This is the second book I have read in this series and I enjoyed it as much as the first. Oktoberfest has arrived in Leavenworth and the town is ready for crowds with lots of beer and food. A documentary film crew has also arrived to document craft brewing and want to include Sloan. Add a diva film host who is not happy with anything and you have a setting for murder. Sloan and Garret are busy brewing seasonal favorites and enjoying Oktoberfest. After the film crew leaves Nitro and one of them is murdered. I really enjoy the small town setting and the characters. The mystery was good with lots of suspects. I liked it that Sloan worked with the local police. The solution made sense and I was able to figure out the killer. I look for word to reading the next book

I'm really enjoying this series! I'm not a beer drinker (or much of a drinker at all) but Sloan's enthusiasm of the brewing process and the descriptions of all the types of beer has me fascinated. I also love the mystery about Sloan's past that seems to be running through the series. I can't wait to see how it all plays out. The mystery in this book was interesting and kept me guessing until the very end.

One of my new favorite cozy mystery series. Beer, friends, romance, mystery... it's all good. A solid 5 star rate

The Pint of No Return is the next exciting book in Ellie Alexander's Sloan Krause Mystery series. I really enjoy the small, hometown feel that Ms. Alexander pens in this series. The setting for The Pint of No Return is Leavenworth, Washington just prior to Leavenworth’s Oktoberfest. Everyone is gearing up for the festivities and eagerly awaiting new local brews offered by Nitro. Sloan, while excited for Oktoberfest, is slowly wearing down from the craziness of managing Nitro, the divorce from Mac, her feelings for Garrett, and stress from working for a competitor of her in-laws.

To make matters worse, a production crews arrives on scene to film Oktoberfest in all its authenticity. With the production crew comes Mitchell Morgan, a highly sought-after movie star. He has set his sights on Sloan, who is not at all interested. Her troubles with Mitchell are just beginning, however, after he’s found dead at the bar.

I really enjoyed the multiple threads woven into this story. It's not just a murder mystery. We get to see the author develop the main characters and do a lot of world building in order to make all the events tie in together properly. I love Sloan's character. She's strong and doesn't put up with anything. She gets along with almost everyone in the book. I love how the author wrote a genuine emotional connection between Sloan and her in-laws and we get to see what happens when a divorce is imminent. I was very engaged in this story. The death/murder mystery kept me guessing. I found the entire book to be well thought out with wonderful pacing.

I was provided a review copy of this book.

This is the first book I've read by Ellie Alexander. I loved the whole plot and most of the characters. The victim was easy to pick out, but it usually is. My suspect list grew and changed as time went on. The murderer wasn't even on my radar!

Fun book with a touch of beer on the side.

I enjoyed this book. I'm not a beer drinker, but I liked reading about the attempts to make different beers, the focus on color, ingredients, etc. The characters were enjoyable and had lives outside of the plot; the main character, for example, had a son that really didn't play a role in the book but gave her character more depth. The mystery part was a little obvious I thought, but it was still enjoyable.

Recommended!

The Pint of No Return is the second book in the Sloan Krause cozy mystery series by Ellie Alexander. Released 2nd Oct 2018 by St. Martin's on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook formats.

This is a well written, decidedly cozy murder mystery with a side of romance. Main character Sloan is likeable and engaging. The murder in the mystery follows the well established mystery 'rule' to make the victim as unlikable as humanly possible (which also handily provides a wide pool of suspects).

The author is either very well versed in the world of brewing or has an astounding capacity for in-depth research. I loved that she throws in lots of info about different methods of brewing, different hops varieties, and even some fun beer related chemistry.

There's a fair bit of light humor. There's some pun based humor, mostly in the names of beers and foods (and book titles), but nothing which I found especially egregious.

The book does contain some drinking (of course), but no extreme profanity (one 'sh*t') or sexual content. Nothing to make the average reader blush.

This is a good light-hearted cozy.

Four stars.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, which I was so excited about, because this is one of my favorite cozy mystery series. I love the setting, I love the characters, I love the friendships (and possible romance), and the mysteries are always good ones. Sloan is such a strong female character in a profession that is considered a man's job, and she is also full of personal history and complications. She is a character I absolutely adore, and I can't wait to read more of her solving mysteries.

I thought the Octoberfest time was a great setting for these movie people to be visiting Leavenworth, Washington. Sloan is busy with her pub, but able to find time to investigate the town's latest death. It's fun to learn the tidbits about brewing beer (we like to try different ones) and there are plenty of twists to keep the story very interesting.

Fans of this series will like THE PINT OF NO RETURN. I enjoyed seeing the growth in the characters. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

I just couldn't really get into this one. I wanted this to be like another cozy mysteries series I enjoyed with a female brewer but I found the lead too mean spirited and highschoolish in the first few pages. It was just a struggle for me to finish from there.

Sloan is getting ready for Oktoberfest when she finds the body of a "movie star" making a documentary about her town. In between making delicious brews and serving customers, she must find the murderer.

Princess Fuzzypants here: I don’t drink beer but boy was I tempted by this book. The descriptions of some of the different brews had my chops a-drooling. It was not the only thing I liked about this book.
Sloan is a fascinating heroine. She did not have an optimum childhood to say the least, moved from foster home to foster home. But through hard work, smarts and talent she had the perfect life- that is until her soon to be ex-husband cheated on her. Thankfully her in-laws look upon her as their daughter. It is a good thing because Mac, her ex, is a handful. It is not helping matters that her boss at the microbrewery where she works is causing all sorts of lustful thoughts in her. She has enough issues without the arrival of a documentary film crew and its over the top obnoxious “star” who is swiftly dispatched.
When the local police chief asks Sloan and Mac to let her know if they observe anything untoward, Sloan takes it upon herself to dig deeper. She is not short of suspects. It would be a shorter list of who would not want to kill him. She is not one of these heroines who blindly walks into danger but there is no shortage of suspense as the story winds towards its conclusion. It is nicely paced and entertaining.
I give it four purrs and two paws up.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught.

The Pint of No Return by Ellie Alexander is the second book in the Sloan Krause Mystery series. Sloan is continuing to stay busy at her job at microbrewery Nitro. With Oktoberfest fast approaching everyone in Leavenworth is excited. To add to the excitement and chaos, a film crew arrives along with a handsome but annoying movie star. When he is found murdered, the suspect list is long. I have little interest in beer, but I adore this series. Sloan is a strong female lead, and the mystery was equally engaging.

This was a really enjoyable followup to the first book I read this year in this series. It was very hard to put down and moved at just the perfect pace.

It was Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, WA and a film crew was visiting to make a documentary. The director took a real interest in Sloan as a female brewer. When the host of the documentary ended up murdered, Sloan began to suspect the film crew members as well as one of the town's own people. Could she and Garrett help police Chief Meyers find the killer before the killer decided that Sloan was getting too close to the truth?

I'm enjoying the side mystery of Sloan's search for her birth parents. I had almost forgotten about it from the first book, but it goes into a little more detail in this book by introducing Sally, Sloan's old case worker. Sally thought something was off about the case when she was working it and apologized to Sloan for not investigating then. I do like that when all is said and done, Sloan is truly happy where she is now with her son and her Krause family. I'm still interested in finding out what comes of the investigation and why her parents gave her up when they clearly loved her.

I like the friendship that's developing between Garrett and Sloan. It's sweet and slow, and she's open to it too as she imagines herself becoming closer to him. The new character of Kat was fun too, and I hope she stays around.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My thanks to both of them.

I've always enjoyed Ellie Alexander's cozy mystery novels. As the second installment of her new series the Sloan Krause novels, The Pint of No Return did not disappoint. This series really is the first of its kind being centered around beer or brewing in some point. I loved the Oktoberfest theme of this book and I enjoyed how Ellie was able to draw me into her storyline. Well done! Highly enjoyed this book!

Summary from Goodreads:

"No other festival compares to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, Washington. The whole town is buzzing with excitement over this year’s activities and eagerly awaiting Nitro’s latest offering Cherrywizen, made with locally sourced cherries. But local brewmaster Sloan Krause is tapped out. Between trying to manage the pub, her pending divorce with Mac, and her mounting feelings for Garrett, she’s fermenting in internal turmoil.

To complicate matters, dreamy movie star Mitchell Morgan and his production crew have arrived in the village to film during the authentic Bavarian brewfest. Mitchell has his eye on Sloan and a taste for Nitro’s Cherrywizen. Sloan escapes his advances for good when she finds Mitchell slumped over the bar. Is this a case of one pint too many, or has Mitchell been murdered by microbrew?"

My Thoughts:

Last year I read and enjoyed the first book in this series, Death on Tap, so I jumped at the opportunity to read this book! Let's be honest - this book has been on my TBR list since I finished the last page of the first book. There is just something about Ellie Alexander's cozy mysteries that I can't get enough of. And while this is completely different from her Bakeshop series, it has enough of the same characteristics that I love from that series to make this one a real winner for me as well. She has a real knack for creating characters that feel real and complex. In both of her series, the main character is struggling with something major going on with their life that just comes across the pages as so real. In this book, Sloan is still trying to deal with her new "normal" after finding her husband cheating on her. She's working on figuring out what she wants in her life and how she moves on from here. That struggle to figure out what she wants in life next and how she is getting to get there just comes across so perfectly. Add in that a mystery to solve with lots of great secondary characters and you have a winner. What makes this book a four star read for me though is the added mystery of Sloan's past. In this book, we get the chance to see Sloan search a bit more into her unknown past searching for the reasons why she was placed into foster care which was just hinted about in book one. I'm so intrigued by this storyline that I cannot wait to get my hands on book three! I really found this to be a compelling read, and I breezed through the pages on my kindle. It's going to be a long wait for that next book, that's for sure!

Here's why I think that you should read this series in general (there's only two books so I definitely think it is worth it to start with the first book): it's the perfect palate cleanser because it just feels so fresh and original! Been reading a bunch of mysteries and dark thrillers? This series will break that up perfectly with a more light hearted mystery. Need a different type of cozy that isn't focused on food or books? (I'm horribly generalizing there but you get the idea). Read a mystery that talks about beer and the different kinds to make you want to try a few different types of beers yourself. LOL! It sounds funny when you put it like that but it really was the perfect change of pace for me. With great characters and questions that keep you wondering long after the book is finished.....well I couldn't ask for more to be honest. This is one of my favorite cozy mystery authors and for good reason. I can highly recommend!

Bottom Line: I loved this book just as much as the first book!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. Thoughts are my own.

Leavenworth, WA is holding is annual Oktoberfest celebration and since the town is a "recreation" of a Bavarian village, a movie crew has also moved in to film a documentary about the beer making process. A former child star is slated to be the fil;m host, but he is found murdered before the celebrations begin. Considering that the victim managed to make several enemies in a short of time, there was more than a few suspects. Sloan Krause needed first to make sure the death wasn't related to the microbrew from their establishment that the victim had been drinking and once done set out to make sure the murderer wasn't any of her family or friends.

This a nice change from the "wine" cozies with beer being the center ingredient. The characters are great and the writing is crisp.

First off, thanks to #NetGalley & #Kensington for the chance to read this one. I love Ellie Alexander's Bakeshop cozy mystery series, so was a no-brainer to try this series, too. Ms. Alexander is very good at establishing place as her settings are as "alive" as her characters. She does such a good job at describing Leavenworth that I'd love to visit the town! Characters are very well drawn and I really liked Sloane. However, I fail to understand how such a smart & savvy woman could have fallen for a creep like Mac and how people as delightful as his parents could have raised him! That aside, there are actually 2 mysteries in this one. The murder of movie star Mitch and Sloane's search for her birth mother. The murder mystery may have gone begging somewhat with the other side story seeming to take center stage more often, IMHO. Also, much, if not MOST, of the beer talk was completely over my head, not being a beer connoisseur, but that was easy to skim over when it got to be too much for me. I'll definitely read another of these. Recommend!