Irish Coffee Murder by Leslie Meier
Lucy, a reporter, is writing a piece on Tinker's Cove's students in Irish step dancing. But when one of their mom's turns up dead in her bathtub, Lucy investigates.
This cozy mystery is book 28.5 of the Lucy Stone Mystery series, and although there is a backstory and many fun characters to read in the other books, it can be read as a standalone. It was fun to see Tinker's Cove and it's residents again, an easy read full of red herrings.
This book also contains Death of an Irish Coffee Drinker by Lee Hollis and Perked Up by Barbara Ross. I was mainly interested in the book for Leslie Meier's story, but the other two were also two very entertaining cozies, and I will dive into the author's backlists!
I read the ebook and listened to the audio book, and the narration was great!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A trio of stories linked by St. Patrick’s Day and small Maine coastal villages. Meiers story, in particular, stands out for its refreshing inclusion of cultures, beliefs and mores.

A combination of 3 novellas, the book offered a collection of cozy murder mysteries in different settings. The first 2 of them were quite engaging with suspicious characters and witty dialogues. The third story however wasn't something I could connect with. Somehow the overall book had this trend of murderers confessing to their crimes in certain circumstances, rather than being caught red-handed or in the situation. This made me wonder if the book's narrative would have had a different impact on me had the mystery been revealed in the later format.

Overall a decent one-time read with a setting I love the most - around the Irish Coffee ☕️.
Genre: #murdermystery #cozymystery
Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️

Thankyou @netgalley @lesmeier @leehollisbooks @maineclambake @tantoraudio for the Audio ARC

***** I received this as an ARC audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book has multiple short murder mysteries with a bit of Irish fun. They are enjoyable and an easy book to listen too.

As this is an audiobook the narration was very good. It was an enjoyable listen.

I enjoyed having the opportunity to read stories from these three authors. There’s a huge cozy feeling with this collection of short stories. I can proudly say I enjoyed this one curled up on the couch, which is fitting being themed around Irish Coffee. I highly recommend giving this one a quick read! Thanks Netgalley and RB Media!

Publication Jan. 24, 2023

EDITED TO ADD AUDIO REVIEW: I'll keep this short. Although I'd read an ebook of this, it'd been long enough that I'd forgotten some pertinent details, so I looked forward to listening to the audio version. It's also always fun to see if the narrator's voice, in this case, Callie Beaulieu, matches your mental idea of what the characters might sound like in real life. This book tossed in the added challenge of having three different stories and sets of characters for her to work with. She did a good job and although I wasn't quite as taken with her interpretation of Lucy Stone in "Irish Coffee Murder", it actually worked for me. It gave me another angle to approach Lucy's personality, one that I'll take into consideration the next time I spend some time in Tinker's Cove with Lucy and her friends and family.

Given that that was the first of the three mysteries included in this book, it was interesting to hear the differences in tone and confidence in the next two stories. Given that the audio version lasted 10 h, 15 m, and had multiple characters, Beaulieu did an excellent job. Heck, she even managed to set the mood for the ghost stories of"Perked Up", by Barbara Ross. Bottom line, this audio version by #TantorAudio was a fun visit with three favorite authors and held my attention even though I'd read the ebook version some time ago. Thanks #TantorAudio and #RBMedia for letting me sit in on some favorite characters' chat as they put their minds to solving some murders, even one of the coldest cases in town.

ORIGINAL EBOOK REVIEW

The luck of the Irish was definitely with me. Not only a collection of mysteries built around the theme of Irish Coffee, but by three of my favorite authors and sets of characters. I definitely felt like I'd found the reader's pot of gold.

I won't detail the plot except to note that each author shines with their own voice and style. Even better, you don't have to be a former reader of that author to thoroughly enjoy the story, all of which include tidbits from past adventures but don't rely on them for the solution. Mysteries include the death of a single mother of a talented young Irish dancer, poisoning of an up-and-coming stand-up comedian, and a very cold case, as in over a century old unsolved crime. The collection provides a great introduction to the various series and characters, including seeming to introduce some newcomers. In other words, a winning combination for both authors and readers. ENJOY! I know I did.

Thanks #NetGalley and #KensingtonBooks - #KensingtonCozies for inviting me over for some Irish Coffee.

I’m not usually a fan of novellas but these are some of my favorite series so it was nice to visit with the characters again. Usually these feature the same characters in a shorter mystery but don’t really move the series along in any way. I was pleasantly surprised that the Maine Clambake story did, focusing on a few potential budding relationships. The stories were all well written and intriguing, particularly the last one, which was a cold case. Highly recommended for fans of these series but you don’t have to be to follow the stories.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author's for gifting me the audio version. Okay the first story. I have read a few of the books in the series and I enjoyed them but this book just slaps you across the face with woke liberalism. It absolutely turned me off. It was absolutely ridiculous. The other stories were better and I enjoyed them more. Very disappointed with the first story.