I'm a big fan of this series by Emmeline Duncan! Coffee, mystery, and a cast of fun characters. What more could a reader want? This book is a cozy read, and I really recommend this book!

nice and pretty fun. not that ridiculously unique as a cozy? but still nice and worth it even if not groundbreaking.

I really enjoy this series. The characters are great and I love the mystery and how the characters are all intertwined to Sage's past. Portland is always great setting. I did miss the coffee cart aspect a little bit though now that they have their own shop.

Another great addition to this fun series set in coffee-obsessed Portland, Oregon. I have always liked reading these books because I can never figure out the mystery, and the characters are always interesting. I can't wait to read more in this series.

An incredible book with wonderful characters and a beautiful setting. It will keep you guessing until the end.

I love this series. I can almost smell the scent of coffee coming through the pages. Sage is just opening her coffee shop after running a successful coffee cart for a while. While tryin to navigate opening a new shop, she is trying to deal with a podcaster who is detailing her mom's shady past.

To add to Sage's stress, one of the owners of another food cart ends up dead in her shop, bringing her opening to a screeching halt. Sage relies on the support of her staff, friends and family.

I am always drawn in to these stories and seeing how Sage navigates each situation.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I wanted to enjoy this. I think it’s a good attempt, but I was very distracted by the side stories and the excessive use of conjunctions. I would encourage the author to give her stories another round of edits before publishing.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

I love coffee, and some of my favorite mysteries are set in coffeeshops. Cleo Coyle’s Coffeehouse Mysteries was the first series to introduce me to this wonderful combination, and a few years ago I discovered another coffee-related mystery series, the Ground Rules Mysteries by Emmeline Duncan. The Ground Rules Series is also set in one of my favorite places, Portland, Oregon. The fourth book, Death Unfiltered, was released recently.

When the series began, Sage Caplin and her partner Harpley Yamazaki had a coffee cart and a roastery. Now in the latest book, their dream of having a brick-and-mortar coffeeshop has finally come true. Ground Rules is one of several micro-restaurants in Portland’s brand-new Button Building. Everyone there is great, with just a couple of exceptions. One of those is Rose, a true-crime podcaster and TikToker who is pushing Sage for an interview about her estranged con artist mother and is covering the grand opening. The other is Bianca, the owner of Breakfast Bandits. Bianca has been a thorn in Sage’s side for a while, not that Sage feels she has ever given her a reason. When Bianca collapses and dies during their grand opening with a to-go cup of Ground Rules coffee in her hand, Sage is afraid it may be their opening and closing because of course she becomes a prime suspect—especially after Bianca’s boyfriend and business partner points the police toward her. But Sage wasn’t the only one there who wasn’t all that fond of Bianca and who had a motive to kill her. Rose announces that she is going to solve the murder and Sage reluctantly agrees to work with her. Thanks to the podcast about her mother, we also learn more about Sage’s past in this book.

Not only does Emmeline write a well-crafted mystery, but she also creates relatable and likable characters. Reading a book in this series is like visiting with old friends. Sage is a capable, good-hearted, loyal, and determined person. Her fiancé Bax owns a gaming company called Grumpy Sasquatch Studio, and his son is adorable. While Sage’s mother is dead, she has plenty of loving family members to surround her, including her retired cop father, her lawyer brother, and her uncle who happens to own the Button Building. We are introduced to some new baristas in this book, my favorite being Colton—I hope he sticks around.

The mystery was filled with plenty of twists and turns and some big surprises at the end! If you love a good mystery with great characters and great coffee you won’t want to miss this series! I can’t wait for the next book! There are also some delicious recipes in the back. And there’s even a cat. What more could you ask for? Grab your favorite cup of coffee, find a cozy spot, and dive in. You will be glad you did!

A fresh and witty cozy mystery with clever prose, a well crafted plot, and delightful coffee lore. I loved Sage as the MC.
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Dollycas's Thoughts

Grounds Rules and several micro-restaurants are counting the days to their grand openings at the fantastic new Button Building. With its unique octagon footprint, each business has an opening to the street and a door to a communal covered courtyard. Sage is excited to have a brick-and-mortar shop in addition to their food carts and roastery. Her mood is brought down though by true-crime podcaster and TikToker, Rose. Her latest podcast series focuses on Sage's con-artist mother and she wants Sage to sit for an interviewer. Also, Bianca who owns Breakfast Bandits seems to have a bug up her butt about something. She is picking fights with everyone including Sage.

Two weeks later the Button Building's grand opening is a go until Bianca collapses and dies in the common area with a Ground Rules coffee cup in her hand. They soon learn her coffee was spiked with Special K (Ketamine).  Sadly, that puts Sage and her new employees in the hot seat. Who tampered with Bianca's coffee? Sage knows there are plenty of suspects other than her. She gets help with her investigation from a surprising individual, Rose, the podcaster. Can they sort through the clues to find the killer who brewed up this murder? Or has Sage poured her last cappuccino?

_____

I am so happy that Sage's dream of having a brick-and-mortar shop has come true.  Her boyfriend Bax has a big event of his own. The new video game that Sage played a huge role in is almost ready to be released. I love that they found time to be together no matter how busy their schedules were. We meet two new baristas and catch up with those we have met previously. Harley spends most of her time at the roastery with Sage's dad or making deliveries. The new store is Sage's baby. Podcaster Rose digging into Sage's mother's past was difficult for her but it brought to light things she had forgotten or didn't know. This thread has been a subplot in every book in this series but in Death Unfiltered it gets intense when part of that past finds its way to Ground Rules and knocks Sage for a loop. The core cast of characters continues to develop nicely. The new characters were interesting and had a purpose in the story.

The Button Building is a cool place and Ms. Duncan's description of it made it and every place we traveled with Sage so easy to visualize. She really drops her readers into each scene making her stories so much fun to read.

The author twisted the murder mystery together with Sage's daily happenings and her mother's past with an expert hand. The story was very well-plotted and written. I was especially drawn to Sage's history with her mother and learning about her victims. I am intrigued to see that storyline continue. The mystery was complicated and I think I fell for a red herring because I had brewed on the whodunit and picked a person only when all was revealed I was wrong. I love when that happens! That was not the only surprise, the ending included a shocker.

Death Unfiltered kept me on my toes with a complicated mystery, fun and intriguing subplots, and genuine characters. I can't wait to see what the author has in store for her characters next. Each book builds from the last so I recommend you read the series from the start in order.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the author, Kensington Cozies, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Sage Caplin is newly engaged and ready for the next big step in her professional life: opening an honest to goodness cafe in the newly constructed Button Building. Back when she’d first opened her coffee cart, she had only dreamed of owning her own cafe. Now with two carts, a roastery and distribution deals under her belt, she feels like she’s genuinely making all her dreams come true, via years of hard work and thoughtful community-building.

Not everyone is as thrilled at her success, however. Bianca Moore of the neighboring Burrito Bandits is particularly mean to Sage, having been a thorn in her side since they first shared space in a food cart pod. That said, Bianca gets along with very few people, as most of their fellow food-cart turned brick-and-mortar restaurant owners can attest. They’ve all been in the trenches with Sage and Bianca, and definitely prefer the laidback Sage’s company to Bianca’s unnecessarily combative ways.

When Bianca has a seizure and falls unconscious while being interviewed by a podcaster on the Button Building’s opening day, everyone at first assumes that her collapse was the result of either a preexisting health condition or some sort of accident. Sage has been around enough murders, however, to suspect the worst. When the police confirm that Bianca was deliberately poisoned, all eyes turn to the handful of people who could have possibly poisoned her drink, including Sage herself.

Sage knows she didn’t do it, but she’s starting to feel less sure about at least one of her new employees. But what could possibly have been the motive for anyone wanting to kill Bianca? Sure, she was a pain, but that’s hardly a reason for murder. Things get more complicated when Rose Trevino, the young podcaster who was interviewing Bianca when she collapsed, publicly declares that she’s going to figure out whodunnit. Sage is reluctantly drawn into helping her out, especially when it looks like Rose could be the killer’s next target.

The twists in the final third of this book had me breathless, as Sage not only solves the crime but learns a lot more about her family than expected. Rose had originally come to Portland to do a podcast on Sage’s estranged grifter mother, who’d recently been reported dead in a car accident in South America. The connections Rose uncovers help Sage make better sense of her own childhood, as well as the complex feelings she still harbors around what her mother put her through. I was really impressed by Emmeline Duncan’s ongoing compassionate lens, especially when it comes to understanding, but never excusing, why some people just aren’t very kind or good to others.

There were seven recipes for food and drinks mentioned in the story included here, and I decided to try out this one:

QUOTE
Tomato-Orange-Coconut Milk Soup

canola oil
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon voodoo spice mix
1 cup orange juice
2 crushed garlic cubes (optional)
1 14-ounce of canned coconut milk (Note: you want a can of real coconut milk.)

Add canola or other oil to your favorite soup making pot; Dutch ovens work great here! Put over medium heat, and once the oil is warm, add the onion and cook it until it’s starting to get translucent. Add the jalapenos and cook for a minute, then add the crushed tomatoes and spices. Bring the heat up slightly until the tomatoes come to a boil, then cover, reduce heat, and let it simmer for twenty minutes.

After twenty minutes, add the can of coconut milk and bring the mixture back to a boil. Simmer it for a moment.

Turn off the heat and blend the soup. An immersion blender is useful here. Be careful if you use a regular blender or other method, and remember the soup is hot.

Once the soup is blended, return it to the pan if necessary, turn the heat back on, and stir in the orange juice.

Now your soup is ready to eat! Serve with toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc.
END QUOTE

This is a very flavorful soup, with the tangy savoriness and hint of spice bolstered by the sweetness of the fruit. Ms Duncan also provides a quick and easy voodoo spice mix recipe in the book should you not have any available to you, as I didn’t. I definitely recommend that you salt this soup to taste. As someone who’s worked in restaurant kitchens, I would actually suggest salting as you go, with a sprinkle at every other cooking step, rather than adding a bunch of salt at the end. Of course, if you’re cooking for differing levels of sodium requirements, then having each diner add their own once the soup is served is absolutely fine, too.

Next week, we continue our run of savory treats with an Italian dish while investigating the suspicious reappearance of someone long thought dead. Do join me!

I’ve loved following along with the Ground Rules crew as they expand and stumble into murders. The accidental detective trope works perfectly with such fun characters. Can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you netgalley and Kensington for the kindle version of Death Unfiltered. Another great installment from Emmeline Duncan.

Coffee, Portland, Murder. Perfect mystery that dives into all the different styles of coffee, gives a serious look at the weather in Oregon, the joys and perks of owning and running a coffee business, the customers who frequent the restaurants, and who killed the competition.

Let's start with if this can be read as a stand alone. Yes. But I do think a reader would enjoy and follow the story better if they had read at least one of the earlier books. And I do encourage you to read the whole series.

As someone who has read the whole series, I'm still loving it! And hoping it continues. There is a jump in time; I believe a year has passed on the timeline. (Perhaps a bit less) Sage and Harley are finally opening up Ground Rules coffee house in the button building, a place highlighting several business who began in the food truck pods. Many are happy to be there working together, but - Bianca and breakfast bandits are back from book 2. And Sage finds out Bianca doesn't just hate her, but pretty much everyone in the business. Things are heated between Bianca and pretty much everyone else.

I love the deep dive this book goes into with Sage's past and her relationship with her mother. And the relationships with her mother's victims. Her mother's misdeeds have always been spoken about. The extent of her deceptions around the world really come to light. Of course there's a murder - and it involves an innocent victims of her mom's con-artist ways. A ripple that goes beyond that of the crime and has a lasting affect.

I'm rambling. So let me sum it up.

This book dives further into Sage's history and her own thoughts on her con artist mother and the affect her mom had on other's AND their thought's on her. The murder may or may not have something to do with her mother. That will be determined at the end. But Sage does find some closure and is looking forward in life. I really enjoyed the new character's introduced and the return of some of the characters from book 2. (I love the coffee customer (nurse) that visited the cart in book 2 and took advantage of the full meal/drink plan at the festival. This woman is my spirit animal. And I've seriously thought of her since that book.) A who done it that even though I figured out the murderer quite early - the why will leave you speechless. 2 thumbs up and 4 stars.

Death Unfiltered is the4th book in the Ground Rules Mysteries by Emmeline Duncan. Once again we head to Portland Oregon to follow Sage Caplin and her Ground Rules Coffee team as they get ready to open their very first brick and mortar shop. The Button Building is ready to go and many former food carts are launching new ventures. Sage is also dealing with her past, as her mother's grifting ways have become the topic of a new podcast. This brings out past victims and sends Sage into a panic worrying her past may affect her business now.
There is also bad blood between Sage and her former boss who is working with another business in the building, Breakfast Bandits.
Breakfast Bandits owner Biana has taken a disliking to Sage and Ground Rules and is out to bad mouth them any chance she gets.
Things get even worse when Bianca drops dead after drinking a Ground Rules coffee during their grand opening.
How did she get drugged? Was it one of her new staff, a customer, the nosy podcaster or even one of her mother's old victims? Sage must find the killer, all while under suspicion herself. Well plotted, with lots of twists and red herrings. It will leave you dying to read the next book!

Enneline Duncan continues her series about a coffee shop owner whose missing mother is a notorious grifter. Jane is opening her first coffee shop and another shop owner falls dead after drinking coffee from her shop. Whodunit? Lots of suspects and great coffees.

There are so many layers to this whodunnit! The way the plot rippled through so many relationships and situations was fabulous. I thought I had it figured out twice, plot twist I was wrong. I can definitely see (hope for) a sequel.

This was a new author and series for me. Didn't realize it was book four in the series, but that's alright. The author did a good job letting you know what was going on and the relationship between the characters. The fact that the main character's backstory is very much tied up in the mystery only helps you to keep up with no issues. Sage and her partner finally add a brick and mortar location to their business besides the coffee truck and beans distribution center. This is a center where mutiple food businesses like the Ground Rules can finally have a set location and support one another. Unfortunately some of these businesses have had a run in with Sage at other locations where they have been located, and to add to the drama a young podcaster is trying to dig into Sage's mother's past, and it's not a pretty one. When a cup of coffee from Ground Rules leads to the death of a neighbor, what will that mean for Sage and company? I thought this was a well written and compelling mystery with lots of good suspects and a lot of interesting characters that I was immediately drawn to. Will definitely read more in this series.

This is my favorite in the series so far! I loved anything that has to do with using a podcast to investigate. Add in the glimpses into Sage’s past and the information about her mother and I was hooked! The mystery was well-paced and kept me guessing until the very end. Can’t wait to see where the surprise reveal at the end leads.

The next Ground Rules mystery finds Sage investigating the murder of a neighboring brunch spot while at the same time dealing with a podcaster who is exploring her mother’s crime.

Another good mystery in this series! While the whodunit and motive was a little underwhelming, I think the sleuthing was on point here and made up for it. Can’t wait to see what awaits Sage next!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sage has finally opened a Ground Rules coffee shop in a new building with other micro restaurants in it. On opening day things turn a little deadly.
There’s a lot of characters in this story that could have done it. A podcaster that’s doing a series on Sages mother, numerous workers from the other restaurants and even a ground rules worker.
This is probably my favorite of the series so far. I liked where the plot was going towards the end too. Even though I figured out who did it I still really liked it.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc