Rocky Road to Murder

Coffee & Cream Café Mystery, #6

by

Lena Gregory

Who is trying to frame Dani for the death of one of her customers?

Rocky Road to Murder is the sixth book in veteran author Lena Gregory's consistently delightful Coffee & Cream Café Mystery series, featuring café owner and barista Dani Delaney and her tight-knit circle of friends, as well as the murder of a local woman during her annual Fourth of July soiree. Dani is elated when Cressida Rutherford hires her to provide parfait desserts for her upcoming Fourth of July dinner, not only for the business but also because she has always wanted to attend the prestigious event. However, success takes a turn for the worse when the hostess is discovered dead during the festivities with one of Dani's parfaits on the ground beside her. 

This latest adventure is another delightful addition to the cozy mystery series and is somewhat unique for the genre, particularly in how the victim is introduced and the subsequent amateur investigation is conducted. While the victims in many cozy mysteries are unlikable, nasty individuals or otherwise apt targets for the fictional murder, Cressida Rutherford is a relative unknown to the reading audience, never appearing alive in the story or directly introduced to readers prior to the discovery of her corpse. Her death is handled more like a homicide in a more traditional mystery or police procedural, where the story starts with the discovery of a body, and the victim's identity is established after the fact, with the detectives building a picture of the victim as they conduct their investigation. Dani and her fellow amateur sleuths jump straight to unraveling the clues to the murderer's identity in order to clear Dani's name. While a little information about Cressida's life emerges, the case is clearly focused on the clues and disproving Dani's and Eli's possible involvement in her death. It's a fine and interesting mix of mystery subgenres, and it really worked for me. Like Dani and her friends, I was kept guessing the entire time. 

With its cast of regulars, well-paced murder investigation, and romantic storyline, I recommend ROCKY ROAD TO MURDER to cozy mystery readers. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.