The perfect escape for these stressful days. Set on Devil's Island, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico, it's a lively tourist destination. Lana had a life in Miami - married and working as an investigative reporter. Soon her jerk of a husband cheats on her and then she's laid off from the job she loves. Now divorced and unemployed, she takes her Dad's offer to return home to manage the family cafe, Perkatory. Lana needs to chart a new course and being home will give her the time and space she needs. When Perkatory's dishy barista is found dead behind the cafe, Lana finds her life going sideways. The Chief of police (who is attracted to her) thinks is a suicide. Fabrizio lived in the apartment above Perkatory and entertained a whole lot of women. The question becomes was he pushed off the roof as in murdered? Lana is at the top of the suspect list because she confronted him over his betrayal. He was her team mate at the upcoming local barista competition and abruptly jumped ship to work for the other local coffee shop.
Lana's reporter instincts kick in and she starts to take a magnifying glass to Fabrizio's rather sordid past. Somebody hated him enough to do him in and that list is a long one, indeed. Along the way we meet her new barista, Erica and Lana's Bohemian dad. Add Fabrizio's sweet pup, Stanley, given to him by one of his lady friends and is now Lana's, humor and a quirky cast of characters, I was hooked. The mystery was well written and had me guessing to the end.
My thanks to the publisher Crooked Lane and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fun start to a new series. The characters a interesting and developed nicely over the story. The setting of the small beach town is enjoyable. The mystery was well plotted and will of red herrings. I look forward to see how this series evolves over time.

I received a free copy of this book. My thoughts/opinions are my own.

This is the first book in this series. Lana is the co-owner of Perkatory. Her hippie father is the other owner. She is learning how to make coffee's and latte's. Her coffee shop has registers to be in a latte competition. She has a prize-winning barista named Fab and she hopes to win. Her hopes are dashed when Fab quits (without telling her) and then is killed. Not only is she not a latte artist, but she is a suspect in his murder!

This was a fun cozy. I liked the characters. Her father is an old hippie, and her new barista is a a cross between a goth and I don't know what. It's fun and I like Lana. The story is easy to read and kept me turning the pages.

Ah! I found a new favorite author! A small town cozy I adored!! Lana has lost here job and left her no good husband and moved. Now with a new job at her family's coffee shop and a possible new romance what can go wrong? A murder she of course is implicated in! As she tries to prove her innocence she finds herself and more! A great cozy mystery I highly recommend! Thank you NetGalley for my ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

A great first in series. I enjoy reading cozies set in coffee shops and this one does not disappoint.

Grounds for Murder is the 1st mystery in Tara Lush's A Coffee Lover's Mystery series. Lana Lewis works in her family's coffee shop - Perkatory - as the manager and a barista in the town of Devil's Beach, Florida. An employee, Fabrizio "Fab" Bellucci known for his artfully designed lattes and other things besides, suddenly leaves to take a job at another café, likely scuppering her chances of winning the Sunshine State Barista Championship. When he is later found dead in the alley behind Lana's beachside café, she becomes suspect number one.

This book had an extremely intriguing plot and I was swept along with the story from the start. Tara Lush's writing is peppy, sharp and edgy and I loved her portrayal of the main character, Lana a former investigative journalist whom I found to be sassy and determined. I was also impressed by her dad who was a laid back, hippie type of guy and very supportive of his daughter. Complete with a Shih Tzu doggy named Stanley, Grounds for Murder is one for those who like their cozies fresh and amusing and I can't wait to see what's next for Lana.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley and this is my own unbiased opinion.

Fun and entertaining characters and an interesting mystery and storyline makes this book a great start to a new series. I'm looking forward to seeing where this series goes...as long as it avoids the popular (but annoying, at least to me) love triangle.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor.

Grounds For Murder by Tara Lush

Barista Lana Lewis’s sleuthing may land her in latte trouble as Tara Lush launches her new Coffee Shop mysteries.
This was a great story. I liked the writing style that the author used. A murder mystery with many characters and suspects. Lana gets herself into serious trouble trying to find a killer. Keeps you guessing right up to the final pages. I recommend this book.

A coffee shop in the small town of Devil’s Beach, Florida, with an investigative journalist, her hippie, pot-smoking father, and a fluffy dog makes a perfect setting for murder.

While I did love the setting, I was neutral on the story.

One problem for me was I didn’t particularly like Lana, our main character, or the murder victim. Lana is pretty self-involved, but mainly she totally lacked the maturity and work ethic of an award-winning investigative journalist. The murder victim was a womanizing jerk. This combination made it difficult for me to care about what happened with either of them.

The police chief, once a supposed hot-shot city detective, only did the barest investigation, while Lana ran circles around him, sending him leads and clues she uncovered. Ultimately, the case wasn’t all that complicated, revolving around a whole lot of drama, making the chief appear inept.

The story has a heavy undercurrent of budding romance, but it feels childish, with Lana constantly obsessing over the chief’s hot body.

As the first book in the Coffee Lover’s Mystery series, Ground for Murder does well as a launch for what could be a fun series. My grumbling points are specific to me, and you might love the book.

While a well written cozy mystery, with well developed characters with a coffee shop setting that plenty of cozy fans will enjoy, the coffee shop setting fell flat for me. Making me confirm that coffee shop cozy aren't for me. But there's a reader for every book.

Grounds for Murder by Tara Lush is the first in the new series, A Coffee Lover's Mystery. I don't drink coffee but I am ready to go to Perkatory.
This is an easy to read Cozy that has it all! There are plenty of suspects, great characters, a beach setting, friends and family, an adorable pup, humor, and a hint of a romance.
I was given an ARC by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the digital advance reading copy of this book.

This was such a fun book. I love the whole town of Devil's Beach and every character that Tara Lush created. Everyone was so different and interesting. I was able to guess who the killer was but I didn't care because I didn't know the why and I had to keep reading to find out.

Can't wait to read the next one!

Tara Lush’s new mystery focuses on the death of a barista and the influx on the tourists in Devil’s Beach, Florida, which seems to mirror Lush’s turf in the City of St. Petersburg, FL and the nearby Gulf of Mexico beaches. Lush is able to capture the feel of the area and provide an entertaining, yet cozy thriller. This novel is a must read for snowbirds who may be missing their three months in Florida and toes in the sand due to the pandemic. Also recommended for local public libraries. Readers are encouraged to have a cup of coffee available when reading the book, to make the experience even more delicious.

Grounds for Murder is a great first book in the new Coffee Lover's Mystery series. Lana Lewis is back in Devil's Beach, Florida after losing her job as a reporter and divorcing her husband. She's taken over management of her family's coffeeshop. When her barista and man she thought of as a friend, Fab quits without notice and begins working for the competition, Lana gives him a piece of her mind, in public. Later, Fab is found dead and Fab's on-again-off-again girlfriend accuses Lana. Together, Lana and Fab's puppy, Stanley must piece together who Fab is and what happened before her new life in Devil's Beach crashes and burns.

I really enjoyed Grounds for Murder. The set-up of the mystery was carefully planned out, the number of suspects kept me guessing, and the sleuthing done in a way I would expect a former journalist to be able execute. Lana is a wonderful heroine, her father quirky, and the rest of characters all well-developed. I loved the setting and the way the author described everything from the inside of the coffeeshop to the beach as the characters visited. Being able to envision the story as I really along is paramount to my total enjoyment and Grounds for Murder by Tara Lush knocked it out of the park. I am so excited to see where the author takes Lana and the whole crew in the next book.

I was provided a copy of this book to read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this fun cozy mystery for coffee lovers. I liked the setting of an island on the Florida coast. I liked the characters. I liked how Lana was portrayed as a slightly insecure barista with an investigative bent do to her previous journalism career. She did some dangerous probing but nothing really dumb and I appreciate that. Noah was kind of a missing in action police chief. I think the budding romance would have been better if he had actually helped Lana investigate.

The murder plot was pretty good. Many signs pointed to a suicide but we know because of the title that it must be murder. Lush provided a good number of suspects and I appreciate how Lana ruled them out, one by one. The actual murderer did not have much foreshadowing so I did not have to feel bad at not identifying the person ahead of time.

This is a fun cozy mystery set in an interesting location and with sufficiently developed characters. There was nothing amazing about the writing style. The novel was a good and fun read overall.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

This was a book that I enjoyed from the first couple of pages. I love anything set in Florida and this one didn't disappoint and that it was set around a coffee shop made it even more fun to read. I had no idea that there were Barista championships.

Although this is the first in the series, it read more like a book in a long-established series with great characters, interesting location and intriguing mystery.

I'm ready for the next one in the series!

A fantastic start to a new cozy series.

Grounds for Murder is the debut book in the new Coffee Lover’s Mystery Series. Lana Lewis as a former journalist who has returned home and is now managing the family coffee shop. Now days before a huge barista competition her best and most frustrating employee quits and leaves her high and dry, only to turn up dead the next day. Said barista has made a name for himself in their small little town and fingers are pointing in all directions when his body is found. Lana’s investigative nature kicks in and starts looking for information and clues, not only to clear her name but to find who did.


A fun, laugh out loud, entertaining cozy mystery. Lana Lewis is a strong enjoyable character who has a few complications to her life but is genuinely a good person. She’s got a quirky and likable personality. Lana knows how to get to the bottom and get her answers. Lana’s home town of Devils Beach is a hoot. From the names of the businesses like the coffee shop, Purgatory, to the characters that dwell within the town. Lana’s hippy of a dad is a riot. The new barista is going to be the best kind of bad influence on Lana!! Lol. And of course to for fill my romance needs there’s a hottie cop who catches the readers attention nicely. Grounds for Murder is a well written mystery with many twists to keep you guessing. I very much enjoyed my trip to Devils Beach and can’t wait to go back.

Grounds for Murder is a fun debut novel with the setting of a small beach town in South Florida and some colorful characters. What fun to have the story revolve around a coffee shop with the Gulf of Mexico close by.
Lana Lewis moved home to Devil's Beach from Miami after her husband cheated on her. She needed to leave to lick her wounds and her dad wants her to run her family's coffee shop, Perkatory. It was her mom's dream and her dad has been running it since her mom died. He wants to slow down now. She is working hard to make the shop a success and one way is by entering a state wide barista contest held in Devil's Beach. She is betting on her barista, flirty Italian Fab Bellucci to help her in the contest but he leaves without notice to work with a competitor. Thankfully, Erica, a customer with experience as a barista had shown up a couple days prior. But then Lana finds Fab's body behind the shop. He had fallen from the roof of the shop where he lived in the apartment. He loved to entertain his lady friends on the roof. Could he have fallen accidentally, committed suicide, or been pushed?
Handsome police chief Noah Garcia thinks it could be suicide but Lana thinks that with all Fab's huge group of adoring women fans and girlfriends, he wouldn't kill himself. Since she worked the crime beat for a newspaper in Miami and the love of journalism is still in her blood, she uses her skills to investigate and write an article for the local newspaper. She finds some interesting things about Fab that she wasn't aware of and meets some interesting characters.
This is a great debut book with a mystery that kept me guessing about happened to Fab and who was involved. The storytelling made the setting easy to picture and this an entertaining read.
I hope to see more of Lana, her new best friend Erica, her wacky hippie father, her swoony new friend Noah and her new puppy Stanley, formerly owned by Fab.
I received a complimentary ARC from Crooked Lane Books through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine only.

Lana Lewis had moved back to her hometown of Devil’s Beach after she was put off at the Miami newspaper where she was a reporter. Reporting was in her blood, so she was dejected but when her dad asked Lana to join him in their café – Perkatory – as a second barista along side Fabrizio Bellucci, she was keen. Fab and Lana worked well together – until, with the Sunshine State Barista Championship only days away, Fab left Perkatory without a word and went to the opposition. Lana was angry – and told Fab so, as she was on her way to Miami.

When Lana arrived back at Perkatory just before 6am the following morning, she was shocked and distressed to discover Fab’s body not far from the café. When the Chief of Police, her friend Noah, arrived with more police, Lana found her café was to be closed all day. It wasn’t long before Lana’s journalist instincts kicked in and, against Noah admonishments, decided to discover who had killed her friend and fellow barista. With Stanley, Fab’s Shih Tzu, by her side, and new barista Erica keeping a close eye on the café, Lana followed her gut. But it wouldn’t be long, and danger would be following her as she came too close to answers. And what would happen with the championships? Would she have to pull out the Perkatory team at the last minute?

Grounds for Murder is the 1st in A Coffee Lovers Mystery by Tara Lush and I really enjoyed it. With plenty of action, lots of suspects and a Police Chief who wouldn’t listen to Lana’s theories, I didn’t work out the perpetrator until almost the reveal. An excellent cozy mystery, Grounds for Murder is one I recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Struggling to reclaim happiness after losing her job and a divorce Lana returns home to manage the family's coffee shop. Things were beginning to turn around but then a suspicious death changes that and her crime reporter past kicks in to find the truth.

This story has all the components that make my favorite kind of cozy - likeable protagonist, humor and a tease of romance. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.