Look out, Diane Mott Davidson, there’s a new writer with an appetite for murder. Sandra Balzo’s first novel, “Uncommon Grounds,” takes the food/mystery genre into a Wisconsin coffeehouse. Davidson, who lives in Evergreen, has written 11 best sellers (including “Double Shot” and “Chopping Spree”) featuring caterer and amateur detective Goldy Schulz.
Divorced like Schulz, Maggy Thorsen sinks her life savings into an upscale coffee shop only to find one of her partners dead in a puddle of unfrothed milk beside the espresso machine. Accompanied by her dog, Thorsen begins to investigate, in part, to remove her own name from the list of suspects:
“‘I repaired to the kitchen, where I poured myself a glass of fine red wine and opted for a sleeve of Ritz crackers and a can of spray cheese to go with it. Major food groups accounted for (fat and salt, alcohol and aerosol), I settled on the couch to call Caron. The phone rang four or five times before she finally answered.
“‘Don’t be silly, Maggy,’ Caron said crisply. ‘You’ve been watching too many TV shows. Patricia’s death was an accident, pure and simple. Now I have to go.’ She hung up.
“Hello? Had she been listening to anything I said? I sat for a second, then drained my wine glass and got up to go to the kitchen.
“Time to pull out the Chips Ahoy.”
When Thorsen isn’t munching on cookies, the growing attraction between her and the local sheriff is as hot as the espresso, and the activities of the town board as murky as cafe au lait. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the plot took a sharp turn that kept me guessing.
The wry voice of the main character, dead-on descriptions of tennis-and-a-latte set, and a sprinkle of religious tension make “Uncommon Grounds” as satisfying as a mid-morning triple espresso and a blueberry muffin.
– Kristen Browning-Blas
