I have been a fan of Murder Mysteries for as long as I can remember. One of the things that I have always been able to do is guess who the murderer was before the author has told me. This is the second time that Cleo Coyle has been able to get me.

Another aspect that is normally in Cozy Mysteries is that the protagonist normally ends up happy at the end of the book. Very much like Miss Anatole episodes. You like the characters. You laugh with them and then at the end of the book you don't think too much about them. This is because there wasn't any real loss of characters or the main character wasn't hurt.

Cleo Coyle is not afraid to pull heart strings. I actually teared up in this book. Which never happens to me in Mysteries. I had an idea in my head where things where going with the characters and it was totally and utterly wrong. I hope our protagonist Clare can overcome the loss that she has be given. I know there are more books in the series, and of course I'm going to buy them. I have to know how it unfolds. ( )

Through the Grinder is the second book in the Coffeehouse Mystery series.

Once again, we join Clare Cosi at the Village Blend, a historic coffeehouse in NYC. Business is good as usual, until female customers of the coffeehouse start committing suicide. Detective Quinn suspects the deaths are actually murders. Things get a bit awkward when it becomes clear that the chief suspect in the killings is Clare's new love interest, Bruce Bowman. Clare knows that Bruce couldn't possibly be a cold-hearted killer, so once again she is tracking a murderer and collecting clues, hoping to prove her lover isn't involved.

I enjoy this series, despite some of the sub-plot being a bit too frou-frou for me. At times, the main character describes the furnishings and items in the apartment above the coffeehouse where she lives. The apartment is filled with very expensive furnishings, persian rugs and priceless antiques. If I lived somewhere like that, I would be afraid to sit down or even touch the china in the kitchen cupboards. Clare Cosi just lives a completely different life than my own. But, I think that's part of what makes this series interesting for me. It gives me a nice departure from reality. Just don't tell Clare I drink decaf! :)

I enjoyed this second book even more than the first. The mystery portion of the plot was engaging with several twists and turns. I didn't see the ending coming....it was a total surprise. Nice!

There are recipes at the back of the book for coffee drinks and even steak marinated with coffee, plus coffee storage tips.

I already have the next two books in the series on hold at the library!

There are 15 books in this award-winning series so far. Cleo Coyle is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi and her husband, Mark Cerasini. ( )

Clare Cosi manages the Village coffeehouse. She also lives upstairs in a luxuriously decorated apartment, owned by her former mother-in law, which she sometimes shares with her ex-husband, Matteo, who's a coffee buyer and often out of the country. Currently, she's worried about her daughter, Joy, since she just broke up with someone yet is ready to get out again in the dating scene. So when Joy signs up for online dating, so does Clare, in the hopes that she'll be able to screen the men ahead of time without Joy knowing.

But Clare gets a surprise herself -- she meets a wealthy, attractive man named Bruce Bowman who's interested in her. Surprisingly, Clare likes him and secretly hopes he'll call. When he does, and she decides to make dinner for him, Matteo shows up unexpectedly and while she thinks the evening is ruined, Bruce makes the best of it and asks her out again.

But there's a problem in the dating world -- someone is killing off women who have been on the same dating site as Clare. At first, it all looks like suicides, but Detective Mike Quinn is beginning to think otherwise. And he also thinks that Bruce might be the one killing them. But Clare refuses to believe it, and decides to launch her own investigation to prove him otherwise. But one thing is definite -- Bruce does have a link to all these women, and Clare might be the next 'suicide' on the list if she's not careful...

This is the second book in the series, and I did like it better than the first. Unfortunately, I still don't like Matteo. He cheated on Clare through their entire marriage, and saying sex doesn't mean anything to him because there's no emotional connection is no different than saying killing animals doesn't mean anything if you have no emotional connection. It's cruel, it's wrong, and it's horrible. When Matteo married Clare, he took marriage vows -- which included being faithful, so I still think he's a pig and needs to get out of her life.

That being said, Clare is a tad too obsessed about coffee -- and this is coming from a woman who owns around ten different coffee brewers, is a Supertaster (I have more taste buds in my mouth than the average person and can taste flavors others can't), has grinders, foamers, etc., and keeps around ten or twenty different types of coffee in the house at any given time. I love coffee. But I don't go around telling anyone about the wonders of it. They already know if they're coffee drinkers. (Let's just say a major chain kinda sucks when it comes to making good coffee). Clare makes me a bit nauseous when it comes to coffee. I'd really like to see her back off a bit.

Trying not to give anything else away in this book is really difficult, but I will say that I didn't care for the ending at all. It was depressing, and honestly, it makes me not want to read any more of these for awhile. Which isn't to say it's not a good book; but if I feel this way about it the next day after reading it (and I waited until morning to write this review) then I can't in all good conscience give it more than two stars because of it. Sorry about that.

At any rate, others might think a lot higher of this book, but I really don't like those that depress me, which is why I rarely read thrillers. I read to relax and enjoy, not be depressed nor angry. Still, I will try the next in the series to see how things progress...eventually. ( )

This is the 2nd book in the Coffeehouse Mystery series. I really enjoyed it, probably more than the 1st.
Claire Cosi is on the case again. Will she figure out who the killer is before she kills someone close to her?

I look forward to the 3rd book! ( )

I am rereading this series this year and loving it. I love the coffee facts and recipes. The mystery is good, also! The banter between Claire and her ex is priceless. ( )