This is the 4th book in the Sloan Krause series, and it's one of my favorite cozy mystery series. It's a "cozy" without being too cozy if that makes sense, the mystery is traditional but the characters are not typical for the genre. It makes this series a joy to read. This book is one of the best so far. The main character, Liv, is strong and interesting and the town of Leavenworth, WA is a place I want to visit! If you like cozies with great characters and strong plots you'll enjoy this one. 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's - Minotaur Books for the ARC of this book, the review is unsolicited and all opinions are my own.

This was a fantastic introduction to Ellie Alexander for me. I loved Sloan and the cast of characters. The brewery is an excellent backdrop for these mysteries. When Sloan and Garrett take in guest for their new bed and breakfast everything goes wrong. Including one of the guest ends up murdered. I am looking forward to Sloan learning about her past. This is a great mystery with lots of twist and turns.
#WithoutaBrew #NetGalley

I received this ARC via Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, in return for an honest review. While the fourth book in this series and it can be read as a standalone, I recommend reading the series in order. There’s a great deal of the protagonist, Sloane Krause’s, history that serves as a secondary plot in the book. This is definitely the book for beer lovers or those who enjoy learning about new things like the making of craft beers. Sloane and her boss, Garrett, are doing a soft opening of the renovated B&B rooms above their craft brewery/pub, Nitro. While they’d deliberately booked one couple, a burst pipe puts two more couples into three of the four rooms. The final is taken by Liv, a woman traveling alone, with no other rental accommodations available in town. Convincing themselves that a full house is a good test for when it is a full-time B&B, Sloane and Garrett realize that the seven guest personalities are make quite the volatile mix. Sloane, while one of the Brewmeisters, also agreed to make the breakfasts. On her first morning, she’s concerned when Liv doesn’t appear, and her room looks trashed. Things escalate and both visitors and townspeople are pulled into the crime that occurs.
Sloane is also grappling with the demise of her marriage to Mac and whether to move into town with their teenaged son, Alex. Add to that, Sloane grew up in the foster care system and she, along with her long-time caseworker, are trying to solve the mysteries of her past.
Sloane is a very likeable character and all the people in the book are well and clearly written. The mystery is solid and it’s always interesting to see a new way to investigate a murder by an amateur sleuth. You’ll root for Sloane to juggle everything and come out on top.
There’s a great deal of exposition about beer. I skimmed those parts because I’m just not that into beer. There’s also lots about Sloane’s mysterious past and how its affecting her present and future. So, if you like cozies that are more than straight mysteries, you should like this book.

Wow, every book makes me love this series even more. This is by far the best 'cozy mystery' series I've read.
I truly enjoy learning more and more about brewing beer, but in such a fun way. And I would love to live in a town such as this. I highly recommend this series even if you don't like beer.

Ellie Alexander is a pro at writing cozy mysteries and this has been proven time and again in each series and individual book she writes. The Sloan Krause series is unique, intriguing, and so much fun to read and I honestly can't get enough! I hope this series continues with many many books!

I love this author and everything she writes. This one I especially love because it is set in Leavenworth Washington a favorite place of mine.

In this fourth book we find Sloan getting ready to move on in her personal life. Recently divorced from her husband she is on the hunt for a new house and a new vision.

The brewery Nitro where she works has added newly remodeled rooms for rent with a beer theme. When an unexpected snow storm requires them to open earlier than scheduled. This shouldn't be a problem but combine obnoxious guests, a murder, and a blizzard and you have a rip roaring mystery that only Sloan can solve.

I really enjoyed this book and if you're looking for a great cozy mystery to read this is the one for you!

I did not want this book to end. I’ve come to really like Sloane and this book shows her in a whole new light.
Working at the pub with Garrett makes Sloane happy, as well as spending time with her extended family by marriage. Sloane doesn’t have her own family, and in this story, it seems that Sloane has no idea who she is at all.
Hosting a soft run of the potential b & b they plan to open is exciting for Sloane, and when an obnoxious guest gets on everyone’s nerves, the discovery of a murdered guest just makes things even worse. There are plenty of suspects and Sloane won’t stop asking questions, about the murder victim.
I truly loved this book and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I don't like beer, but the descriptions of how it's made were interesting enough to keep my attention. The mystery was intriguing and made enough twists and turns to keep me involved in the plot, without depending on unrealistic coincidences.

I was given this free advanced reader copy by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. And I loved it.

Sloan Krause and her business partner Garrett are ready to make their Nitro Brewery opening into a bed and breakfast. However, their debut weekend gets a little out of hand when a burst pipe brings in guest. Plus there's the stranded visitor. Unfortunately all the other hotels are full, and so Nitro Breweey B & B is jumping off with 2 feet. When one of the guests is discovered missing the following morning, and her room ransacked, Sloan immediately calls the police chief. With the guests as the prime suspects, Sloan must use her resources to find out what is going on, and keep the business thriving.

Let's (again) start by saying that this book is the 4th in a series that I have never read until now. However, starting with the fourth book is doable, because Ellie Alexander is very good about bringing the reader up to date with Sloan and the village. Right off the bat, I thought the author had started the series in the middle of a crisis in the main character's life. I thought "how original!" Then I researched it and discovered my mistake, but it never felt like I was missing something. I was never overwhelmed by information. Instead, it flowed seamlessly and smoothly with the plot of the crime.

There is a personal investigation for Sloan as she pursues her own past. This was also pretty easy to follow with the author providing the transactions and information. I would say that this added some insight into Sloan and her personality, but it didn't. I thought her interactions with the rest of the characters gave the reader those insights. I am interested, however, to see if Ellie Alexander will make that mystery a book all on its own. (Or maybe it already is, and I just need to start at the beginning.)

I enjoyed the main crime for how relatable it was. I could understand the motive, and even feel some pity. I was definitely kept guessing with all of the suspects and the different twists and turns. But what also made this enjoyable was Sloan herself. She didn't run off into action, or try to figure it out herself. Instead, she listened and talked to people. She told the chief what she knew and encouraged everyone else to do the same, even to the point of walking a couple of them to the station herself. I thought that was the most realistic and common sense like aspect of the novel. I do have one question. Why do none of the characters use their cell phones? I mean, I guess because it is a small village so walking is possible. But a couple of times, Sloan would walk to the police station and the chief would be out. Wouldn't calling her on her cell and leaving a voicemail be a good idea? Or even a quick text?

Seeing as how that was my only question, I didn't feel it took anything away from the story or why I enjoyed it so much. The Brewery and the brewing process was interesting. Again, not overwhelming or confusing for a first time reader. I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars, and will go back and read from the beginning before book 5 comes out.

I adore Ellie Alexander and as soon as I got this stopped EVERYTHING I was doing to read this. The fourth book in the series, it doesn't really stand alone and I'd strongly recommend starting from the beginning. The crew at Nitro is getting ready for the soft open of the beer-themed B&B above the brewery, but instead of one couple they end up with a packed house. When one of the guests winds up missing, the tangled webs between everyone start to come to light. Once again, Alexander delivers a delightful little cozy. The mystery went to places I didn't expect, but it all made sense by the end with previously dropped hints and small clues bringing everything together. The B plot of "who is Sloan" and the drama surrounding the Krouse's continues to reach towards absurdity. I can't take it seriously, so I usually end up cracking up and waiting for the next twist or turn.

As much as enjoy Ellie Alexander's brew pub mysteries, this one had a huge plot hole in it and I struggled to overlook it. In previous books, Sloan Krause has been searching for her birth mother and it seems her former in-laws, Ursula and Otto, know more than they have revealed. When Sloan's former counselor Sally reveals Ursula and Otto are not who they seem, Sloan is crushed by the deception. Suffice it to say, this is where the giant hole enters the picture. They allegedly fled Germany after the war because they were Nazi sympathizers, but if that were the case, they would be almost 90 years old. If they left in their 20s and the war ended in 1945, the math doesn't add up.

I enjoyed the other portion of the story, but this Nazi bit made no sense to me, especially as the drama had been teased out in previous books. Too bad because I always enjoy these books.

Without a Brew is the fourth book in Ellie Alexander’s Sloan Krause Mysteries, a beer themed cozy series set a quaint Bavarian village nestled into the mountains of Washington state.

I am obsessed with this series’s perfectly picturesque German village setting. I have been missing travel so much since Covid, and this book was a perfect escape! The winter wonderland vibes and quaint Bavarian details are all so cute, it makes me wish Leavenworth was a real place so I could visit it myself.

This is definitely a series for beer lovers! Sloan a master brewer who is passionate about her work at Leavenworth’s premier nano-brewery. It is clear that Ellie Alexander is incredibly passionate and knowledgable about craft beer and beer making, and it was fun to see that love shine through Sloan and her work.

The murder mystery in this book was engaging and kept me guessing until the end. I liked that this book featured a capable woman Detective who worked with Sloan to find the killer, rather than the more common trope of our protagonist sleuth being at odds with the police investigation.

Though some cozy mystery series can be read out of order, I would recommend reading this series in order and from the beginning because there is a significant series-long mystery that runs concurrent to this specific book’s murder mystery. I definitely would have appreciated Sloan’s search for the truth about her family more if I had already read the first three books... but because I hadn't, I struggled with this storyline and felt myself wanting to skip ahead and get back to the murder.

There was one thing that struck me as odd in this book. When new characters were introduced in the story, a lot of them seemed to be described in negative ways… like critiques of people’s physical appearances, make-up, and clothes. It’s a very minor thing, but it sort of made our protagonist come off as mean-spirited and judgy, which felt weird for a cozy.

Overall, Without a Brew was a super fun quarantine escape read and I definitely look forward to reading more of this cozy series. I would recommend this series to beer lovers, winter weather enthusiasts, and anyone enchanted by alpine towns and German Christmas markets.

It's winter in Leavenworth; Sloan and her boss Garrett are attempting a soft opening of their guestrooms. Things start off well enough with a couple, but the second group of guests is definitely not what they were expecting, and then third guest goes missing. As guests and regulars confide in Sloan she starts to gather the pieces of the third guests identity and the kind of people her other guests really are. As if Sloan didn't have enough to worry about her former social worker comes for a visit bringing some information into her past. I loathe beer but I LOVE this series! This is another great book in the series, I can't wait for more!

The Sloan Krause series is one of my favorite cozy series--which amazes me since I hate beer! But Sloan is such a great character, and Alexander does a fantastic job of delivering interesting, complex plots each time.

This one is very mysterious and emotional-and as satisfying as ever.

Two nitpicks: People tell Sloan stuff way too easily. There should be a law that anytime a main character thinks, "I couldn't believe so-and-so was telling me this," the writer has to go back and revise again. If the character can't believe it, neither will the reader.

Also, the series arc story of Sloan's biological family...it's not that it's not interesting. I guess I'm just tired of that trope right now. It feels like 2/3 of the cozies I pick up at this point (probably all written by the same few talented and prolific writers under pen names!) have a multi-book arc going on about the main character finding out something about her biological family and past. I don't really care about that part of the story, and relying on it for so much emotional weight weakens the books to me. For me, Sloan's present-day life as a recently divorced stepmom who's moving home, rebuilding her career, and solving murders--that's plenty. *That's* where I want the story weight to come from.

But, that said...I still really enjoyed this book! It was tense, dramatic, and gripping!

Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Without a Brew is the first book I've read in this series about Sloan Krause and craft beer brewing, but I jumped right into her world. Nitro, the brewery she works at in a Northern Washington ski town is starting to expand into an Inn and is taking its first guests. Things get complicated when one of the guests turns out to be a handful and another one ends up dead. Sloan does her best to try and uncover the truth about what is happening under Nitro's roof.

There is a secondary story about Sloan's past that weaves into the main plot, this is something I loved about Ellie Alexander's books under the name Kate Dyer- Seeley. It adds so much depth and character development, something that is lacking in a lot of cozies.

I really enjoyed the book and am looking forward to not only the next installment, but going back and reading the previous books in the series.

A great addition in this engaging series! I was hooked from after reading the first book and enjoy that there is a backstory that continues to develop throughout the series; however, this book could absolutely be read as a stand alone. The mystery was interesting and well plotted. The descriptions of the town are heavenly and because of this series Leavenworth has definitely been added to my bucketlist of places to visit. A minor cliffhanger at the end means I can hardly wait for the next book.

I love a good cozy murder mystery, and this one did not disappoint. I absolutely loved the setting and description. The characters were all well written. I did find myself wishing I had read the others in the series prior to this one, I would have followed some parts a bit better I believe. It’s a very well written book that keeps you turning the page. I definitely recommend!

4.75 stars

This is the fourth book in the Sloan Krause mystery series by Ellie Alexander.

Wow, every book makes me love this series even more. I loved how you had side storylines that really gave Sloan pause (eg. are Mac’s parents really Nazi supporters and dangerous?). This on top of the murder of one of their visitors staying in their Nitro guest rooms.

Sloan helps the local police chief ferret out who might have a motive to kill a young girl. This story is a lot more than it seems. I love it when you just keep changing who you think dunit.

And to top it off, this book isn’t just about the mystery, it is about who Sloan is and what is happening in her life. I loved getting to see her rebuilding her life after Mac’s betrayal. This is just an inspiring read that I can’t recommend enough. Definitely check this one out for sure!

If you like cozy mysteries, you won’t be disappointed in this series. Take a deep dive into this Bavarian brew-tastic series!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

cozy-mystery, culinary, amateur-sleuth, law-enforcement, small-business, small-town, murder-investigation

Sloan thought things were going OK in her Brew Pub despite her pending divorce and other personal issues. Then an obnoxious entitled moron and his groupies came in demanding lodging, so she had an unprepared room opened. Then came a despirited woman in the same fix, but she seemed spooked by a couple of locals. Then she was missing and found dead. Both the capable local law and Sloan need to investigate but for slightly different reasons. Good sleuthing, good characterizations, full of twists and plenty of red herrings! A good read set in the winter in the Cascades.
I requested and received a free review copy from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley.

This is book 4 in the series, but the first one I've read. A good cozy mystery, although a few references to the past that were lost on me. Sloan is an amateur sleuth, who helps solve a mystery. I did enjoy this for the most part, and there were enough red herrings to keep me guessing. Did skim a bit in the middle, but otherwise would recommend this book and author. Suggest you read the others first though.