Showing results by author "Sandra Balzo" in All Categories

A body in a pool of skim milk. An unsavory discovery at any time, but especially inconvenient when the milk puddle is in front of the espresso machine the very morning you're scheduled to open your chic suburban coffee house, Uncommon Grounds. AND the body is one of your partners, leaving you and your other partner - the one who's still alive - as suspects. Which would all be bad enough, even if your husband HADN'T just dumped you for his dental assistant....

Maggy Thorsen, co-owner of the Wisconsin gourmet coffeehouse Uncommon Grounds, is in South Florida at an annual crime-writers' conference. She's attending with her beau, local sheriff Jake Pavlik, who is due to speak as a forensics expert. But Maggy's pledge to behave solely as a tourist becomes much trickier than she anticipated.

Fall arrives early in the High Country of North Carolina, but journalist AnnaLise Griggs is more concerned about one particular trio of visitors: Benjamin Rosewood, his wife Tanja, and their daughter, Suzanne, especially as AnnaLise and Ben have history. When two sudden and unexpected deaths occur, AnnaLise must protect herself and the place she loves as she is forced to confront how far a person might go to get--and keep--what they believe should be their own.

Though a magnet to tourists looking for some Southern comfort, the small lake town of Sutherton - tucked so picturesquely into the mountains of North Carolina - has had its fair share inexplicable hazards. But when Daisy Griggs siphoned three pints of blood from poor Mrs. Bradenham at the resort's annual blood drive... well, that seemed to take the cake.

There's a chill in the Wisconsin air, and it's a shot in the arm - a triple espresso shot - to Uncommon Grounds, the Brookhills coffeehouse owned by Maggy Thorsen and real estate maven Sarah Kingston. Their new autumn drink is a huge success. But two estate agents have died lately, and Sarah herself is under investigation for irregularities at her job. Then a stench begins to percolate through the coffeehouse, and soon it's clear that corpses - like other bad things - do indeed come in threes…

Maggy's heart, uncharacteristically, is swelling with optimism. Sure, her original Wisconsin coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, was destroyed in a freak early May blizzard. But, thanks to friend and new business partner, Sarah Kingston, a perfect location for its successor has been found in a quaint Brookhills railroad station recently revitalized by the creation of a commuter-rail connection between the old depot and the city of Milwaukee, fifteen miles east.

Here's a tip: if your ex-husband's mistress-cum-missus asks for your help in proving that he cheated on her while he was married to you, just say no. And, whatever you do, don't invite her in for a cup of coffee... "Wine?" coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen offers, moving aside reluctantly to let the home-breaking Rachel into her living room and her life. When the new Mrs. Thorsen disappears that same evening, Maggy finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation involving Rachel's hotelier family - Milwaukee's answer to the Hiltons.

When Maggy Thorsen's coffee house, Uncommon Grounds, is virtually obliterated by a snowstorm, she and her friend Sarah resolve to reopen - and Maggy's found the perfect spot near the train station, just in time for the opening of the new commuter route. But when Sarah's uncle dies suddenly, in the first of a series of 'accidents,' it is clear that someone doesn't want Uncommon Grounds to reopen. Maggy, however, has no intention of yielding...

Maggy Thorsen is back! When the coffeehouse owner is dragooned into emceeing the barista competition (think Iron Chef, but with coffee) at the industry's scaldingly competitive trade show, she fears nothing good will come of it. Sure enough, the morning of the finals, Maggy discovers the body of her chief rival and conference organizer, Marvin LaRoche, under the trophy table.

It's May 1st and in Wisconsin that means the daffodils and hyacinths are poking up their heads. Unfortunately, it also means they may freeze their little buds off. The Perfect Spring Storm arrives without warning or so it seems to Maggy Thorsen, co-owner of the Brookhills coffeehouse Uncommon Grounds. Trapped by the storm which cuts off electricity and downs phone lines, Maggy ventures into the service corridor that connects Uncommon Grounds to the rest of the mall, looking for sustenance beyond espresso and pastries.