It was great to get back to Leavenworth and the Nitro pub for another visit with Sloan, Garrett, Kat and crew. They sure had a disagreeable guest this time while they were only doing a soft opening of their B&B part of the pub, but with the IceFest coming up, they were the only place in town that had any rooms at all. There were actually two mysteries, but they eventually connected. I would never have guessed part of the one or the why of the killer. I had a feeling about who the killer was and who I wanted it to be lol.

Sloan's own side mystery was really coming together with a visit from Sally who'd already dropped some disturbing news to her last time. This time she had some concrete notes talking about this subject, something that was very devastating to Sloan. I'm not sure what I would have done in her place, because the news was pretty wild. It didn't leave with a mini cliffhanger as it's been doing, although we're still left to wonder what the truth really is about her past and the people involved in it. It'll be an interesting ride, since the Sloan we all know and love isn't going to stop until she's got the answers she's looking for.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

Without a Brew by Ellie Alexander is book four in the A Sloan Krause Mystery series, I love this series It can be read as a stand alone.
Sloan and the gang at Nitro are getting ready to open the B&B and have one couple staying in one of the rooms in a soft opening. When two couples come in begging for rooms, Sloan and Garrett agree to rent to them, hoping it's not a mistake due to the actions of one of the men always wanting to showboat. Then when a single woman also appears and needing a shoulder to lean on, Sloan lets her vent but picks up on a few of the others in Nitro having strange reactions to her. Does Liv have a history in Leavenworth? When Liv doesn't show for breakfast the next morning Sloan looks in her room and finds a torn up room and no Liv. Then a body is found in the river and Sloan knows it wasn't an accident. Who wanted Liv dead? Sloan sets our to find out while finding out secrets from her own childhood.
This is an easy to read Cozy with suspects and plot twists galore. I didn't want to put it down. There are likeable characters, one a bit quirky, and Alexander will have you thinking you are in Leavenworth. You also have love of family and friendship.
I have said it before and will say it again, I am not a beer drinker but I want to try some of the brews at Nitro!
I was given an ARC by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an honest review.

Sloan is embarking on a new venture within her adopted hometown, while trying to find out more of her own past. Brewing is her passion, but staring a boutique B&B above the brewery is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Add in a suspicious death, questions about her own past, and the raising a teenage son and life is sure to be interesting. A fun read with a full cast of well drawn characters.

Another enjoyable visit to Leavenworth, Washington. I'm still surprised at how quickly I've become invested in this series. Without a Brew is only the second book I have read from this series, yet I've already fallen in love with the quaint Bavarian-themed town, and the characters all feel like old friends. To me, that is just a testament to how good of a writer Ellie Alexander is. She has truly done a wonderful job of describing the town and developing the characters. I felt like I was right there in Leavenworth, enjoying the cozy winter season with Sloan and the other villagers, and I could practically smell and taste the different types of beers being brewed at Nitro. Ellie Alexander's love of food also shines through in this book and like her Bakeshop Mystery series, the mouthwatering food descriptions are guaranteed to make you feel hungry.

I really like Sloan. I found her to be genuine, hardworking, independent, and a good mother and friend. After splitting from her cheating husband, she left his family's brewery and went to work at a new nano-brewery, Nitro. Sloan loves her new job and has become very close with the Nitro team, which includes her boss Garrett and co-worker Kat. In this fourth installment, Sloan and the Nitro gang are excited to be welcoming their first B&B guests. But when one of the guests is murdered and all the other guests become suspects, they wonder if they're really cut out for the B&B business. I found it refreshing that Sloan didn't just drop everything to go hunting for clues and that her job and family always came first.
I thought the mystery was well-done. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out how Ellie Alexander crafts her mysteries but this time, I didn't know who the killer was until the reveal. There's also a second mystery about Sloan's background and I can't wait to see how that storyline plays out. All in all, this was a delightful read and I look forward to the next book. If you're a cozy mystery reader, this author should definitely be on your list.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Without a Brew is the fourth book in author Ellie Alexander’s Sloan Krause mystery series set in Bavarian-like Leavenworth, Washington in the northern Cascade Mountains. Just weeks from IceFest, Sloan and her business partner in Nitro Brewery and Tasting Room, Garrett Strong, are doing a soft opening of their bed and breakfast enterprise attached in the same old building Garrett’s great-aunt Tess had left him.

They had taken a booking from a young couple celebrating their anniversary to check for any glitches. When a local house rental agency turns away two couples due to a plumbing problem, they appear at the Tasting Room begging for lodging. As they have the room available, Sloan and Garrett agree to the lodgers. Later that evening, a single lady arrives at the pub, also seeking lodging. She says she was supposed to meet someone that hadn’t shown up yet and it was getting too dark to head back through the pass to Spokane. Inasmuch as there was one more available room, Sloan took pity on the woman and rented her the room.

The following day, when all lodgers have come to breakfast except the last lady, Sloan guesses she was avoiding one of the group who had been quite rude to her the previous evening. When an employee goes to freshen the rooms, she discovers the lone lady’s door ajar and her room ransacked. At this point, Chief Myers is called.

From this point, the mystery begins, the lodgers all become suspect, and the story takes myriad turns as it unfolds. Along with the mystery to be solved, there is also the mystery of Sloan, her origin, and the information her social worker Sally has discovered to further complicate matters and give depth to the story and the characters.
This is a rapidly developing story and every time the reader thinks they have it solved, something happens to change that thought. I very much enjoyed this book and I do recommend it!

Once again I find myself thoroughly excited that I got the chance to read a book in this series. I loved everything about this book. Ellie Alexander is so descriptive that I feel like I'm right there in Leavenworth, Washington. Sloan is a really strong, driven character. She's a single mom, a brew master and a women with a tangled, mysterious past, that we're finally starting to get a glimpse of. Add in a murder, food, and of course craft beer and you have a fun book to read. There's also a surprise twist at the end that caught me off guard. I highly recommend this book.

I really liked that there was so much going on in this novel. We had the central mystery, the side mystery of Sloan's past (which I'm enjoying that this has become a bit of a series mystery, getting a little more information with each book), lots of food and beer descriptions, the goings on of Sloan and the townspeople, plus general small town life. This was a fun and fast read; this series has become one that I look forward to each new instalment.

Without a Brew
A Sloan Krause Mystery #4

by Ellie Alexander

Without a Brew-Summary
It’s ski season in the North Cascades. At Nitro, a craft beer nanobrewery located in Leavenworth, Washington, Sloan Krause and her boss, Garrett, are busy pouring pints for the locals and the ski crowd. Part of the crowd is a young couple celebrating their anniversary. Ali and Brad are the first guests of Nitro’s soft opening as a beer themed B & B, but as busy ski weekends would have it, not the only guests.
Arrogant Kevin Malcolm and several of Kevin’s friends show up looking for rooms. The chalet they had rented burst its pipes, flooded, and there is nowhere else for them to go. Reluctantly, Sloan and Garrett decide to rent the group rooms. Then Liv Paxton, not dressed for skiing, enters Nitro, and Liv is also looking for a place to stay. Sloan books Liv into the last room and what was supposed to be a soft opening turns into a fully booked B & B.
Kevin takes note of Liv and tries to impress her with his talk and flashy watch. She brushes him off, but he refuses to leave Liv alone. When Kevin tries to force Liv to take his watch, it ends up on the floor, and Nitro almost has its first bar fight. Garrett intervenes, things calm down, and the rest of the day is uneventful until Liv comes close to telling Sloan a secret. Before Liv can reveal the secret she’s carried for a long time, Ali and Brad appear and the moment vanishes. By Liv and Brad’s reactions, Sloan knows the two know each other and they are doing their best to pretend they’ve never met.
Liv fails to appear at breakfast the next morning. Sloan checks Liv’s room and finds a neatly made bed, but someone has tossed the rest of the room. Chief Myers is notified and a search for the missing guest beings. Eventually Liv’s body is found. The remaining B & B guests become suspects as well as a local mechanic. Taylor thought he recognized Liv and his story changes every time he’s questioned about her. The investigation continues and secrets, recent and long-buried, are revealed. Sloan circles closer to the killer. Will Sloan guess the killer’s identity or become the next victim?



My Thoughts
This is the first book (but not the last) I’ve read in this series. Sloan has secrets of her own and a past she is starting to unravel. Sloan’s personal life imploded when she caught her husband Mac Kraus with another woman. She and Mac are in the process of ending their marriage, but Sloan is also part-owner of the family brewery started by Mac’s parents Otto and Ursula. Sloan is rebuilding her life as a single parent to teenage son Alex, while still living in the same small mountain community as her husband and his family.
I like the overarching mystery of Sloan’s background; it adds another layer to the story. It wasn’t easy figuring out the actual killer, but when the killer and the why is revealed, it’s a twist that makes sense. I plan on reading the earlier books in the series, as well as any future books. Alexander has pulled me into this series and I need to see how it progresses.

Author Information
Ellie Alexander is a prolific writer of cozy mysteries. She is the author of several series: The Bakeshop Mystery Series, Sloan Krause Mystery Series, Pacific Northwest Mystery Series and the Rose City Mysteries (as Kate Dyer-Seely)
Publisher
Disclaimers: Free copy provided by NetGalley
Hashtags: #NetGalley, #WithoutABrew

Ah, Leavenworth, Washington in Winter - perfect. One of the not to be missed towns in the state. This series is a great way to visit when you are unable to travel. Now that Sloan and Garrett have branched out and started a B&B, I would like to be one of their guests but probably not with a homicide on the side.
Ice Fest is about to start and Sloan and Garrett are giving Nitro a test drive with several guests in house. One pair is very nice but the rest? Utterly horrid. On top of that, Sloan offers shelter for Liv Paxton who is stranded for the night. What follows is a shocker - Liv's room has been trashed and she has gone missing. After the police are called to Nitro and the search is underway, Liv's body is found.
This is the fourth in the series but works well as a stand alone. Sloan is a well developed, strong woman with a complex past. In each book the reader learns a bit more about her as she tries to find information about her birth mother. Another reason that keeps me coming back for the next mystery. The mystery is solid and kept me engaged to the very end.
My thanks to the publisher, Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is the fourth book in the Sloan Krause series but the first I’ve read. The author does a great job of giving you plenty of backstory information so you don’t feel lost at all if you also haven’t read the other books in this series. I really enjoyed the story, which had me guessing. In addition to the book’s central murder, there are several different threads which added to the depth of the story: Sloan’s background as a child of the foster system, her pending divorce, the beer-making process, and so forth. The Bavarian-style town of Leavenworth, Washington is actually a character in itself, and I would love to visit there on my next trip to the Pacific Northwest. The main character, Sloan Krause, is not your typical busybody of so many cozy mystery series, which added to my enjoyment. April, the local real estate agent and town publicity person, made me laugh with her crazy outfits and mangled German phrases. I will definitely check out the rest of this series, as it has totally caught my interest.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book is my favorite in the series. I loved getting to know a little more about Sloan's back story. The mystery was well written. I love Ellie Alexander's descriptions of Leavenworth. They make me feel as if I am right in the middle of the town. I can't wait to see where this series goes next.



I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley and St Martin's Press in return for my honest review. Thank you for the opportunity.

4 Stars

Without a Brew is a fun and unique cozy mystery that really makes you want to try a craft beer. Even for a non beer drinker.

Without a Brew is my first Sloan Krause and will not be my last. The Bavarian Village Ice festival is all but underway and Nitro is doing a soft open for their B&B tasting experience! Sloan and her boss Garrett learn quickly that innkeeping and beer brewing may not go hand in hand. Nitro’s soft open turns into a full house when a small group has a messed up reservation and a lone woman seek shelter from the cold. Fun in the snow and amazing beer tasting is what should be had but when a body turns up things are not as they seem. Too many suspects and a lot of unanswered questions layer this mystery. Sloan weaves her way through a trail of clues she seems compelled to follow.

Without a Brew was a fantastic cozy mystery. I really enjoyed Sloan‘s character. She’s hard-working and independent. A caring and loyal woman who has seen a hard life. Her heart has been broken by someone she loved but yet she’s picking up the pieces and trying to live on with life. She did a lot of growing in just one book and I find that thoroughly impressive on the authors part. As someone who is just picking up a book within the series and able to understand the challenges that Sloan faces and understand them like they were just introduced in this book is a higher accomplishment in my book. The mystery was interesting and impressive how it came about and with the end results were. I also thoroughly enjoyed this little town. As someone who really doesn’t like the cold or beer for that matter I found both aspects of this book to be truly Intercal parts of the story and we’re interesting to someone who has not found an interest before.

Without a Brew was a page turning mystery that was completely entertaining and thoroughly enjoyed. I can’t wait to go back to the beginning of the series and find out all the wonderful things I’ve missed about this incredibly charming and cozy little town.

I volunteered to read this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. This is the fourth book in this series. The characters are described well and the book is well written. The setting is absolutely beautifully described this book. Although I would recommend reading the first book in this series, the characters are very enjoyable. This book is in stores now for $26.99 (USD). The writing style will keep you guessing which character(s) did it. I highly highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Sloan Krouse is making changes to her life. Even though she’s spent her years in Leavenworth, Washington living outside of town in a farmhouse, she’s thinking of moving in to town. There she would be able to walk to work, at the brew pub Nitro. And things are changing at work too. The four guest rooms that Sloan and Garrett have been fixing up are almost ready to open, just in time for IceFest, the big festival the town puts on to draw tourists into the quaint Bavarian village filled with good beer and winter sports.

As a soft opening for their guest rooms, they have taken a reservation for one couple, a young couple celebrating an anniversary, for the weekend before the Ice Fest. That way, they can take care of one room of guests, to make sure that they have everything in place before opening all the rooms. But when two other couples were forced out of their hotel at the last minute due to circumstances beyond their control, Sloan and Garrett take pity on them and open two more of the guest rooms. So when Liv shows up at Nitro, needing a place to stay, Sloan can’t say no to her either, especially since she seems upset.

But things get more difficult the next day. The three couples wake up and come to breakfast, but Liv doesn’t make it. When Kat goes into her room later to tidy up, she sees that the room is a mess. She has Sloan take a look, and Sloan agrees that it doesn’t look right. It looks as if someone tossed all of Liv’s belongings around the room, and the bed doesn’t look slept in. Sloan calls their local police chief to take a look and report Liv missing, and it doesn’t take long before the inquiry turns to a murder investigation.

Sloan is smart enough to leave the investigating to the police, but as a friendly person who works in a bar, she does hear things. But she takes all that information and hands it off to the police chief because Sloan has other things she needs to think about. She needs to make sure that her teenaged son is okay with their move into town, and her former social worker Sally is coming to town to talk about some files she was able to dig up about Sloan’s birth mother.

As a kid, Sloan had been raised in a series of foster homes, but she thought she’d found her true family when she married Mac and became a part of his family. Even after he’d cheated and the marriage dissolved, Sloan still felt close to her in-laws. But the information that Sally brings her makes her question everything she’s known about Mac’s parents. Is it possible that she never really knew them at all?

Meanwhile, the investigation is continuing at Nitro, and the guests are becoming frustrated at having to stay in town. The pressure is building, and just like anyone who has shaken a bottle of beer knows, it’s all about to explode. Will Sloan be able to get back to the new life she’s building when everything comes out, or will all her efforts fall flat?

Ellie Alexander is back with another Sloan Krouse mystery. Without a Brew takes us back to that charming Washington village of Leavenworth, a little pocket of Germany tucked in the Cascade Mountains. These cozy mysteries feature solid characters, a well plotted murder mystery, and moments of peaceful craft beer brewing and cooking. While you won’t learn how to brew your own beer reading these books, you will get a chance to inhabit the mind of a brewer from time to time, learning more about pairing flavors and using hops.

I really love these fun cozies. Without a Brew is the fourth book in this series, and it’s just as clever as the first. I adore getting to spend time in this lovely Bavarian town, I love hearing about April’s kitschy outfits, and I enjoy hearing about the beers and the snacks. I wish I could visit Nitro in person from time to time, to enjoy the menu and the company, but for now I guess I’ll just have to settle for reading these books from time to time. And this way, I don’t have to worry about finding my snow boots.

Egalleys for Without a Brew were provided by St. Martin’s Press (Minotaur Books) through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Without a Brew by Ellie Alexander is part of a fun series about a woman and her partner who run a microbrewery and tasting room in a small town in Washington, very German. The woman is Sloan Krause, hence the title of the series. They are about to open the second floor of the brewery as a small bed and breakfast, only about four rooms, when it became necessary to open it early as they apparently had the only empty rooms in town. They had the one couple they had counted on, Ali and Brad, when a blustery, very important man (just ask him) insisted that they rent him rooms for he and his three companions. Not really wanting trouble, they agreed. Last but not least was a single woman, Liv, who appeared to be miserably unhappy. So the evening had begun. The next morning when Sloan arrived, Kat, their Jill-of-all-trades, informed Sloan that Liv's room had been trashed and there was no sign of Liv. Sloan went to see for herself and immediately called the police chief who came and immediately started a town-wide search. Of course, Liv turned up, murdered, and all of the suspects seemed to be staying at their bed and breakfast.

This is a terrific series with an abundance of interesting characters. Sloan has separated from her husband, who she caught cheating. She is estranged from his family, the only family she has ever known, for reasons unrelated to the separation. Her partner in the microbrewery, Garrett, may be her future. Who knows? Everything is moving apace. Meanwhile, the convoluted plot does eventually yield a murderer, although with a motive the read would never expect. It is a well-written, mystery, easy to read, and compelling enough to keep your interest, with subplots and alternate storylines aplenty, not to mention misdirection and red herrings. It is well worth your time. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free ARC of Without a Brew by Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #withoutabrew

The third book in this series (Beyond a Reasonable Stout) was my first Ellie Alexander (don't judge me for reading out of order--it's what the library had!) and I fell in love with her. I immediately ordered books one and two (and the first in her Bakeshop series). When I had the chance to read this book, book four, I was ecstatic! And it DID NOT DISSAPPOINT!

I've been reading a lot of cozy mysteries lately, and these just show me why Alexander is the QUEEN of cozy mysteries. When you have a "cozy," full of small town charm, recipes, and puns, sometimes the plot can feel a little slow or predictable or the characters too quirky--NOT WITH ELLIE. She's a master at creating somehow realistic but idealistic worlds (with murder!), keeping the plot moving, and giving us a crime that's an actual challenge to solve! I love her writing style and new she was going to be a new must-read author for me.

With regards to this book, and series, in particular I love it. Beer is a whole new spin on the cozy mystery baking obsession, and somehow feels more adult and less quaint (maybe because it's alcohol...). I don't even like beer, but I love learning more about it in these books. All the different kinds of beer, how to taste them, how they're brewed--it's so fun! And the town of Leavenworth, a make-shift Bavarian village in Washington State? I'm in love. I recently discovered it was a real place and am dying to go one day! Alexander creates such a charming picture of the town I'm adding it to my bucket list.

While I know the main mystery of this story--who murdered the guest at the beer B&B--should be the main star, a large part of me keeps reading to discover what happened to Sloan's birth parents! The mystery of Sloan's birth parents and how she ended up in foster care as a child are a subplot that's threaded throughout the books in the series, and in each one we learn and little bit more. Somehow, I think it might be years before we get an answer (and Sloan gets divorced and gets with Garrett), that's okay--I'll keep reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for my eARC in exchange for an honest review!

5 stars - 9/10

A book set around a brewery is the perfect book for me. Add in the skiing and winter setting and I am won over! Without a Brew is part of the Sloan Krause series, which is new to me. I started reading and quickly became engrossed in the plot, the characters, and the wonderful setting.



A murder happens when the brewery takes the next step to become an inn. Their guests become anxious, clues start to come to light pointing the blame at various guests, and tensions are high. Yet, Sloan knows that she can help figure out the who-dun-it. I could see her mind working as she chatted with guests, followed clues, and tried to put it all together. It seemed that every person she talked to have a reason, a way, and a different story to tell.



Without a Brew is a quick and fun book. I loved the setting, the characters, and the twists and turns of the storyline.

The fourth in the Sloane Krause series is out today and I love this series so much! Sloane is a brewer and accidental investigator. I love the cozy brewery setting and beer facts/references. The Leavenworth, WA setting is so charming. But what I love most about this series is that while each one has had an interesting mystery within it, we also get to follow along as Sloane investigates her background as she grew up in the foster system and is now learning about connections between her adult life and birth family. This has made such a compelling through line for the series that has set it apart from the crowded cozy mystery genre.

I always enjoy a trip to Leavenworth, Washington. This is the fourth installment in the Sloan Krause series. This series never disappoints.

I was excited that the rooms above the bar were ready to be rented. Not so sure I would like to be an inn keeper with the unsurly guests Sloan is experiencing. The service industry isn’t easy.

I liked the story, the characters and, the twists and turns. I know divorce can be extremely difficult. I think dwelling on it so much in this series bogs it down a bit. I admire Sloan for being a strong character. Her character traits are applaudable. Unlike many cozy, she does her job above and before running off to find clues to propel the story along.

I am looking forward to my next visit to Leavenworth. Wish I didn’t have to wait so long.

I recommend this book and this series. I’ve learned so much with each book.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and am not required to leave a positve review.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

Without a Brew is the fourth book in the Sloan Krause Mystery series, a series which I happen to LOVE! I must say – this fourth book in the series is, in my opinion, the best so far. If you like cozy mysteries that keep you guessing until the end, a slow burning “other” intriguing storyline, protagonists with every day relatable issues, then this is the book for you. While you can certainly read this as a stand alone, I enjoyed the added depth for the main characters that I gleaned from reading the previous books in this series.

The story begins as any good story set in a brewery in Leavenworth, Washington in January – with a winter storm stranding people without hotel rooms available to stay in! Luckily for them, Nitro (micro brewery owned by Garrett) is soon to open up a few guest rooms so while not officially open, Sloan and Garrett expand their soft opening for the stranded additional overnight guests. In true cozy fashion, a death soon occurs and given that the victim is one of the guests at Nitro, Sloan is compelled to give the local constabulary a helping hand – much to the approval of Chief Meyers.

There certainly is no shortage of potential suspects! This reader found the trail of clues that Sloan weaves through interesting and at times – just big ole red herrings. But this is what made the story compelling, interesting and downright fun to read. While I had my thoughts on who the murderer might have been, I did need discoveries made throughout the story to piece it together in the end. And I must say (without giving anything away of course) that the final scenes where the murderer is revealed certainly grabbed my attention… hoping beyond hope that Sloan would be okay and not succumb to the cold before help arrived.

The other storyline in which Sloan is trying to discover the identity of her birth parents took a mighty interesting turn. However, this resulted (in my mind) some rather interesting questions that will still need to be answered. The involvement / knowledge that Otto and Ursula have and did not share with Sloan definitely peaked my interest – and I cannot wait for what is to come (I sure hope there is more to come!!).

I am excited for Sloan to experience “village” life. She finally made a decision about purchasing a new-to-her home in the village as a result of her impending divorce. Best to move out of the family home and begin again. Her consideration for her son, Alex, really was touching and showed that above all else – she is a mother first and foremost. And that is a trait I like to see portrayed, if warranted.

As for the remainder of the local characters, I found this book light on getting to know many more of them – except of course April. She was certainly instrumental in the purchase of the village home (being the real estate agent on record for the property). I found in this book, April was not quite as annoying (or maybe I am getting used to her eccentricities).

I shall be waiting with baited breath for the next installment of the Sloan Krause Mysteries series. A big shout out goes to author Ellie Alexander for penning a series which has truly captured my interest… and desire for a vacation to Leavenworth! So in the final analysis – pick up a copy of Without a Brew and get reading – you won’t regret it (at least in my opinion).