Death by Caramel Macchiato
Bookstore Café Mystery #13
By Alex Erickson
ISBN 9781496745521
Author’s website: alexericksonbooks.com
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis:
When Pine Hills, Ohio hosts an inter-town murder mystery game, bookstore-café owner and sometimes-sleuth Krissy Hancock assumes it’ll all be in good fun, but that’s before the competition claims its first real-life victim. . . The unique weekend-long event—a combination of a live-action role playing game and a theatrical production—draws competitors from all the neighboring towns, including Pine Hills’ own Krissy and Rita. Although the actors, clues, and performances are spread across the community, somehow Krissy’s team lands at the one location with an actual body. . . Police immediately call-off the competition while they conduct a real murder investigation, but soon it’s clear some folks are playing by their own set of rules. So, it’s up to Krissy and her pals to shuffle through the suspects and draw out the real killer before another player takes their final turn. (From Goodreads)
Review:
Welcome back to Pine Hills for a special theater event! The aspects of this mystery and series that I especially enjoy include the Ohio setting, the popular coffee shop with an upstairs bookstore and cats. Misfit, an adorable orange tabby, belongs to Krissy, our favorite Pine Hills sleuth. Trouble, a black and white tuxedo, belongs to Vicki and Mason, Krissy’s co-owners for Death by Coffee. Coffee, cats, and books are mainstays of this reader’s life. One day, I must try Krissy’s favorite coffee!
A theater group from a neighboring town has begun a unique, week-long event in Pine Hills that Oliver, the director, strongly believes will be the production the year. It was intended to be a combination role-playing murder mystery and theatrical production taking players all around Pine Hill, both to find clues and follow where they lead. The “investigators” include residents of three different towns. Three teams, including one with Krissy and Rita, are from Pine Hills. Another team is from nearby Cherry Valley, and two others from Levington, as is Oliver. Oliver has two young assistants, Lydia and Richie.
The event begins at a quaint B&B in Pine Hills. Oliver’s original intent was to use actors from Pine Hills but replaced them with actors from his town, Levington. That, in itself has bred many emotions of local actors as well as a certain arrogance from the Levington folks.
Krissy, her friend Rita, and acquaintance, Wendy, makes up their team. They will work together to find, decipher, and follow up clues. The opening act is simple narration, with an actor acting dead with various items around him. They examine the scene closely and will hopefully acquire clues that provide direction of where they will go next to examine to find more clues and directions. Some of the clues or leads are actors set up throughout Pine Hills. The event proceeds, potentially for several days, until the right killer is turned in and verified.
When the teams followed clues to Death by Coffee, Krissy saw one of Oliver’s assistants slip a note on blue paper to Scott, part of an out-of-town team. Krissy assumed it was a clue. Krissy soon found the note and led her team to the location on the note. Wendy, part of Rita and Krissy’s team, found Scott dead when they went inside. Krissy could smell his caramel macchiato from her shop, scalding hot per his request. It had been thrown all over him.
Their cell phones didn’t work there. While deciding who would drive to a cell zone to call the police, Detective John and his team members arrived. For several years, she has helped his office solve several murders. He is determined it won’t happen again. Krissy and Detective John Buchanan have been each other’s nemesis for as long as she has helped the police.
The police have shut down the event while they investigate. Krissy talked with many of the actors, role players, and others associated with the event, and learned more than she wanted to know about Scott – that he was not well liked for many reasons – and about Oliver, and the troubles he caused their local theater community.
We meet many more characters than usual in this cozy. As a result, we learn only the very basics about each person. I do like Krissy, despite her somewhat wild imagination. I was happy to see her exercise friend, Cassie, again, and her next-door neighbor Caitlyn. I’m not sure why it seemed more noticeable in this episode, but there was less depth of interactions between Krissy and her friends. Perhaps it was because many of the characters were from out of town. I was surprised to see Krissy’s ex, Robert, and his association with the B&B, and happy they could carry on a conversation without animosity.
The production itself sounded interesting once I understood how it worked, and thought it would be fun to participate in it. The number of people who may have had grudges against Scott grew. Nobody really knew why Scott’s teammates left him behind at a stop, continuing with their investigation without him. He also had to find a ride to where the little blue clue told him. How Krissy figured out, then revealed, the bad guy/ gal was quite a surprise – I think, even to her! The motive was sad. I’m a little unsettled with the mystery overall, as several scenes, including the big reveal, were a bit confusing to me. All of the loose ends were tied up. I do recommend this cozy mystery and others in the series! I have enjoyed much of this series, so perhaps I had an off day when reading this one.
