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Clare Cosi, owner and manager of the Village Blend coffee house in Greenwich Village, has taken a summer job in the Hamptons. Friend and wealthy restaurateur David Mintzer has hired Clare to oversee the training of the baristas and set up the coffee bar at his fabulous new restaurant. The Cuppa J has become the area's newest 'in' spot and Clare and her daughter, who is also working there for the summer, both live in luxury in David's large ocean front mansion. When one of David's employees is shot and killed during a party, Clare is convinced that the killer mistook the man for David. They were both wearing similar clothing and were about the same size. The shooting was done from the beach and Clare finds the shells. Oh, and Clare finds the body too -- she seems to excel at stumbling over dead bodies! David refuses to believe he was the intended victim, and the police investigate on the premise that the dead man was the target. Clare is frustrated when the lead detective refuses to listen to her, and takes the investigation into her own hands. In this series of cozy mysteries, Clare is the typical amateur sleuth, getting into trouble and going down the dark alley or into the basement alone. In this book she goes into the dark ocean alone! She is a sometimes exasperating protagonist, but an extremely likeable one. Clare has the perfect job; and she lives in a fabulous antique-filled apartment right over her place of business. This is the fourth book in the series. They are uncomplicated, fast, beach-reading books. It's all for fun, sort of a guilty pleasure. Clare does spout a lot of coffee information, probably too much, but for coffee junkies, like me, it's rather interesting. Her relationship with her 20-year old daughter is realistic and her aggravating daughter is very familiar to anyone who has ever had to deal with the species. In previous reviews I reported that Cleo Coyle was a pseudonym for an unidentified author. However, in a Google search I found The Talbot Fortune Agency, Inc.'s website where it is claimed that the Clare Cosi books are jointly written by Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini writing as Cleo Coyle. You heard it here first!
Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, August 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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