Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781250108630;
Minotaur Books
320 Pages
$16.21; $13.99 Amazon
October 3, 2017
✮✮✮
Sloan Krause has spent her life in Leavenworth, Washington, honing her brewing skills as the region's first female brewmaster - everyone in town agrees that she's got a nose for hops and a real talent for concocting delicious microbrews. Ever since marrying into the Krause family and joining the cheery brewhaus they've owned for generations, she's had big plans to expand the family business by creating new, handcrafted German ales. But when Sloan walks in on her husband, Mac, shagging the barmaid, she knows it's time to give him the boot.
With this recent, particularly unpleasant, turn of events, she decides to strike out on her own and take her brewing talents elsewhere. Luckily, Nitro, the hip new nanobrewery in the Bavarian-themed town, sees her potential and hires her on the spot to help craft Northwest-inspired ales and to whip up a tasty new bar menu. Nitro's owner, Garrett Strong, has the brew world abuzz with his newest recipe, Pucker-Up IPA. His watering hole is the new cool place in town, and Mac can't help being green with envy at their success.
But just as Sloan is settling into her new gig she finds one of Nitro's competitors dead in a fermenting tank, clutching the secret recipe for the IPA. When Mac is arrested, Sloan knows her her ex might be a cheater, but a murderer? No way. Danger is brewing in Beervaria and suddenly Sloan is on the case.
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Sloan Krause is a brewmaster at her husband's family's brewery, Der Keller. On a day off, she decides to work anyway, and walks in on her husband while he's having sex with the new waitress. She leaves and immediately throws him out of their home, then finds a new job at a rival brewery that has just started up. Garrett Strong is a quiet man who keeps his cards close to his chest, but after tasting his new brew, Sloan realizes he knows what he's doing.
She's fairly happy in her new position, helping him with the menu and anything else that needs to be done. But when they finally open for business, a rival brewmaster, Eddie, who is surly by nature seems even more so this evening, and it doesn't help that when Sloan arrives the next day she finds Eddie's body in one of the vats.
Seeing as how her husband's prints were on the vat, and his lighter was found near the body, he's arrested for the murder. But Sloan knows that even though he cheated on her, he's no murderer, and she's decided to try and find out who might have wanted the rival brewmaster dead. If she doesn't, Mac will be railroaded for the crime, and leave her son without a father, which she isn't willing to do...
First off, even though the blurb states it, Eddie was not found with the recipe in his hand. In fact, that tidbit - where it was found and by whom it was taken - wasn't even mentioned until much later in the book. Just getting it straight.
Anyway, this book was fine for a first effort, but I found a few things that bothered me. All Sloan does is drink beer, but no mention is made that she even has any kind of a "beer belly." Not even a little "pooch." People who drink beer constantly - and she doesn't go to a gym to work out - would have some physical traits if they didn't do something about it. She drinks a lot of beer. In fact, that's all anyone drinks in this town. She gets stressed, someone hands her a pint of beer. There's a lot of stress in her life. Point made. She mentions once that her husband Mac is starting to get a belly, but never even mentions anything about herself - even though we never see Mac take a drink.
Secondly, she makes food for Nitro but I have issues with that. She pulls chicken out of her fridge and cooks kebabs - for how many people? A hundred? Two? How many chicken breasts did she have in there? 40 or 50? Because ten or so kebabs is not going to feed all the people that showed up for opening night. And it would take a long time to cook for that many people than what she supposedly did. (Who keeps that much food at home, anyway, on the off chance they might have to cook for that many people?)
Plus, she only makes things with beer. Who eats cupcakes, shortbread, and brownies made with beer? And since when are they served at a brewery? Personally, I don't drink, but I eat at a brewery or two in town, and they've never had common desserts like that at a bar. Who would buy a cupcake or cookies at a bar? This didn't ring true. Maybe a fancy chocolate cake (three layers, heavy frosting) or a streudel (which would be more in line with a brewery) but not shortbread. Never shortbread - unless the breweries of Washington have no imagination and the diners are willing to pay $5 for a brownie. I don't see it. (Or maybe I just eat at upscale breweries that don't serve food you can buy at any convenience store in town).
I also see that we're probably at the beginning of (ho hum) another love triangle. Her husband cheated on her; and since she forgave him, he'll probably do it again. The best she can do is cut her losses and tell him goodbye. Honestly, I abhor love triangles, and if it goes that way in the second book, I am done with the series - especially since he cheated on her. Honestly, I am so tired of books that have love triangles. In real life, women don't usually have two boyfriends hanging around; and if the situation were reversed and this were a man with two women, you'd think him no better than a gigolo. Garrett is obviously the better man - look at what he did when she was at the hospital.
The book was a light on the mystery and heavy on brewing information. The brewing information wasn't boring, I'm not saying that at all; but I didn't think the mystery was all that interesting. Yes, we had a dead body, and yes, we were finding out who wanted to commit the crime, but I didn't see that any of the suspects had a real reason to kill him. Just breaking up with someone isn't enough to want them dead, in my book. Any there was no real investigation going on by anyone.
Most of the book was on Sloan trying to help get Garrett's business off the ground, and worrying about Mac's family and how they were dealing with things. It was okay, but not engrossing in any way. They aren't that interesting of a family. The parents are lovable, I get it; but they handled the brewery long before Sloan arrived and she should allow them the benefit of the doubt. The book wasn't supposed to be about Mac's family, but that's what I felt it was about.
Anyway, it was fine for a first in the series book, but not anywhere near the I-can't-wait-to-read-the-next-in-the-series feeling I like to get from a book. However, I will read the second and see if it improves at all...or if we have, as I said, a love triangle - which will end the series for me.
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Tap-Mystery-Sloan-Krause/dp/1250108632/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2435515649
More on Ellie Alexander's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/ellie-alexander/
No comments:
Post a Comment