Coffee makes a sad man cheerful, a languorous man active, a cold man warm, a warm man glowing. It awakens mental powers thought to be dead, and when left in a sick room, it fills the room with a fragrance…The very smell of coffee terrorises death.

Never judge a book by its cover! This mass-market publication looks like a bit of rubbish, but in fact, I found it very entertaining.

The story is set in the historic Village Blend coffeehouse in West Village, Manhattan. Clare Cosi has returned to manage the coffee house after living for ten years in the suburbs to raise her daughter. When she discovers her assistant manager unconscious at the bottom of the stairs, she finds it hard to agree with the police’s assessment that it was an accident.

So she has to run her own investigation, of course. I know, it’s predictable, and the book is full of cliches, but there was something about it that I found appealing - maybe the coffee? And there is a lot of information about coffee; from the different coffee beans and how they are sourced, to the million and one different styles of coffee brewing. If you don’t like coffee - well, I’d give this book a miss. There are even coffee recipes at the end of the book!