I really enjoy this series. I've been hooked since the first one. I love the characters, I love the Portland scene, and I love the coffee! Sage and her partner, Harley have their own coffee space now. Sage is helping her boyfriend with some of his video game programming, when one of his employees is found dead. Harley becomes the main suspect, and Sage has to prove her innocence.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

This is proving to be one of the solidest of the new generation of cozies, with a strong awareness of social issues while still adhering to the conventions of the genre. Sage is a great character, and I love that the setting is a huge character as well. I hope to see this one continue for a long time.This is proving to be one of the solidest of the new generation of cozies, with a strong awareness of social issues while still adhering to the conventions of the genre. Sage is a great character, and I love that the setting is a huge character as well. I hope to see this one continue for a long time.

“Flat White Fatality” is book #3 in the “Ground Rules Mystery” series written by Emmeline Duncan. In this series, Sage Caplin is a small business owner that has opened up her Coffee Cart in Portland Oregon.

In “Flat White Fatality”, Sage and her business partner Harley Yamazaki now have a space for their coffee roasting. Sage is also working a few hours a week wearing a motion capture suit for a new video game at her boyfriend’s company “Grumpy Sasquatch”. I love the name. It fits in with Portland.

Murders seem to occur near or in her business locations. In addition to being a killer coffee maker, small business owner, and starring in a new video game, Sage is good at solving murders. The Portland Police detective William E. Will seems to be a reluctant recipient of her tips. But as the story unfolds, Sage’s instincts and sleuthing pan out. I love the character development between the two. Detective Will although reluctant does follow Sage’s tips.

This book and series combines three of my favorite things: Coffee, Portland, and a cozy mystery. I love the references to unique places in Portland. It is well written and has great character development. The characters have a depth to them and you never know which character will come to the front as a suspect.

I highly recommend this series and this book. As an added benefit, there are recipes in the back. I can’t wait to try the “Ground Rules Espresso Brownies”.

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A good and interesting murder mystery that kept me reading! It seemed like an impossible case for both the real police and Sage who was determined to find out who killed her boyfriend's employee in Sage and Harley's roastery. It made Harley look bad since she might've been the last to see the woman alive. When the clues started coming together, I had an idea of whodunit and was right, but it was fun to see how the takedown would go.

The showdown was a good one--I love when the perp incriminates themselves and someone thought to record the whole thing. The very ending was super sweet and just plain awesome as Sage, Bax and Niko celebrated Halloween in a very special way! Don't miss this latest installment of the Ground Rules Mysteries available tomorrow, Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Kensington Cozies via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

I like this series a great deal because it gets all the details of the Portland coffee culture right. Sage finds the body of one of Bax's programmers in the roastery. When her partner becomes a major suspect, as well as Bax, Sage begins to ask questions. A good mystery with p!entry of twists. The characters are well written, even young Noah has a great personality. This can be a stand alone read, but reading the entire series gives you context.

This is a pretty new to me series and I love the author’s writing style! Cute, funny and quirky characters in an interesting setting. I highly recommend this one to any cozy lover!

The Pacific NW and coffee added to a satisfying cozy mystery checks all of my boxes. Sage and Bax, her boyfriend make a good team in this, the third of the series. Sage has started helping Bax's gaming development company with a morale building event. Dress up the employees in duck onsies and send the out onto the streets of Portland on a scavenger hunt. Things take a nasty turn when one of those employees is found murdered in Sage's roastery. The list of possible suspects isn't short and, unfortunately, both Bax and Sage are on it. If the killer isn't caught, Sage can say goodbye to her long held dream of having a bricks and mortar location for her coffee roasting business, Ground Rules.
The puzzle was well crafted and the characters had depth plus the Portland setting made me feel right at home. Beyond being a well done cozy there are serious subjects spread throughout the series such as homelessness and gentrification. I'll be waiting to see what the next book has in store for Sage.
My thanks to the publisher Kensington and to NetGalley for giving me n advance copy in exchange for my nhonesr review.

I really love this series and this book definitely hits all the marks for a great cozy mystery. A great MC Sage, a cute kitty Kaldi, love interest Bax, a few annoying characters and a murder mystery. The clues were fun to follow in trying to find out whodunnit. I'm excited to see what happens next in the series.

Robbie might have been a good programmer but he was a pain and a prankster - and now he's dead, dead in Sage's coffee roasting room! Sage's boyfriend Bax had organized a team building exercise for his gamers which saw them wearing duck costumes for a scavenger hunt, which sounded like fun to Sage and it was at first. Now though, she's got to prove that Bax didn't kill Robbie and find out who did, all while running her business. This is very much a classic cozy and it's got a good Portland vibe. While it's the third in the series, it will also be fine as a standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Looking forward to the next one.

I really loved this book in a new to my series and author. I can't wait to read the next one. The characters and location really add to the plot. This book keeps you guessing until the end

This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series, and that is saying a lot because I end up disliking 75% of the ones I try. Many are just so.....lame? Poorly written?
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced peek at this awesome book.

In Flat White we meet up with Sage and Bax at his office where the staff is dressed in duck costumes because, as a team building activity the Grumpy Sasquatch team is going on a scavenger hunt around town. How cool is that? Unfortunately, someone doesn't get to finish the hunt and Sage has to bust out her mystery-solving skills to figure out who had it out for that particular character.
Here's the thing about this series: the cozy formula is there, but it is not obvious because the writing is THAT GREAT. I love all of these characters and the setting and there are two larger mysteries that continue throughout the series: what is up with Sage's mom and what on earth is Mark up to?
So, Flat White Fatality CAN be read as a standalone, but I don't recommend. I'd start with book one and get the full flavor.
One more thing before I get into my notes:
I am very concerned by how many reviewers only seem to focus on the idea that this is a "millennial mystery." That is exclusory and untrue. I get it, I truly do. I've read some cozies written in the 90s and early 2000s that just do not stand up to the test of time, but to pigeon-hole Emmeline Duncan's writing is not fair. I am Gen X and I love this series. Luckily I read the first one before I started seeing those reviews. I might not have picked it up otherwise, thinking it's not for me.
Notes: Grumpy Sasquatch is not that removed from Concerned Ape, do we have a Stardew Valley fan at the helm (squee)?
Fave quote:
"One of the game testers was a woman in her fifties who regularly rocked graphic tees and clunky Doc Martens, and had major DGAF energy coupled with kindness." location 2131
Hee hee!
"My inner child still giggles when I call it the POS system." location 2279 Haha! Me too!!

3.5 stars

This series has a younger, hipper vibe than most cozies, set in Portland, Oregon and featuring the barista and video game world. Coffee entrepreneur Sage Caplin and her boyfriend Bax are doing a fun team-building event for Bax's prosperous gaming business when they discover the dead body of one of Bax's employees inside Sage's coffee roasting space.

The victim was not beloved by everybody -- she was a prankster and edgy in her interactions with others, prone to zero in on their foibles. Sage and Bax try to re-trace the rest of the team's steps that day to find the guilty party.

Meanwhile, a rival coffee purveyor and old boss of Sage's is making life difficult. Sage juggles everything pretty gracefully on her search to find the killer. These are likeable characters in an interesting setting. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This series absolutely delights me! This is another really fun installment, with murder hitting close to home with the Angry Sasquatches. We're also getting to see Sage growing the coffee business, branching out to different collaborations. The mystery in this one wasn't the most unexpected, but I still had an absolute blast during the entire story.

FLAT WHITE FATALITY is the third book in the Ground Rules Mysteries by Emmeline Duncan. While I haven’t read the second book in the series (and I’ll soon be remedying that), I found it easy enough to immerse myself in the characters and follow the story. The author provides just enough backstory without bogging down the plot. Sage Caplin, owner of the Ground Rules roastery and coffee cart, is a smart and hardworking business woman. The addition of her marketing pitches, along with bits and pieces about coffee throughout the book, lends a credibility to her expertise in the field of coffee roasting and coffee creations. Yet, she has a playful side, and I greatly enjoyed her involvement in Bax’s (her boyfriend) video gaming company—named Grumpy Sasquatch Studio. Ms. Duncan interjects some lighthearted humor when Bax’s company sets up a team building scavenger hunt with the employees dressed in duck onesies as they traverse the downtown streets of Portland. The event also provides a means for immersing the reader in the setting and bringing the city to life, along with showcasing the author’s humor with her clever and punny-named businesses.

However, the event turns tragic when one of the employees is found murdered inside Sage’s locked Ground Rules roastery. The victim, who was known for pranking the other employees in the company, turns out to have had a secretive life and past. Sage, with the help of Bax and his storyboard to keep track of the facts of the crime and suspects, is meticulous in trying to find the truth. There were several twists I didn’t see coming, and the reveal brought all the threads of the story together. And, with the final chapter, I’ll just hint that new changes may be in store for Sage, that will be sure to bring happiness to readers!

Sage prepares all sorts of drinks and treats throughout the book, so be prepared to by hungry while reading! Fortunately, Ms. Duncan has included several recipes at the back of the book for the readers to try… and they all sound fantastic.

I was provided with an advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love every book in this series! I love following Sage and familiar characters, but also seamlessly meeting new friends. I always look forward to reading Emmeline Duncan’s A Ground Rules Mystery story. As the series continues, I feel like I’m a part of this group and I’m easily transported to Portland. I’m happy we got to know more about Bax’s company and got to meet a few new people along the way. The mystery itself is not complicated, but enough to keep you intrigued. I love that there’s different story lines happening to Sage besides the mystery. The layering is really well done. I look forward (as always) to more coffee adventures with Sage and her friends. Can’t wait to continue reading more of this series! All the covers are so great too! Thank you so much Emmeline Duncan, NetGalley and Kensington for this fun arc!

The third Ground Rules mystery finds Sage participating in a team building event with her boyfriend and his video game development company. However, one of the team members ends up dead. Sage investigates to find out what is going on before she or Max wind up as the next victim.

Another great entry in this series. I enjoyed all the build up and the solving of clues. It was well paced!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Flat White Fatality by Emmeline Duncan is book #3 in the Ground Rules Mystery series. This was an intriguing, yet fun, cozy mystery. All the characters are well-developed and quite likable. Well - not so much the murder victim. She was definitely not a nice person in my opinion. The two main characters, Sage Caplin and Bax Baxter work well together trying to solve the murder, especially since this murder hits close to home. I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next book in the series.

The Portland-set cozy series continues with a third outing set around Halloween and centering on the murder of an employee of main character Sage's boyfriend. The mystery itself keeps the reader engaged, but the real joy from the series comes from the Portland details.

I am glad to revisit Portland and Ground Rules! I love how Emmeline Duncan’s vibrant immersing descriptions of Portland make the city of Roses it’s own character. To be miles away and still feel like you’re right there, that’s the magic in great cozy writing. I also like how the plot dips a toe into the gaming industry (perhaps showing the influence of all those Silicon Valley Tech giants taking in all the wonders Oregon has to offer). An employee from Bax’s gaming company is found dead- in Sage’s coffee roastery! Duncan fans will appreciate the drama of book 3 because we’ve seen Sage work so hard to get where she is for her own Roastery dreams. And of course we don’t want anything bad happening to Bax (her boyfriend), and I’ve been #TeamBax since book 1. The only thing that might have pulled me out of the story a few times were the corporate office type scenes, but yes, Programmers are big pranksters, so I see where and how it all ties in. Excellently done! Overall, I love that this series addresses real issues (gentrification, family scandals, child advocacy, and sticking up for yourself). Of course, I can’t get enough of the coffee and baking descriptions too. Yum!

I loved this third entry in the Ground Rules mystery series! While I think #2 is still my favorite, I enjoyed getting to know Bax and his company employees more since Sage is often interacting with them. The mystery this time concerns one of the employees at his company who gets murdered at Sage's roastery next door. While I missed having some more of Sage's family in this one, there were still lots of characters, mostly new, that we got to know. The mystery itself was just okay, but I loved the progress we see in Sage's relationship and her growing coffee business. I look forward to new books in this series and can't wait for the next one!