Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.


This is a new to me series. I was sucked in by the coffee theme. The maim character is competent and comes with some mystery from her past (living on the streets!?). We do find out more about Sage's past but are still left with questions for future books. This was a great read and I'm eager to continue the series.

Loved it. Great start to a new series. Completely surprised at the culprit. Many interesting characters. Intriguing back story for the protagonist. I had already read the second one as an ARC and was thrilled to be able to go back to read the first. Somehow it had gotten overlooked last year. I look forward to the further adventures of the Coffee Angel.

This is a cozy mystery, and this is the first book in A Ground Rules Mystery series. I really loved the characters in this book, and this book pulled me in from the beginning. I loved the mystery part of this book. I do feel the middle the pacing was a little to slow, but overall the pacing in this book was really good. I also love that the main character also as some life issues going on. This book is well-written, and the characters are developed and fun to follow. I will be reading the second book in this series when it comes out. I am not a coffee drinker, but there is so much more then just the coffee. So, if you are not a coffee drinker I think you will still enjoy this book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Kensington Publishing Corporation) or author (Emmeline Duncan) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

Fresh Brewed Murder is the first in a brand new series by Emmeline Duncan. When I saw that the main character owned a coffee cart in Portland, Oregon I knew this book was for me. I love coffee, and Oregon is one of my favorite places!

Sage Caplin has just opened her new coffee cart, Ground Rules, together with her friend and business partner Harley. Harley is a genius at roasting beans and devising new blends. Thanks to her entrepreneurial Uncle Jimmy, they get a coveted spot in a food truck pod called the Rail Yard in inner Southeast Portland. Across from the food cart lot, a new high-rise building is being built that is causing some controversy and demonstrators are out in force. On the plus side, this is bringing customers to their cart. Most of the customers are friendly, but one older gentleman is very gruff. Much to Sage’s surprise, he shows up again the next day. However, when she returns the following morning she finds the main entrance to the Rail Yard ajar, the gate unlocked, and the man’s dead body in front of her cart!

The dead man turns out to be David Stevens, a real-estate developer who is not only a rival of her uncle, but who had once been conned by Sage’s con-artist mother Saffron Jones. This, and the fact that the murder weapon is a box cutter that Sage had borrowed from a fellow cart owner, puts her at the top of the suspect list. Sage must find out who the real killer is before she loses everything that she has worked for. Since her father is a police detective, she knows a bit about how police investigations work. On top of being a murder suspect, she has to deal with her mother who abandoned her at 13 trying to work her way back into Sage’s life.

Sage has a complicated background and is a fascinating and well-developed character. She’s tough, fun, smart, and knows a lot about coffee. The other cart owners in the pod are also interesting, especially Zarek, the very attractive owner of a vegan cart. This book also does a great job of bringing to life the feel of Portland. While the story is mostly light and fun, Emmeline brings important subjects such as homelessness, food insecurity, and gentrification into the story. The mystery is well done, but is less the center of the story than some mysteries—this book is more about the people and the relationships and I really enjoyed it! To top it all off “Sage” even shares some coffee recipes in the back.

This is a great debut and I can’t wait for more!

What a fun first book in a new series. The author does a great job of giving the reader interesting characters and a fantastic look at the food truck and foodie scene in Portland. Sage and Harley have opened a coffee truck and Sage becomes involved in a murder investigation. Sage's father is a cop, her brother a lawyer and her estranged mother a notorious con woman. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

*Thank you to Netgalley, Emmeline Duncan and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/fresh-brewed-murder/

What is more iconic in Portland than food trucks? Sage Caplin and her partner and best friend, Harley, have opened a coffee truck in a local food truck lot.

Sage loves interacting with people and Harley is an amazing bean roaster. They work together to make sure their truck is a success, as Sage’s uncle has funded them. Their utmost goal is a brick-and-mortar store, which Uncle Jimmy can make happen, but only if they are successful. Almost immediately, drama surrounds the coffee truck. There are jealous food truck vendors, wondering how Sage got a coveted spot in this lot, when there is a long list of vendors waiting from losing their spot across the street, where a high rise is being built. The protestors, walking in opposition to the high rise, pose a threat to the new coffee truck, while Sage tries to befriend the homeless by offering them free coffee and food.

Just as Sage is getting the hang of running a coffee cart, one of her customers is found dead in front of her truck, his throat slit with the box cutter borrowed from another food truck owner. The detective assigned to the case automatically believes Sage was the murderer. After all, her mother is a con artist, the murder weapon was from her coffee truck and the victim was a customer of hers. Sage has not spoken to her mother in years, after she abandoned Sage when she was a young girl. Coincidentally, her mother had reached out the night before the murder. Is this a coincidence? But Sage has to find the actual killer now, before they arrest her for the murder.

Fresh Brewed Murder is the first in the series, Ground Rules, by Emmeline Duncan. Sage Caplin has had a very interesting life and also a very interesting family, starting with her Uncle Jimmy, who may or may not have questionable business practices. And then her brother Jackson, a lawyer, who is very protective of Sage, and her mother, a con artist and criminal who abandoned Sage when she was just a tween. Because of her background and the few days she spent homeless, she is very empathetic to the plight of the homeless teens that hang around the food truck lot. Sage is a complex character and I believe there is so much more to see of her.

Portland is the perfect backdrop to this adorable mystery with the dark skies and rain. Emmeline Duncan also provides the reader with a full education on coffee beans and brewing with recipes at the end. As in most mysteries, there are several suspects and an interesting link between Sage’s mother and the victim. The twist at the end surprised me as it was not someone I suspected at all and I love to be wrong when guessing the murderer. While Fresh Brewed Murder could be slow at times, I enjoyed the leisurely pace and interesting side stories.

The author is off to a wonderful start with her debut mystery in this series. I can’t wait to read on for the further adventures of Sage Caplin and her coffee cart.

This book centers around Sage Caplin. Sage and her friend Harley are opening a new coffee cart in Portland. There's a lot of coffee making detail, which went over my head, and some interesting recipes at the end.

The man who is developing the lot across the street from Sage's cart has a lot of enemies since his company has displaced many people. Unfortunately, he's murdered near Sage's coffee cart so the police are looking at her.

This book has good characters and a good plot, but I see now why it's described as offering "strong appeal to Millennial and Gen Z readers".

Overall, I did enjoy reading about Sage and her family interactions. I'd probably read more from this author.

Full disclosure: I received this ARC from netgalley and Kensington Cozies in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you for this opportunity.

A quick-witted, and perceptive new amateur sleuth is on the Portland scene. She is Sage Caplin, the new co owner of the Ground Rules truck housed in the Rail Yard in Portland OR. Together with her partner, Hayley, they hope to expand their business to providing beans to local restaurants. The eventual goal will be to have an indoor space. Sage is a character whose background is uncommon.
She is the daughter of a notorious con woman. Sage was raised to be part of the con game. She thought it was a game, traveling the world, living from one situation to another, always changing names and personal stories. That is, until her mother abandoned her in Portland at age 13. Fourteen years later, after being raised by a loving father and canny uncle. Sage is ready.

When she finds the body of one of her mother's victims in front of Ground Rules, the suspicion falls on Sage. Will her background and her family connections in Portland create enough mistrust that Ground Rules will fail? What about Gabby, the young homeless teen that Sage would like to help. Is she involved in the death some how?

Duncan's clever plotting and good characterization have given the reader a very satisfying read. The puzzle is not easily solved, the violence appears off scene, making the book suitable for all readers. The touch of romance signals more to come in book 2.

Highly recommended.

If you enjoy a good cup of coffee than Fresh Brewed Murder (A Ground Rules Mystery #1) by Emmeline Duncan is a great read even without the whodunit! There is so much coffee trivia, recipes and information all mixed up in this very enjoyable story--even with a little death mixed in.

Sage, who as you keep reading, has a very interesting past and an even more mysterious family. She and her friend open up a coffee business in a very trendy, hip area in a food cart. There is mystery, death and conspiracy mixed with friendship, siblings, dating and of course, coffee.

I did not guess who "dun" it. There were lots of suspects. Lots. But I did not guess who or why. Once it was revealed, it made sense. I just missed the clues. The author also addressed a few social issues in this story. I didn't feel she was hitting me over the head with them, but they were thoughtfully interwoven into the story and didn't feel forced.

As much as I enjoyed the story, the real bonus was the recipes that were included at the end. They sounded wonderful during the actual reading, so it was so nice to find many of them, especially the coffee drinks, included.

So do yourself a favor and sit down to read this story with a nice mug of coffee on the side.

I received an eARC from Kensington through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

I love this sub genre because they are easy to follow, usually include a bit of comedy and a little romance and lots of then have fun themes which is exactly what I want in the spring and summer. This one is obviously coffee themed and I was very impressed at the authors knowledge about coffee. She included passages about dialing in the espresso each morning, how to make the best coffee drinks and the difference between drinks like cortados and macchiatos. The main character is one of my new favorites, I loved how tough she was and that the author included a backstory for her. I can’t wait to continue reading the series!

Are you a reader who enjoys cozy mysteries? Do you find Portland, Oregon to be an interesting city? And, do you like coffee? If yes, this title may just percolate (sorry for the pun) for you.

The protagonist is engaging and will be back as this is the first entry in a new series. Why was someone left murdered in front of Sage’s coffee cart, the cleverly named Ground Rules? Read this one to find out. It is an easy and fun read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

Fresh Brewed Murder by Emmeline Duncan is the first book in the new cozy A Ground Rules Mystery series. As with most cozy mysteries the mystery within this first book is fully solved by the end of the story so it could be read as a standalone if choosing to do so.

Sage Caplin is happy to have finally reached her dream of owning her own business in Portland, Oregon. She has just opened her coffee truck, Ground Rules, with her business partner, Harley,in a great location. Business is going great with plenty of new customers when one day Sage arrives at the truck to find a previous customer has been murdered with Sage’s own box cutter.

Fresh Brewed Murder is definitely a cozy for coffee lover’s as it’s the type of cozy which spends a lot of time on the theme. I’m not a coffee drinker myself so the whole workings of the cart were not something I’d connect with but other than Sage’s coffee expertise I didn’t find anything else about her to draw me in either. As one who loves there to be something/someone humorous in cozy mysteries this one also seemed rather bland on that front leaving the opener at three stars for me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this first in series by Emmeline Duncan. The mystery was centered around the main character's coffee cart and it was unique and really grabbed my attention from the beginning. Lots of twists and turns that had me guessing until the very end. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

Fresh Brewed Murder by Emmeline Duncan is the perfect read for the coffee-conscious among us. Duncan's descriptive prose will make readers feel like they've been transported to the coziest, hipster-esque coffee establishment on the West Coast. Readers will learn about coffee production, culture, communities, all while following a well-plotted puzzle.

Recommended for fans of Cleo Coyle, Ellie Alexander and Tara Lush.

Thank you to Emmeline Duncan, Kensington Books, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First book in the new mystery series

Sage Caplin is opening up a new coffee cart with her partner Haley in Portland where the locals have a strong opinion on the coffee.

Sages finds a dead man in front of her cart slashed to death. There is a lot of anger going around, Sage took a prime location for her coffee cart and some people aren’t happy with her. And then there is the demonstrators picking against a new high rise. But who is mad enough to kill and frame Sage with her own box cutters.

She has enough trouble when her con-artist mother comes back into her life wanting Sage in her life. She needs to focus on finding a killer before her business and life come to an end.

Great new book, I look forward to the next one in this series.

Fresh Brewed Murder by Emmeline Duncan is the debut of A Ground Rules Mystery series. Sage Caplin is twenty-seven with a unique childhood. She is opening a coffee cart with Harley in Portland, Oregon. Sage’s backstory is revealed slowly throughout this first book. We get to meet her friends and family. There are vivid descriptions of Portland that really brought the city alive for me. I did feel that this book was a little all over the place. The focus never stayed on the mystery for long. It felt like more time is spent discussing coffee than the whodunit. I had no idea there were so many varieties of coffee nor ways to make it. The book discusses roasting coffee beans and the flavors it brings out too. I know more about coffee than I ever wanted to know (sorry, but I do not like the beverage). Sage has family drama that dominates the story plus the book delves into the plights of runaway teens who are homeless. We follow Sage about her daily routine which is boring to read. The book needed more action which would have improved the pacing. The mystery of the dead developer is straightforward. There are several viable suspects along with misdirection. Avid cozy mystery readers will have no problem discerning the guilty party before the reveal. I could not get into Fresh Brewed Murder. A Ground Rules Mystery series is not the right fit for me. I believe it will appeal to a younger audience. There are recipes for items mentioned in the book at the end. Fresh Brewed Murder is a lighthearted cozy mystery with scrumptious coffees, a dead developer, cart chaos, a runaway teenager, a determined detective, and a parental predicament.

This was a fun cozy! I loved the Portland setting, and the mystery was fantastic. I do think the book was a bit slow in the middle, but overall I loved this book.

Coffee-lovers, this book is for you. Fresh Brewed Coffee is set in Portland, Oregon, ground zero for coffee aficionados. Twenty-seven-year-old Sage Caplin loves coffee like “Bubba” Blue loves shrimp in Forrest Gump. Sage is knowledgeable beyond her years in the vagaries and mysteries of coffee beans, coffee drinks (hot and cold), and coffee cocktails.

Sage and her partner Harley are the brains and brewers behind Ground Rules, their new coffee cart. Thanks to Sage’s undisclosed relationship with her entrepreneurial Uncle Jimmy, they have a coveted spot in a new food truck pod. Unlike the other food trucks, Sage has her own water supply. Her hours are grueling—6:00 am to 2:00 pm, five days a week. The rest of her time is taken up with developing new beans and flavors and finding wholesale outlets for her roasted beans.

Across the street from the food truck lot, a new high-rise building is being built. Unlike a considerable portion of new construction in Portland, the owners haven’t included a set-aside for lower-income tenants. For that reason (and perhaps just a dislike of gentrification in general), demonstrators are out in force. Sage looks on the bright side: the construction workers and demonstrators are potential patrons of Ground Rules.

Rise and shine: it’s 6:00 am and Ground Rules is ready for its first customers. They’re friendly and appreciative. That is until Sage spots an older gentleman staring at her.

I analyzed him as he walked up. Stern face like he was angry or permanently unhappy. Hooded eyes. Even features. Button-down shirt, neatly ironed, tucked precisely into designer jeans, but finished with work boots. He’d be handsome if he smiled. I tried a cold reading on him. “You know, I bet you’ve faced some major problems in your life, but you’ve always found a way to overcome them.”



His expression didn’t waver. “Black coffee to go.”

You can’t win ‘em all. Sage is surprised when “stern guy” shows up the next day. She rationalizes that as a professional, she doesn’t need every customer to like her. When she arrives the next morning, she finds the main entrance to the Rail Yard ajar and the gate unlocked, which is not how Zarek, another cart owner, left things last night. Things get worse once Sage passes through the gates.

The overly serious man with the hooded eyes and perpetual scowl was sprawled out on the ground.



His days of ordering coffee were over.

The dead man inside the gates of the food truck pod is David Stevens, a real-estate developer who had a rivalry with Sage’s wheeler-dealer Uncle Jimmy. More uncomfortably, the box cutter Sage borrowed from a fellow food pod entrepreneur is discovered to be the murder weapon. Oh no, it’s only her third day in business. Sage’s dad is a Portland police detective so she knows a police investigation will negatively affect her operation. Sage’s fey instincts, honed at her grifter mother’s knee, warned her on opening day that her path to success would not be easy.

I’d always wanted to help people, put positive energy back into the world, and in a small way my new business could brighten everyone’s day. I saw Ground Rules as my future, but it was the first pebble in a rockslide, causing my past to come crashing into my present.

Saffron Jones, Sage’s criminal grifter mother, is trying to inveigle her way back into her daughter’s life. It’s eerie, considering her mother abandoned her when Sage was thirteen. Coincidentally, Saffron scammed David Stevens in the past—no wonder the police think Sage is a suspect.

The investigation plays out while Harley and Sage focus on making Ground Rules a success. A restaurateur asks them to develop a special coffee menu for his new place. It’s quite an opportunity, as Harley tells Sage.

“Is he interested in carrying our beans?”



“More than that. Tanner’s café will be open from breakfast through dinner, and he wants us to come up with a specialty coffee-drink menu, both cocktails and nonalcoholic. Plus he wants us to train his staff on how to make coffee properly. He’ll buy our beans, of course.



“At least we’ll know they’ll do justice to our coffee if we train them.” Ideas started firing through my brain. We needed to find out what kind of food Tanner was planning to offer so we could pair our drinks with his menu.

The Ground Rules gals develop some amazing beverages and fortunately for us, Emmeline Duncan shares some fabulous recipes, like “Sage Coffee Soda.” It’s a fresh take on the cozy mystery genre.

Emmeline Duncan lives in Portland and the “keep Portland weird” vibe infuses her first Ground Rules mystery. Sometimes storylines impacted by homelessness, food insecurity, and gentrification can feel a little bleak, but Duncan weaves in hopeful and practical notes. For example, Sage sets up a pay-it-forward campaign, encouraging customers to pay in advance for a cup of coffee or pastry to be given to someone who is down on their luck—a signal boost for real-life Suspended Coffees.

Sage Caplin is wise beyond her years thanks to her troubled early childhood. Her deep love and knowledge of Portland, as well as her motley crew of relatives and friends—encompassing bar owners, lawyers, street-wise social workers, and a grifter mother—will undoubtedly populate future storylines. I foresee many enjoyable Ground Rules mysteries to come. This is a great debut!

Sage Caplin is excited to make a reality out of her dream of running a coffee-brewing business! Together with her business partner Harley, she’s opening Ground Rules, a food cart located in a popular area of Portland, Oregon, focusing on gourmet coffee drinks. Opening day finds her making a good go of it while getting to know her new food cart neighbors and customers, as well as exploring ventures that could expand Ground Rules’ operations.

A protest at a development across the street is the talk of most of the vendors and clientele, including a hard-eyed man whose attitude belies his interest in Ground Rules’ coffee. Sage is determined to treat all her customers with cheerful professionalism, but even her positivity is put to the test when the man, who turns out to be property developer David Stevens, is found stabbed to death outside her cart with a box cutter she’d borrowed. Suspicion falls on Sage even before it’s discovered that David had previously been a victim of her con artist mother Saffron, who’s been in the wind since leaving Sage as a homeless teen on the streets of Portland over a decade ago. Luckily, Sage has her police detective father as well as her lawyer half-brother on her side, so she’s pretty sure she won’t get railroaded into anything by the less than competent investigators assigned to her case.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of a young runaway named Gabby, who reminds Sage uncomfortably of her teenage self. When it becomes clear that Gabby could hold the key to solving David’s murder, Sage must pull on her many connections in an attempt to find and save the girl, and clear her own name in the process.

I loved how refreshingly modern this book was! Sage reads like an actual 27 year-old living in a major metropolitan area, with messy family connections and a sprawling network of friends. The burgeoning romances felt authentic, and the quirkier members of the cast of characters definitely do their part to keep Portland weird, as the city’s unofficial motto goes. Emmeline Duncan doesn’t shy away from depicting the underbelly of life in the big city either, with her moving descriptions of homelessness and hunger and our heroine’s efforts to help eliminate both. On a lighter note, the descriptions of food and especially coffee were absolutely mouth-watering, definitely upping my coffee consumption while I read. With plenty of hooks for future plot lines, this debut marks the beginning of a series I’m already looking forward to reading much more of!

There were nine recipes included, mostly of beverages. I decided to try out the one regional food recipe:

QUOTE
Oregon French Toast

2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup of milk (or Oatly works well as a nondairy substitute!)
2 teaspoons of sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 cup of coarsely chopped hazelnuts
4 slices of day-old challah bread, cut thickly (brioche or French bread also works)
Butter or canola oil

Whisk together all of the ingredients except the nuts, bread, and butter or oil in a mixing bowl. Put the nuts in their own wide-mouth bowl.

Prepare the griddle or skillet by either melting the butter in the pan or rubbing canola oil across the surface.

Dip the bread slices in the egg mixture, taking care to soak both sides, then dredge the bread in the hazelnuts.

Cook the bread slices in the skillet until brown, about 2 minutes per side.

If you want to up your Oregon cred, serve with your French toast with marionberry jam! Or serve it with maple syrup, other jam, butter, fresh fruit, etc.
END QUOTE

I grew up making French toast with just regular sandwich bread and seasoned eggs, so I must admit that fancy French toast recipes, like this one, continue to feel beyond my capabilities. My bread always feels like it’s coming out too mushy, and the contrast between crust and soft parts feels too marked. The chopped hazelnuts actually help even out the overall texture: I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy adding nuts to French toast, but this turned out much nicer than expected. I could have probably chopped the hazelnuts more uniformly, though. I also drizzled the chocolate sauce I made last week over my dish to add that little bit of recommended sweetness, and found it absolutely delicious overall.

Next week, we head back to the east coast to make a hybrid dessert while reading about bringing a murderer to justice. Do join me!

I loved this book so much!! This is the first book in A Ground Rules Mystery series. This is a fun cozy mystery book, that is centered around coffee and food trucks! How fun is that?!

Right from the very start this book pulled me in, and I knew I was going to love it. I read it in two sittings, I did not want to put it down! I found the characters to be like able, and the plot was enjoyable. I loved the Portland, Oregon vibes in this book. It seems like such a nice place, I would love to visit, one day! I can’t wait for the next book in the series to come out. If you’re a fan of cozy mysteries, I highly recommend checking this one out!

Thank you Kensington Publishing for the gifted copy, in exchange for an honest review.