire's case though, hers was a little too easy to find. Talk to any woman who lives in the NY Metro area, it's kinda hard to find a good looking single, employed man who wants monogamy and commitment that quickly! I guess that's why they call it fiction. I eagerly await what happens with Claire, Joy, Matteo and Madame.