A Cup of Jo

August 16, 2010
In Balzo’s delightful sixth Maggy Thorsen mystery (after March 2010’s From the Grounds Up), Maggy, the co-owner of Uncommon Grounds, a gourmet coffeehouse, which was destroyed during a freak snowstorm, is planning to celebrate the opening of her rebuilt shop at the same time that the town of Brook-hills, Wis., dedicates the new Milwaukee commuter-train line. Maggie is pleased with the giant inflatable coffee cup she hired for the occasion, until it accidentally deflates and reveals the body of missing Brookhills event manager JoLynne Penn-Williams sprawled at the bottom. When amateur sleuth Maggy begins to investigate, she’s dismayed that clues point to her boyfriend, county sheriff Jake Pavlik, as the killer. Devastating innuendos that Jake has been unfaithful shatter Maggy, but don’t prevent her from seeking the truth. As ever, Maggy’s wit and wisdom help keep the pages turning through this lighthearted cozy.

August 15, 2010

Greater Milwaukee's preeminent coffee-shop owner faces heartbreak when an event planner steals her thunder and her boyfriend.

Everything is ready for the grand reopening of Uncommon Grounds. Forced out of its Benson Plaza location when a snowstorm caved in the roof (Brewed, Crude and Tattooed, 2009), co-owners Maggy Thorsen and Sarah Kingston have been rebuilding at the Brookhills commuter train station, despite a series of construction mishaps. Now barista Amy Caprese has ordered biodegradable takeout cups, and Maggy's asked prop man Kevin Williams to loft a five-foot inflatable coffee cup above her new digs. But the celebration, timed to coincide with the inauguration of a rail line connecting suburban Brookhills to Milwaukee, falls flatter than an oversteamed latte when party planner JoLynne Penn-Williams is found curled up in the giant mug, dead as vaudeville. Brookhills County Executive Brewster Hampton, on hand for the celebration, is shocked. So are his Milwaukee counterpart Wynona Counsel and his wife, rising entrepreneur Anita. But Jo's sister Rebecca, glad the bitch is dead, accuses her of sleeping with both Rebecca's boyfriend, Michael Inkel, and Maggy's main squeeze, Sheriff Jake Pavlik. Looks like those cozy nights on the sofa sipping Shiraz and feeding indigestible pizza toppings to Maggy's sheepdog Frank may be over—especially if Jake gets arrested for murder.

Like the Styrofoam cups banned by Amy, the murder in Balzo's sixth is strictly disposable, its flimsiness in no way strengthened by her sexual innuendos and quips about canine flatulence.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2010
Poor Maggy Thorsen (From the Grounds Up, 2010) just cant seem to get her coffee business going. Her original Wisconsin caf', Uncommon Grounds, was destroyed in a blizzard. Now, with a new business partner, Sarah Kingston, and a site in a renovated railway depot that serves a commuter line, things should be going well. They hope to have the grand opening when the new rail line is dedicated. Maggy even commissions a giant inflatable coffee cup and saucer for the roof, but unfortunately, Jo, the event manager, turns up dead inside it. The ensuing investigation turns up some surprising information about some of the communitys most upstanding members. The fast-moving plot makes the most of the authors quirky characters and will have readers wondering if Maggy will ever be able to make a go of it in the coffee business, but they will be happy to read another installment in hopes of finding out. Solid cozy fare.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)