Name: Holiday Grind
ISBN: 9780425237885

Cleo Coyle

Coffeehouse manager and head barista Clare Cosi and her NYPD detective boyfriend discover the snowy body of a man dressed up in a Santa suit, and become convinced that the death was more than a mugging gone awry.

Holiday Grind

Sarah Sammis

I don't normally like holiday themed books but I loved this one.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2018/comm...

It was probably the best one I've read in the series. I just wish cozy mysteries in general stopped using relationship tropes for side plots. It gets really boring to have something constantly hinting that the protagonist and her ex have enough chemistry to get back together, when we know that's not true, and at this point he's remarried. Just made my eyes roll and skip forward over that. But maybe people like that and it's just a "me" problem? I don't know.


The actual mystery was interesting in itself. I could have done without the hand-holding walkthrough of a classic Christmas tale, but I guess that's trying to cover ground for people who don't know it, and a nice page buffer. 

As a Christmas themed book, that isn't set on the day but the period before it, it was pretty good for a fast read.

kathi 

Coffeehouse manager and head barista Clare Cosi and her NYPD detective boyfriend discover the snowy body of a man dressed up in a Santa suit, and become convinced the death was more than a mugging gone awry.