Honey Roasted by Cleo Coyle

Available January 25, 2022

A honeymoon is nothing without your honey!

Clare Cosi has branched out into honey-processed coffees and accompanied them with a wide variety of honey-based dessert treats for her coffeehouse customers. Everyone's thrilled except her fiancé, Detective Mike Quinn, who has been suspiciously incommunicado as Clare tries to plan their upcoming honeymoon. But everything else goes to the back of their minds as Bea Hastings, Clare's honey provider and long-time best friend of Clare's ex-mother-in-law, Madame, is found on her balcony, having fallen from the roof of her building. Was it a suicide attempt, as the police believe? Or was there foul play involved?

I love this series. The author always manages to keep things fresh, even after 19 books. The one thing I continue to be super disappointed in is Clare's poor taste in men. For some reason, she's about to marry Mike Quinn, a guy who's never around unless he wants a good meal, sex, or a comfortable place to sleep. He brings literally nothing to their relationship. Clare can't count on him for anything. As far as being a life partner goes the man is completely worthless, a 0 on his best day. I know Clare's ex-husband, Matt Allegro, was a terrible husband, he was a philanderer, he was an addict, and he was always chasing the next adrenaline high while they were married, leaving her and Joy to fend for themselves (seems our Clare has a type). But times have changed. Any time Clare needs help or support or needs someone to lend a hand at the coffeehouse or in an investigation, she always calls Matt and Matt is always there for her. Clare doesn't ever even consider calling Mike. Why? Because there'd be no point. Mike would never make himself available for Clare, whereas Matt is always available and he does it for no reward, he just wants to support her. That's love. So I will continue to hope that Clare throws Quinn out. She doesn't have to end up with Matt, but she should end up with someone who gives a crap about her.

The investigations that the characters do in this series are always really interesting. This book involved honeybees, urban cowboys, and urban farming. The clues that are uncovered are layered upon layer until they finally add up to the resolution of the case. This keeps the investigation interesting from beginning to end because you always know there are more clues coming.

I love this series and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys cozies.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.