Dollycas's Thoughts
Grounds Rules and several micro-restaurants are counting the days to their grand openings at the fantastic new Button Building. With its unique octagon footprint, each business has an opening to the street and a door to a communal covered courtyard. Sage is excited to have a brick-and-mortar shop in addition to their food carts and roastery. Her mood is brought down though by true-crime podcaster and TikToker, Rose. Her latest podcast series focuses on Sage's con-artist mother and she wants Sage to sit for an interviewer. Also, Bianca who owns Breakfast Bandits seems to have a bug up her butt about something. She is picking fights with everyone including Sage.
Two weeks later the Button Building's grand opening is a go until Bianca collapses and dies in the common area with a Ground Rules coffee cup in her hand. They soon learn her coffee was spiked with Special K (Ketamine). Sadly, that puts Sage and her new employees in the hot seat. Who tampered with Bianca's coffee? Sage knows there are plenty of suspects other than her. She gets help with her investigation from a surprising individual, Rose, the podcaster. Can they sort through the clues to find the killer who brewed up this murder? Or has Sage poured her last cappuccino?
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I am so happy that Sage's dream of having a brick-and-mortar shop has come true. Her boyfriend Bax has a big event of his own. The new video game that Sage played a huge role in is almost ready to be released. I love that they found time to be together no matter how busy their schedules were. We meet two new baristas and catch up with those we have met previously. Harley spends most of her time at the roastery with Sage's dad or making deliveries. The new store is Sage's baby. Podcaster Rose digging into Sage's mother's past was difficult for her but it brought to light things she had forgotten or didn't know. This thread has been a subplot in every book in this series but in Death Unfiltered it gets intense when part of that past finds its way to Ground Rules and knocks Sage for a loop. The core cast of characters continues to develop nicely. The new characters were interesting and had a purpose in the story.
The Button Building is a cool place and Ms. Duncan's description of it made it and every place we traveled with Sage so easy to visualize. She really drops her readers into each scene making her stories so much fun to read.
The author twisted the murder mystery together with Sage's daily happenings and her mother's past with an expert hand. The story was very well-plotted and written. I was especially drawn to Sage's history with her mother and learning about her victims. I am intrigued to see that storyline continue. The mystery was complicated and I think I fell for a red herring because I had brewed on the whodunit and picked a person only when all was revealed I was wrong. I love when that happens! That was not the only surprise, the ending included a shocker.
Death Unfiltered kept me on my toes with a complicated mystery, fun and intriguing subplots, and genuine characters. I can't wait to see what the author has in store for her characters next. Each book builds from the last so I recommend you read the series from the start in order.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the author, Kensington Cozies, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
Grounds Rules and several micro-restaurants are counting the days to their grand openings at the fantastic new Button Building. With its unique octagon footprint, each business has an opening to the street and a door to a communal covered courtyard. Sage is excited to have a brick-and-mortar shop in addition to their food carts and roastery. Her mood is brought down though by true-crime podcaster and TikToker, Rose. Her latest podcast series focuses on Sage's con-artist mother and she wants Sage to sit for an interviewer. Also, Bianca who owns Breakfast Bandits seems to have a bug up her butt about something. She is picking fights with everyone including Sage.
Two weeks later the Button Building's grand opening is a go until Bianca collapses and dies in the common area with a Ground Rules coffee cup in her hand. They soon learn her coffee was spiked with Special K (Ketamine). Sadly, that puts Sage and her new employees in the hot seat. Who tampered with Bianca's coffee? Sage knows there are plenty of suspects other than her. She gets help with her investigation from a surprising individual, Rose, the podcaster. Can they sort through the clues to find the killer who brewed up this murder? Or has Sage poured her last cappuccino?
_____
I am so happy that Sage's dream of having a brick-and-mortar shop has come true. Her boyfriend Bax has a big event of his own. The new video game that Sage played a huge role in is almost ready to be released. I love that they found time to be together no matter how busy their schedules were. We meet two new baristas and catch up with those we have met previously. Harley spends most of her time at the roastery with Sage's dad or making deliveries. The new store is Sage's baby. Podcaster Rose digging into Sage's mother's past was difficult for her but it brought to light things she had forgotten or didn't know. This thread has been a subplot in every book in this series but in Death Unfiltered it gets intense when part of that past finds its way to Ground Rules and knocks Sage for a loop. The core cast of characters continues to develop nicely. The new characters were interesting and had a purpose in the story.
The Button Building is a cool place and Ms. Duncan's description of it made it and every place we traveled with Sage so easy to visualize. She really drops her readers into each scene making her stories so much fun to read.
The author twisted the murder mystery together with Sage's daily happenings and her mother's past with an expert hand. The story was very well-plotted and written. I was especially drawn to Sage's history with her mother and learning about her victims. I am intrigued to see that storyline continue. The mystery was complicated and I think I fell for a red herring because I had brewed on the whodunit and picked a person only when all was revealed I was wrong. I love when that happens! That was not the only surprise, the ending included a shocker.
Death Unfiltered kept me on my toes with a complicated mystery, fun and intriguing subplots, and genuine characters. I can't wait to see what the author has in store for her characters next. Each book builds from the last so I recommend you read the series from the start in order.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the author, Kensington Cozies, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
