Discovering a corpse turns café owner Francesca into an amateur sleuth. Available in e-book, audiobook, and paperback.
Rating: 5.5 red herrings out of 7.
My favourite part of this quick-reading cozy mystery is the characters: they feel real and honest. (And that’s really important, if you ask me!) The worst thing is that I never actually laughed at any point, and I do prefer when cozies err on the comic side.
This series and author are quite popular though, so obviously that’s simply a matter of personal preference.
First off, yep, the characters are well fleshed-out, especially protagonist Francesca. Some reviewers disagree, but I found everyone’s decisions and motivations authentic - I’m happy to report that I never found myself saying “oof, now WHY would she do that?!”
(Well, with one exception. Francesca and her love interest both take quite a long time to pick up on the first clue. On the plus side, that made me feel like I was smarter than someone, ha!)
In fact, I found most elements of this story quite realistic and believable. As a former barista myself, I’m confident in saying that Harper nails the café setting.
The mystery itself works well, although it did seem to take ages to move past the first suspect, and I don’t believe there were any early clues that would've let me come to the correct conclusion until quite late in the book. (Unless I missed them entirely! Which is not impossible ;) )
That’s a minor note though - in general the pacing is good and the investigation is fine.
Another strong suit: the narrator! If you listen to audiobooks, do check this one out. Her performance is above par, with excellent voices. Each character stands out without sounding cartoonishly over-the-top. The male voices especially impress me. (It’s quite short though, at around 4h30m, so consider that before dropping your cash. I’ve discovered that my local library does offer this audiobook through the Libby app, so that might be worth a peek.)
The romance level is fairly light, which I like. It doesn’t interfere with the mystery plot.
So it sounds like I love this cozy, right? Well, not without a few reservations. As I said above, the realism doesn’t leave much room for laughs, hijinks, or wackiness. I prefer some of the “Scooby Doo for adults” flavour in cozies, personally.
Francesca herself carries her grandparents’ highly conscientious, traditional values. I love the strong family ties, but it makes her feel older than her 34 years. Also, she’s too darn competent!
I know that sounds silly, but I usually prefer rooting for scrappy underdogs trying to scrabble together the rent payment in their thrift store fashions. That’s just a matter of taste, of course. I’m sure many readers love Francesca.
I was surprised by a brief instance of animal cruelty. I don’t mind if a pet ends up in a dangerous spot, but in a cozy mystery I expect them to come out unscathed. (To be clear, the instance is quite minor, but still. It didn’t seem strictly necessary and I certainly didn’t expect it in this otherwise highly typical cozy.)
With those negatives covered, let me repeat: this is a solid read! There’s plenty of interesting, small town characters, the emotional stakes are well-developed and they ring true, and the slightly slow start only helped me build a better connection with Francesca.
It doesn’t crack my top ten list, but overall I’d recommend this cozy. You can check it out here.
This is an unsolicited, honest review from A. J. Maybe, pictured below.
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