Murder By Mocha
By Cleo Coyle
Hardcover, 363 pages, $25.95

Like a great cup of coffee, I can’t get enough of Cleo Coyle’s coffeehouse mysteries.

And I dare say that the 10th title in this terrifically written, can’t-put-it-down series might be my favorite to date, so I'm adding it to my Top 10 favorite cozy titles of 2011.

Written by a husband-and-wife team, (Cleo Coyle is their combined pen name), this series is a must-read for cozy fans who enjoy a great story with well-developed characters and a new twist in every chapter.

In “Murder By Mocha,” Clare Cosi, New York City coffeehouse manager extraordinaire, must get to the bottom of a cup that contains some rather gritty grinds. Or in this case, bitter sludge, as a killer with a longtime score to settle, takes it out on a group of woman who work for a successful Website called Aphrodite’s Village.

“Before the day ended, I would have two dead bodies on my hands — one a likely murder, the other something else entirely,” Cosi says. “Soon after, I’d have to female NYPD detectives on my case, a half-naked fitness queen ready to kill me, and a member of my staff dizzy enough with unrequited love to commit a felony.”

And that’s just in the first four pages.

Clare winds up somewhere in the murky middle when her former mother-in-law agrees that The Blend will provide coffee beans for a special aphrodisiac instant drink called “Mocha Magic,” a love powder, which turns out to have a few more ingredients and consequences than expected.

“It occurred to me then, as I fixed his steamer, that most of our days are spent in ritual, at least until some dramatic event jerks us off our hamster wheels, puts us on brand new ones. Nineteen, for example, brought the end of my childhood and the beginning of my daughter’s,” she says.

Even if you haven’t read the first nine books in this series — which you should — there’s plenty of interwoven background in each one for new readers to get up to speed on what’s happened before. Plus, it’s done in a way so familiar readers aren’t bored with the recap.

Clare’s current boyfriend, cop Mike Quinn, and her former husband and business partner, Matt, do their best to keep Clare safe as she sticks her nose into dangerous situations. The head-strong coffee lady just can't help herself.

But Clare will rely on Matt when he's not off in foreign lands finding the best coffee beans on Earth for The Blend. “In case something went down, I wanted someone around who could handle chaos, and Matt’s third-world travails — from African uprisings and Bangkok brawls to Indonesian tsunamis — had tempered him well.”

You’ll love Clare’s outlook on life, even though she tends to risk her own quite often.

“But I did expect miracles. I expected them because I saw them every day. My daughter was a miracle; Mike was a miracle; love was a miracle; and so was life itself.”

So splurge, go to your local specialty coffeehouse and buy a new blend to brew, then jump to the back of this book and pick a yummy recipe to make, and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

"Murder By Mocha" will appeal to your cozy mystery tastes like the first bite of a crisp fall apple.

Also, check out the virtual Village Blend at www.CoffeehouseMystery.com.

Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. In addition, each Wednesday she reviews a cozy mystery in her column called “Cozy Corner.”