Dollycas's Thoughts
Village Blend is buzzing literally when several hives of bees take up residence in the busy coffeehouse. After calling the NYPD'S Beekeeping Unit to relocate the swarm Clare realizes she knows who the bees belong to and rushes to see the local âQueen Beeâ. Bea Hastings is an old friend of Madame and has an amazing rooftop hive set up. The woman definitely wouldn't allow her bees to escape so Clare knows something is wrong. Upon arrival, she finds Bea has apparently fallen from the roof to her balcony. The police decide it was a failed suicide attempt after finding some iffy evidence. Clare doesn't believe that for an instant. Bea was so proud of her unique prize-winning nectar and had big plans to grow the production and earn top dollar for it. To believe she would try to kill herself is absolutely ludicrous. Now she just needs to prove it and put a nice sting on the person who tried to kill the Queen Bee of Manhatten.
Again Cleo Coyle fills her pages with excitement on many different levels. First, Clare and Mike are struggling with their relationship when they should be blissfully happy about their upcoming nuptials. Part of the problem is the second subplot. Mike is on a harrowing case that has bodies piling up as he tries to catch the elusive killer. Then there is the mystery Clare is trying to solve. Who has it in for the local beekeeper? Add to all that she has beans to roast and a coffeehouse to manage. Madame is off on a trip but her ex Matt is around to help at Village Blend and makes a heck of a sleuthing partner too. He goes above and beyond in one heroic event too. All of Ms. Coyle's characters just leap off the pages and readers quickly become joyfully entangled in everything that's happening.
The honey/bee theme was so interesting, Who knew New York has a beekeeping unit as part of the police force? In fact, this story was based on an actual event. That really grabbed my attention but I would have been freaking out like one of the Blend's employees, not calm and measured like Clare and Matt. I enjoyed the twist the employee took later in the story, very brave. Bea's rooftop setup was really extraordinary too.
Using this event as inspiration this author team plotted out and wrote a fantastic mystery with great twists and drama that truly made this book impossible to put down. There were also a few scenes that gave me a good giggle. With the long wait between this book and the last one I had planned to take my time and really savor this coffeehouse mystery but the authors made that virtually impossible. We trekked all over the city, to some really undesirable places and to Bea's fabulous penthouse apartment, and of course to Village Blend and the pages were just flying. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I was all in after reading the Author's Note until the final page. When the book hit the floor for the third time due to me dozing off, I had to stop to sleep. I couldn't wait to finish it the next day and cut my work hours short to do so.
I anxiously await each new installment of this series. I am invested in the lives of these wonderful characters and can't wait to see what the authors have in store for them next. Honey Roasted is the 19th book in the series but readers new to Cleo Coyle should not hesitate to pick it up today. I can predict you will want to read more when you finish it. Fans of the series will be delighted in this latest installment. To borrow an old expression Honey Roasted is the âbee kneesâ, and a real honey of a story. It will hold a space on my best reads list for this year. I LOVED IT!
Village Blend is buzzing literally when several hives of bees take up residence in the busy coffeehouse. After calling the NYPD'S Beekeeping Unit to relocate the swarm Clare realizes she knows who the bees belong to and rushes to see the local âQueen Beeâ. Bea Hastings is an old friend of Madame and has an amazing rooftop hive set up. The woman definitely wouldn't allow her bees to escape so Clare knows something is wrong. Upon arrival, she finds Bea has apparently fallen from the roof to her balcony. The police decide it was a failed suicide attempt after finding some iffy evidence. Clare doesn't believe that for an instant. Bea was so proud of her unique prize-winning nectar and had big plans to grow the production and earn top dollar for it. To believe she would try to kill herself is absolutely ludicrous. Now she just needs to prove it and put a nice sting on the person who tried to kill the Queen Bee of Manhatten.
Again Cleo Coyle fills her pages with excitement on many different levels. First, Clare and Mike are struggling with their relationship when they should be blissfully happy about their upcoming nuptials. Part of the problem is the second subplot. Mike is on a harrowing case that has bodies piling up as he tries to catch the elusive killer. Then there is the mystery Clare is trying to solve. Who has it in for the local beekeeper? Add to all that she has beans to roast and a coffeehouse to manage. Madame is off on a trip but her ex Matt is around to help at Village Blend and makes a heck of a sleuthing partner too. He goes above and beyond in one heroic event too. All of Ms. Coyle's characters just leap off the pages and readers quickly become joyfully entangled in everything that's happening.
The honey/bee theme was so interesting, Who knew New York has a beekeeping unit as part of the police force? In fact, this story was based on an actual event. That really grabbed my attention but I would have been freaking out like one of the Blend's employees, not calm and measured like Clare and Matt. I enjoyed the twist the employee took later in the story, very brave. Bea's rooftop setup was really extraordinary too.
Using this event as inspiration this author team plotted out and wrote a fantastic mystery with great twists and drama that truly made this book impossible to put down. There were also a few scenes that gave me a good giggle. With the long wait between this book and the last one I had planned to take my time and really savor this coffeehouse mystery but the authors made that virtually impossible. We trekked all over the city, to some really undesirable places and to Bea's fabulous penthouse apartment, and of course to Village Blend and the pages were just flying. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I was all in after reading the Author's Note until the final page. When the book hit the floor for the third time due to me dozing off, I had to stop to sleep. I couldn't wait to finish it the next day and cut my work hours short to do so.
I anxiously await each new installment of this series. I am invested in the lives of these wonderful characters and can't wait to see what the authors have in store for them next. Honey Roasted is the 19th book in the series but readers new to Cleo Coyle should not hesitate to pick it up today. I can predict you will want to read more when you finish it. Fans of the series will be delighted in this latest installment. To borrow an old expression Honey Roasted is the âbee kneesâ, and a real honey of a story. It will hold a space on my best reads list for this year. I LOVED IT!
