Cold Brew Corpse is the second installment in Tara Lush’s Coffee Lover’s mystery series. (Here is my review of the first, Grounds for Murder.) In these cozy books, former Miami newspaper reporter Lana Lewis lives in her quirky hometown – Devil’s Beach, Florida. Since returning to Devil’s Beach after an unexpected divorce, Lana owns and runs Perkatory, a local coffee shop/family business. She solves mysteries while she’s trying to solve the problem of what to do next in her life.Sometimes, there are coffee puns!
While the first book was enjoyable, things really start to percolate in this second installment. That’s because all of the introductions are out of the way. The reader knows (and loves) the plucky and vulnerable Lana, her hippie widower father, her handsome cop love interest, and the extended cast of characters (in every meaning of the word). The reader is already all in on Lana and Devil’s Beach.
The central mystery in this installment concerns the death of one of Lana’s business acquaintances. The death of Lana’s fellow local business owner gives Lana the chance to flex her journalism muscles and distract herself a bit from the fact that her life isn’t going quite like she planned.
This book is entertaining, and the mystery itself unfolds nicely (credible red herrings abound). However, what impressed me the most in this book is how author Tara Lush respectfully explores deeper themes such as nuanced grief, trauma, and the impact of violence on individuals and communities. You don’t expect these, necessarily, in what is essentially supposed to be a relaxing subgenre. But Lush does it in this book!
Audiobook narrator Kae Marie Denimo also delivers a noteworthy performance. She groks Lush’s humor and characters, and has a lot of fun delivering the book in the way it was intended.
I plan to read as many of these as Lush publishes.