Book 62, 2019

[chez_jae]

Spells and Spiced Latte: A Coffee Witch Cozy Mystery by Jinty James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Sunday night, I finished reading Spells and Spiced Latte by Jinty James. It's the first book in the author's "Maddie Goodwell" series, featuring barista and possible witch, Maddie.

Maddie and her BFF, Suzanne, run a coffee truck in their small hometown. It also enables Maddie to cast the one spell she can do, which is to get visions from her customers' coffee. When she inadvertently sees the future of one of her regular customers, the vision shows the woman lying dead on her kitchen floor. Maddie is shocked by what she's seen, but she has no idea how to warn Joan without coming across as crazy. After learning that Joan was murdered, Maddie feels guilty and is determined to solve the crime. She is aided by Suzanne and Trixie, her Persion cat, who just may be her familiar. Maddie and Suzanne start asking questions of Joan's friends and family, despite being cautioned off by the grizzled cop who's working the case. When Maddie gets a threatening note, she realizes she may have gone too far...but it's also clear that she's close to solving the murder.

The story was lite and uncomplicated. Characters weren't multi-dimensional, but that was okay for a short read. SPaG was good, although the author repeatedly referred to a male massage therapist as a "masseuse". Ugh! It's "masseur" for a guy! Thank you, college French classes.

Favorite line: "Maybe you should be the witch instead of me."

Story was fun, but there was little depth to it. Average score.