Cleo Coyle's SHOT IN THE DARK

 

By Margaret S. Hamilton

Alice Alfonsi and her husband, Marc Cerasini, write a delightful series of urban cozies, set in a Greenwich Village coffeehouse, the Village Blend. Using the penname, Cleo Coyle, they published the first book in the series in 2003; Shot in the Dark is the seventeenth in the series of nineteen books. Their latest, Honey Roasted, was published last week.

 

Fast fact: A “shot in the dark” is a shot of espresso poured into a cup of high-caffeine light roast coffee.

 

In the coffeehouse books, amateur sleuth Clare Cosi is the Village Blend manager, working in tandem with her ex-husband, Matteo Allegro, a globe-trotting coffee bean virtuoso, and his beloved octogenarian mother and family business owner, Madame Blanche Dubois. Clare’s sleuthing buddies also include her chef daughter, Joy; Esther Best, a barista/grad student/slam poet; and other coffee house employees, with the assistance of local NYPD officers and Lt. Mike Quinn, Clare’s fiancé.

 

Clare describes the so-called “Fish Squad”:

Lori Soles and Sue Ellen Bass cut through the pack of pastel tees like a couple of hammerheads parting a school of rainbow fish. In their mid-thirties, the two tall women—one blonde, one brunette—reminded me of an old married couple, together so long they could read each other’s thoughts…The pair even dressed alike. (Shot in the Dark, p.199)

 

The coffee house customers are a mix of neighborhood regulars, NYU students, and, in this book, customers using a new dating app. In Shot in the Dark, Clare is drawn into solving the murder of a customer, an investigation which involves a new, lethal street drug. Clare’s streetwise savvy, combined with her grit determination to protect her employees and patrons, makes the book a fast-paced and engaging read.

 

I envision the Village Blend coffee house as a stage set: tables and chairs on the main floor with a fireplace, coffee bar, and baked goods case. Upstairs, a lounge for meetings, including Esther’s poetry slam events, with the enticing aromas of freshly brewed coffee and muffins luring pedestrians inside.

 

Outside the coffee house, much of the action in this book takes place in Hudson River Park, restaurants on the piers, and the river itself:

No matter how oppressive the city became, an escape to the peace of wide-open water was only a few miles away. The very idea was mentally freeing, especially to hardworking stiffs like me—one reason city advocates labored to keep the West Side waterfront accessible to the public…broken-down docks were transformed into lush green parks and sinking piers into grown-up playgrounds. (p.46).

Clare’s romance with Lt. Mike Quinn, has lasted for seventeen books:

The first time I saw him, he strode into my coffeehouse looking like a man in need of caffeine. A rumpled trench coat hung from his broad shoulders, his blue eyes were bloodshot, his expression haggard. He’d been overworked, sure, but what really wore him down were the kinds of personal burdens I’d once carried. (p.80)

 

Cooking, murder, and Clare’s peanut butter cookies in front of the fire make Shot in the Dark a satisfying read on a bitter winter night.

 

Readers and writers, are you coffee lovers and have you read Cleo Coyle’s coffeehouse mysteries?