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While I don't enjoy reading the heroine in this series, I still enjoy reading the mysteries in each book.
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Culinary Cozy Mystery following a Florida reporter-turned-barista who uses her sleuthing skills when a contentious environmental activist's found dead in a community garden.
5/5 stars: This is the fourth entry in Lush's Coffee Lover's Mystery series, which is a Culinary Cozy Mystery that takes place in Florida and features a former investigative reporter who now runs and works in her family's coffee shop. With plenty of twists and turns, Lush has crafted a mystery that deftly balances the suspects, clues and red herrings and will leave you pondering the whodunit until the final reveal. Lush's character work is excellent, creating complex yet incredibly likable characters. It's a joy to catch up with Lana and the rest of the eclectic folks of Devil’s Beach and Perkatory. I especially get a kick out of her activist, pot smoking dad, Peter. It's also great to see Lana's relationship with her police chief boyfriend, Noah continue to grow. And of course I can't forget the adorable fluff-ball that is Lana's Shih Tzu, Stanley. While you could read this as a stand-alone, you'll gain so much more by reading the series from the beginning; so be sure to pick up book one, Grounds for Murder.
I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.
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I keep trying to like cozy mysteries but they just aren't my jam. Nothing against the author or plot. Just wasn't for me. Rating 3.
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Darla, who runs the community garden, and Jack might have clashed over her rules and organic gardening but she didn't kill him. Someone did though and Lana is determined to find out who it was. Her romantic interest Noah, the police chief, knows she's going to snoop but the bigger issue for that relationship is that she's about to meet his family. Lana and her pal Erica work their way through the suspects in classic cozy fashion even as they also keep the family coffee business Perkatory going. I like this series for the people (I'm a big fan of Lana's father Peter) and the setting. Thanks to Netgallet for the ARC. A quick entertaining read-and each installment is fine as a standalone.
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Lana Lewis is back with an idea to make her coffee shop even more appealing than it already is by growing her own coffee beans in a community garden. The problem is that a former member of the garden is found dead by her plot... When asked to investigate, by a suspect in the murder, Lana's
former career as an investigative reporter kicks in and she's on the case!
This book and series has it all - a coffee shop you'd love to go to,in a gorgeous beach town, a mystery with twists and turns, relatable characters, humor and dash of romance. I enjoy the interaction between Lana and her quirky but lovable Dad, Erica her best friend and Noah her police officer boyfriend,
For a fun read that will keep you guessing, I recommend this book!
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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Fun Coffee Shop cozy
Lana runs Perkatory with her dad on Devil's Island. He's heavily involved in the politics of the island scene, and her main focus is her shop, her pup and Noah, her police chief boyfriend.
When Lana and her dad find a body in the community garden, they team up to help Noah get to the bottom of it … and then there's another body. Lots of family, friend, pet interaction and twists and turns. Very enjoyable read.
I requested and received a NetGalley arc to peruse gratis and offer my opinion in the same.
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Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of A BEAN TO DIE FOR (Book 4 of the Coffee Lover’s mysteries) by Tara Lush in exchange for an honest review. Lana Lewis has marked her life through cups of coffee. Lana is now a part owner of a popular café and coffee shop in Devil’s Beach. Lana decides to make an attempt at growing her own coffee on a community garden plot. However, it looks like more plotting than planting is going on because someone was using an environmental activist for fertilizer. When the prime suspect is also murdered, Lana and the police have to explore alternative theories of the case.
I like this book. I haven’t read the prior three books, but I had no problem connecting with the characters or following the storyline. I recommend this book to fans of cozy murder mysteries featuring coffee and quirky family members.
#ABeantoDieFor #NetGalley
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I love this series so much! Every character is quirky, including Stanley the dog, but they all fit so perfectly well with each other. Every time I read a book in this series, I wish I lived in a small town just like Devil’s Beach….maybe just one with less murder. In this installment, Lana stumbles upon a dead body and her natural instinct to take investigate takes over again. With her best friend Erica and dad Peter helping her, Lana works through the details and shares them with her perfect boyfriend, Police Chief Noah. There is a big development at the end of the book and I’m excited to see how that evolves the series in future books.
Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the arc.
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This was a super fun, cozy read with the perfect amount of mystery. Loved the fact that these characters all live within a small island, it makes it more interesting to see all the character dynamics. I am also now very jealous that I don't live there too!
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This book exceeded my expectations in the best ways possible! I was a bit skeptical when I realized this was the 4th book in a series and was afraid that I wouldn't connect with the characters since I hadn't read the previous books. But that wasn't the case at all! All the previous books were seamlessly introduced in this one without it being an information dump. The story flowed amazingly without making me feel like I needed to refer to the other books to make sense of it. The setting, the description, and the quirky characters were all done extremely well as is the case in all of Tara Lush's books. And the mystery couldn't have been better. It's one of the few books that kept me up until midnight just to see how all of the ends tied up together. So far, it's the best cozy mystery I have read and I would definitely check out the other books in the series.
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Do you know what a mushroom log is? You will after reading this book. It's actually rather intriguing, gotta admit, as was the latte art machine. Being a former Floridian, I thoroughly enjoyed the setting, happy that I didn't live in quite as quaint and quirky and area. In this case, Lana is living the good life on Devil's Island, It seems to be a cross between a mecca for hippy types and those wanting to start a new life. The gardens overseen by the community seem to bring them together although it isn't always in peace. Even worse, Lana stumbles across a body in the community garden. Her coffee related plans will have to wait.
Who killed cranky Jack Daggett? Unfortunately for Lana, she has no time to play sleuth. Boyfriend Noah's mother and sister are due to arrive in a few days and Lana desperately wants to make a great impression on them. So why can't she even seem to find the time to go shopping for dinner ingredients? Why are community residents arguing over....monkeys? Will Lana be able to withstand the pleading of suspect Darla to help her clear her name? Even with the help of her best friend and barista Erica, she's definitely feeling stressed. Her forever hippy father isn't exactly helpful. Amazingly enough, her boyfriend, Police Chief Noah, ultimately doesn't even try to stop her sleuthing behind his back. He simply asks her to do it safely, it via online and such, not in-person snooping, er, questioning. That's rather a pleasant twist of the ol' trope of the romantic partner being strongly discouraging. I do give kudos to Lana for not being TSTL, ie too stupid to live, too. I liked that her character didn't go rushing blindly into danger as many cozy mystery amateur sleuths do. In other words, this book offers up some refreshing twists in addition to an intriguing plot full of quirky characters.
Even better, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting these characters again (having read the previous book). Lana is a former crime reporter, so delving into crimes isn't exactly new to her. She'd hoped to have left all that behind her when she left Miami but, well, life (or death?) happens. Erica is a hoot. She seems far more into the sleuthing than Lana, to be honest, but isn't exactly subtle in her questioning. Read the room, Erica! And don't make Erica mad, either. Lana's father Peter, the once-and-forever hippy, is an odd mix of ol' hippy and techno pop, oddly enough. Ol' timer with a modern twist. He definitely enjoys the sleuthing. And, Noah? Well, he sounds like a saint. A good looking saint with patience to spare. So, why is Lana so anxious about meeting his mother and sister? They're....oh, enough teasers. Their meeting is....no, no, no more hints. Let's just say there is a lot going on when they meet.
It's a fun read, full of likable, interesting characters, soft/sly humor that will make you smile, a cute dog, and a setting with some bizarre critters and townspeople Thanks #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for inviting me down to spend some time in Florida. It's always an adventure.
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What can I say I enjoyed reading this because of the humour,and mystery and the characters themselves, will be looking forward to reading more of this series.
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Such and easy and quick read for me and I do enjoy that just as much as I enjoy a longer and more intense read. Having only read one other in this series I now might have to go find the others just to se how it all started.
There is humour, murder and mystery and of course the main character Lana Lewis trying to work out what went down and who dunnit. A bit of fun, quite entertaining and a very easy and enjoyable read. 3 1/2 stars from me for this one.
Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.
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Another win for this series!! Lana once again finds a body. This time it’s in the community garden. Because a friend is a suspect and asks her to investigate she does. What I love is that while she’s investigating a murder, she was also planning a dinner to meet Noah’s mom and sister. Such a cute series and a little romance added in!!
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With A Bean To Die For, Tara Lush continues the Coffee Lovers Mystery series with another well-written, intriguing whodunnit.
The book is infused with a gentle humour that balances off against the tension of the murder mystery as the main character Lana Lewis strives and fails to keep our of the drama this time around. Despite her better judgement, she finds herself investigating another murder while trying to keep up with her responsibilities as co-owner of her coffee shop and the upcoming visit from her boyfriend's family.
While a tad bit on the drawn-out side, the mystery is complex with a number of suspects, and keeps you turning the pages. The characters continue to develop and grow, and the continuing plot line advances in a satisfying manner.
I was fortunate to receive an ARC of #ABeantoDieFor from #NetGalley.
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“A Bean to Die For” is the first book that I’ve read in Tara Lush’s A Coffee Lover's Mystery cozy mystery series but it won’t be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book from the setting – Perkatory, a café in Florida with a strong focus on coffee – to the characters, main character Lana Lewis, a reporter-turned-barista who hasn’t quite left the investigative part of being a reporter behind and helps her Chief Police boyfriend Noah solve mysteries (and he actually listens to her!), her slightly off the wall friend and fellow barista Erica, her hippie father Peter, and her dog Stanley. At first I was a bit afraid that this would be overdone – especially her perpetually stoned father – but to my nice surprise it wasn’t and I liked all the characters. There is a nice sense of humor throughout the book – not laugh out loud funny but the type of humor that made me smile while reading the book. The mystery is well done with just the right amount of suspects – I like trying to figure out who the killer was but didn’t really have enough clues in this book to do so – however, I still enjoyed reading it.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.
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It is always a fun time at Perkatory in Devil's Beach! Lana and the team are the best!!
I received a complimentary copy of the book from Crooked Lane Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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I love this series. It's based on a local coffee shop, Perkatory in Devil's Beach FL. In this installment, our main character Lana Lewis is trying to grow coffee beans when she comes across a dead body. Lana then tries to solve the mystery with help from her boyfriend police chief Noah and her hippy Dad.
Light-hearted and fun, this series hits all the fun of a cozy mystery deep in coffee, dogs and Florida culture.
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A Bean to Die For
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“ Lana Lewis is brewing up new concoctions at Perkatory, a popular café in Devil’s Beach, when she decides she wants to try her hand at growing her own coffee. She secures a gardening plot in the community garden, thanks to her father and the garden’s owner, Darla. Darla’s list of rules is long, but that doesn’t stop someone from leaving Jack Daggett’s body amongst the gardening plots.”
I love a good cozy mystery that has coffee! This one seemed very long kind of I didn’t feel the pull to keep coming back to it. But I did like the mystery overall. I like the character descriptions and want to go to Devils Beach now.
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A delightful romp of a cozy mystery that transports us to the Florida Island of Devil's Beach, where murder is afoot for coffee shop owner Lana.
Admittedly, this is the first book I've read in the series, but I will for sure be looking to read the rest of the series as well.
The setting absolutely transports you, and I loved having a character whose law enforcement boyfriend didn't flat out tell her to stop investigating a case. This fact helped endear the main couple to me all the more.
Readers will love the coffee culture, characters, and the mystery itself in this fun book. As the description says, fans of Cleo Coyle will not be disappointed.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read this book and provide my honest opinion.