A Bean to Die For is book 4 in the Coffee Lover's Mystery series. I read book 1 Ground for Murder and book 3 Live and Let Grind but I missed the novella Give Me Chills and book 2 Cold Brew Corpse. So if you haven't started this series you can start right now with book 4 without any issues.

I listened to the audiobook edition and I thought the characters sounded a lot younger than they do when I read the other books myself. Kae Marie Denino does a great job with the different character voices. It was just a little jarring "hearing" Lana sound like maybe a 20-something (sometimes she sounds like a teenager) instead of the 30-something I thought she was.

I like all the characters in this small-town cozy mystery. The only truly quirky character is Lana's dad. If you prefer cozy mysteries where the police aren't totally incompetent, then you will like this series. Noah is the sheriff and he isn't an idiot. He also welcomes, more or less, Lana's assistance. As he is also dating her, he isn't crazy about her putting herself in danger. In this book, he tells her she can help with internet sleuthing after there is a second death.

If you want a warm setting for your winter reading, then this one is great. It is set on an island in Florida. It's March, but the characters are gardening and drinking iced coffees.

I wasn't super invested in the murder mystery. Mostly I just enjoyed hanging out with the characters.

My review is published at Girl Who Reads - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2024/01/2-fun-mysteries-with-great-characters.html

This was a fun listen as I did house work and Perkatory sounds like a place I would live in, a super regular customer! I could see Lana and Noah running around town being the cute officer and small town girl couple. I think my favorite part was the family dynamic between Lana and her dad and the brief nod to dealing with a parent dating again after the death of the other. That was slind in very nicely among all of the other chaos going on in the town.

This is my first read from this author and of this series. I will check the back catalog and see if the others land as this one did.

A Bean to Die For is the 4th book in A Coffee Lover's Mystery series and is a good addition to the series. Barista Lana Lewis is planting some coffee plants at her plot at the community garden where her dad has a plot. The garden manager Darla has a lot of rules and isn't very popular. Lana finds the body of Jack Daggett and he is dead. Jack had been banned from the garden. Lana's boyfriend is Police Chief Noah and she promises to stay out of the investigation. Like that is going to happen! Noah's family is coming to visit and Lana is nervous. The story moves at a good pace although it is a little over descriptive. The characters are mostly likeable and the cozy mystery kept me guessing. I received an advance copy of the audio book from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media. The audiobook was good but the speech was a bit slow for me and I sped it up to 1.25 which I rarely do. Overall it was enjoyable. #ABeanToDieFor #ACoffeeLoversMystery #Dreamscape

I had not read any of this series before, but had no trouble following along with this book. Lana is expanding her business and wants to grow coffee in the community garden. Unfortunately there is a dead body already there and she feels that she needs to find out why to get things back to normal. She works with her boyfriend, who is the police chief to figure out who is responsible especially when things get a little close to home. Thinking about going back and reading/listening to other books in the series.

This book was so cozy and short, it was a great little read. I enjoyed the setting a lot, and it was described really well, it made me want to visit! I also enjoyed the characters and their interactions. A well done little mystery, and a good read.

An adorable cozy mystery. I loved t that you can pick up a book and totally fall into their world. This one is the best type of cozy mystery.

Rating: 3.5

We rejoin the Perkatory crew a little while after the last murder where best friend, top barista Erica was a suspect. This time there was not a direct impact to the crew and Lana was not eager to investigate. Or so it seemed. The crew and the main suspect “pushed” Lana into investigating even after she’d refused an interview/article for the paper. There was a short time where it seemed that dad and Erica would be running the investigation without Lana.

As the details about the victim and their death unfolded learned a number of fun facts such as the Tik Tok dancing. There’s an 80 y.o cougar (LOL) and meet-the-parents time.

If you’ve read any of the other books in this series, you’ve seen the passing reference to the missing high school friend. That comes up multiple times in this book also along with lots of references to 7th grade. It truly must have been pivotal given Lana is in her thirties. I can’t remember 7th grade all that well (LOL). I hope with all of the missing friend reference that the next book tackles it.

There’s a lot more of Noah and Lana’s relationship in this story. It matures in a number of ways and you start to see a real partnership between them.

Throughout the mystery was not sure about the motive. Sure the victim antagonized people but nothing that seemed to warrant them being killed. Lots to work with here, no real red herrings replaced with lots of head scratching.

I could have done without the prolonged discussion and details on the bug invasion. It didn’t seem to add anything to story but a not-so-funny-to-me anecdote. It did highlight the authors ability to paint a picture in words.

A good read overall.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the opportunity to do an early read and share my thoughts on the story.

Happy Reading!

This is not my usual genre. I tend to read historical fiction and serious suspense and mystery. Needing a change, and something light, I requested an opportunity to listen to this book through NetGalley.

This was such a fun listen! Although it is technically a mystery, with the goal of solving two murders, the story was light and funny. The book did not focus on the deaths, but the colorful and quirky characters living on an island off South Florida.

The main character, Lana, a coffee shop owner, is dating the chief of police. As a previous crime reporter, she somehow consistently gets involved with solving crime, although she has no authority to do so. She manages to secure information that the police do not have access to. The chief calls her Cupcake! Under other circumstances, I would roll my eyes at this, but it works here. There is so much mutual respect in their relationship, it is actually endearing.

Lana’s dad is a hoot. He is a true free spirit, and their relationship is adorable. Every character, including the dog, is fully developed with a unique personality. This book is the fourth in a series. I was not aware of this when I started reading it, but it was great as a standalone. Tara Lush has a distinct style of writing, and I look forward to reading other books she has authored.

This story is enhanced by the narration of Kay Marie Denino. Her verbal expression enhances the enjoyment of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to review this audiobook!

Definitely a fun re-read for me. I do enjoy the audiobooks of this series. The narrator brings the characters to life and set the scene for these mysteries.

I have enjoyed all three of the previous books in this cozy mystery series and book four did not disappoint.

In A Bean To Die For, we are back on Devil’s Beach, an island on Florida’s Gulf Coast (think: Sanibel). All our regular characters are back: Lana Lewis, the former reporter turned coffee shop owner; her dad, the hippie-like Peter; her friend and barista with Goth style, Erica; her boyfriend, Noah, the chief of police; and of course, Lana’s little dog Stanley.

Lana has started nurturing a coffee plant in the hope of being able to sell locally-grown coffee beans at her coffee shop, Perkatory. When a plot opens up in the community garden, she gets the chance to try her hand at gardening. On her first visit there, she discovers a dead body!

This time she doesn’t jump into investigating, but she is actually asked to do so by the manager of the community garden, Darla, who had taken out a restraining order on the dead man, an 80-year-old local, who was an outspoken environmental activist, and has made a lot of local people mad, not just Darla. Darla is under suspicion and begs Lana to help her, given Lana’s success in other local cases. Lana reluctantly agrees, and starts looking into things with the help of her dad and Erica. Since she’s a former reporter (having been laid off from a Miami newspaper), she makes a pretty convincing amateur sleuth. She tries to work with the police, particularly because she doesn’t want to make her boyfriend angry!

The coffee shop isn’t in this story as much as other books in the series and so there is less coffee talk, although there’s still some. Lana’s dad is growing mint in his garden plot and is working on a mint-coffee concoction.

There’s a funny subplot that involves a sort of “Meet The Parents” dinner. Lana, very anxious about this dinner, keeps getting derailed from her intentions of shopping for ingredients to please Noah’s mother and sister (a vegan). She eventually attempts to get the dinner catered at the last minute, but that won’t work either (not enough notice!).

A Bean To Die For works as a standalone, but of course, as with any series, if you read them in order, you get more backstory and appreciate the continuing characters more.

I listened to the audiobook version and Kae Marie Denino did a great job with the narration.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Book Title: The Bean to Die For
Series: A Coffee Lover’s Mystery Book #4
Author: Tara Lush
Narrator: Kate Marie Denino
Publisher: Dreamscape Media- Crooked Lane Book
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pub Date: January 9, 2024
My Rating: 4.5 rounded up
Pages: 288

Lana Lewis a former Miami crime reporter now runs the ‘Perkatory’, a popular café on Devil’s Beach Island, Florida.
She co-owns the café with her dad. They decide to try growing coffee plants at the local allotment. ~ However since this is a mystery sure enough they find a body. It is Jack Daggett who was elderly so everyone assumed he died of natural causes. ~ Nope he was murdered.

Lana's boyfriend, Noah, is the local Chief of Police. He knows Lana all too well and tries to stop her from doing her own investigation.
Needless to say, that is not going to happen. She and her dad snoop around and they find many suspects. It appears Jack had a lot of enemies.

I love a good cozy mystery. This audiobook checked ALL the boxes for my enjoyment. – Kate Marie Denino the narrator did a fantastic job performing ALL the characters. Her performance certainly added to making the story even more enjoyable! The characters are fun and I want to know more about Lana and Noah as well as Dad and Barbara. Yes! I am looking forward to ‘A Coffee Lover’s Mystery #4!

Want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media and Crooked Lane Books for this fun early audiobook.
Publishing Release Date was January 9, 2024 (Sorry I missed posting this before Pub Date-I had it listed as Jan 19.)

A BEAN TO DIE FOR is the fourth book in the Coffee Lover’s Mysteries by Tara Lush. With a combination of all things coffee, a community garden, zany and adorable characters, and a murder or two, this newest release kept me engrossed and had me reading it in one sitting! Protagonist Lana Lewis is the co-owner of Perkatory along with her hippy dad (who steals each scene he inhabits!). I like Lana’s attitude—she’s smart, funny, and doesn’t put up with fools. A former investigative reporter, she has the background to dig around and find clues to solve murders, which she shares with her boyfriend, the chief of police. The story was well-plotted and moved at a quick pace, but it’s the characters that keep me coming back for each new book.

I had the opportunity to listen to the audio version, thanks to Dreamscape Media. Narrator Kae Marie Denino did an amazing job differentiating the voices, be they female or male. I was impressed with her ability to convey the emotions of scenes, when called for, and felt like she accurately portrayed the author’s words.

Lana Lewis is back brewing coffee and solving crime in the fourth installment of the series, A Coffee Lover's Mystery. Along with her dog, Stanley, dad, Peter, and barista best friend, Ericka, she gets herself stuck in the middle of the investigation with her snooping around and hilarious antics, much to the chagrin of her Police Chief boyfriend, Noah.

A Bean to Die For made me laugh, cry, giggle, swoon and gasp along with Lana and the rest of the cast. I love the reoccurring characters, as they add much fun to the series and it's wonderful to revisit them and catch up on their lives. The writing is smooth and warm, just like a perfect cup of your favorite coffee. I'm not sure what I'll do until I can read the next installment.

I alternated between listening to and reading this one, as I couldn't put it down, but needed to get some life things done. At times I found the narrator a bit young for Lana's age and I enjoyed reading it more than listening. But, overall, I love this series and will read them all again before the next one.

Plot: Reporter turned barista Lana Lewis is back. She’s decided to try her hand at growing her own coffee and secures a plot in the community garden. Unfortunately a dead body is found amongst the plots and Lana can’t help but poke around.

What I liked:
☕️The small Florida beach town setting.
☕️Lucy’s Dad Peter. He’s such a great character. Love his hippie new age vibes.
☕️All the coffee and gardening scenes.

Final thoughts: This book was such a fun, entertaining, light, quirky read. I love that the main character Lucy is a former crime reporter, it adds to how she investigates and snoops around. Her dad is one of my favorite characters, along with her boyfriend Noah, the police chief, and her dog Stanley. Overall this was a fun read, interesting murder investigation with a lot of suspects to keep you guessing and a little romantic subplot being taken to the next level.

Audiobook: I listened to this on audio and loved it! The narrator perfectly matched the humor and pacing

A Bean to Die For was a fun and entertaining cozy mystery. This was my first book by Tara Lush and I definitely want to read the others in this series. This book is great for coffee lovers. I loved all the details about coffee in the beginning of the story. The characters in this book were all very unique and interesting, even if they were a little over the top at times. The banter was hilarious. The plot was entertaining and engaging. It was refreshing to not be able to guess who the murder was. I'm usually quick to pick up on details and predict the ending but this one left me stumped. I only had two issues with this book. The police procedures were completely unrealistic and the murder scenes lacked emotion. But overall this was a really enjoyable cozy mystery.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

A Bean to Die For is the fourth book in the A Coffee Lover’s Mystery series. Lana Lewis is branching out from only running her coffee shop, Perkatory, and starting a garden patch in the community garden. When gardening goes awry and Lana discovers another dead body, she can’t stop sleuthing until she’s uncovered the killer.

This is the first book in this series that I have read, so I had a little bit of catch up to do in getting to know the characters, but over all I enjoyed this mystery. I have read a lot of cozy mysteries and this uncle fell in the middle of the pack with a decent mystery and a fun setting. The characters took a little getting used to and I found them to be quirky and over the top sometimes, but by the end of the book I had started to adjust to them and like them. Overall this was a good cozy mystery and I plan on starting the series from the beginning.

This is the fourth book in the series and while it could be read as a stand-alone, it’s a fun one! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator has stayed the same for all 4 books, which is great! The storyline was cute and the mystery/sleuthing entertaining as always. This is a series I always recommend to fellow cozy lovers as it’s a quick, easy read with quirky characters!

I enjoy this series but this was not my favorite. The same elements that are in the first few, the setting, the characters, the focus on the mystery, are all there, but this one seemed a little off: it’s very formulaic and seems a little cheesy because of it. The character quirkiness has been upped to an extraordinary level, making them seem like caricatures of people you expect to find in a beach town, the dialogue between Lana and her various friends seems stilted and awkward, and the situations she finds herself in are almost slapstick in their ridiculousness. Add in that she spends more time investigating and can’t even handle the most basic of tasks and I was not a fan. Hoping the next one is back to the series I enjoy so much.

On the one hand, there weren't really any surprises and the story was pretty generic, even down the the female protagonist dating the cop and bumbling around solving the mystery by accident while putting herself in danger. On the other hand, the cover was cute, the narrator was good, and there are a lot of books almost exactly like this. I won't read this one again, but I might read another in the series if I come across it in the wild.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

Easy reading, set in a nice beach town off of Florida. The protagonist is a pretty teary one (it feels like she’s about to cry soo much) but I suppose that’s probably more realistic than glib amateur detectives who seem unphased after finding a dead body days earlier.

📚 Series or Standalone: series (but can be read as a standalone)
📚 Genre: cozy mystery
📚 Target Age Group: adult
📚 Cliffhanger: no

✨ Will I Reread: no
✨ Recommended For: fans of coastal cozies with a little romance

💕 Characters: 3/5
💕 Writing: 3/5
💕 Plot: 3/5
💕 Pacing: 3/5
💕 Unputdownability: 3/5
💕 Enjoyment: 3/5
💕 Book Cover: 3/5

Thanks, NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.