ONCE UPON A GRIND by Cleo Coyle (plus lots of giveaways and recipes and… well… just fun!)

A NOTE FROM CLEO

Thanks to Kate for hosting us today and happy holiday greetings to everyone! Once Upon a Grind is not only a murder mystery, it’s also a culinary mystery. Coffeehouse Manager Clare Cosi samples some fascinating New York foods as she tries to solve the crime against “Sleeping Beauty,” and she cooks up some tasty goodies, as well.

Marc and I enjoyed researching unique foods for our latest book, and we’ve included recipes for some of them in Once Upon a Grind. For a quick look at the recipe section, click here. The link opens a free PDF Recipe Guide that you can save, share, or print and tuck into your copy of Once Upon Grind.

Cookie Swap! Today we’re also sharing one of our favorite holiday cookie recipes: Gingerbread Snowballs. (Right now, it’s one of the most popular hits on our recipe blog.) To get the recipe, click here.

We hope you’ll join us for more stops on our Escape Blog Tour. We’ll give you more insights to reading Once Upon a Grind, and we’ll share a few more holiday goodies, too.

To read a special excerpt from ONCE UPON A GRIND, click here.

SECRET CODE: The 3rd of the 9 words in Cleo’s Secret Code Contest is DON’T (Learn how to enter Cleo’s Secret Code giveaway here.)

May your holidays be bright!

~ Alice and Marc (Cleo Coyle)

ABOUT THIS AUTHOR

CLEO COYLE is the pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini.  CLEO COYLE grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After earning scholarships to study writing at Carnegie Mellon and American Universities, she began her career as a cub reporter for The New York Times. Now an author of popular fiction and New York Times bestselling media tie-in writer, Cleo lives and works in New York City, where she collaborates with her husband (also a bestselling author) to pen the Coffeehouse Mysteries for Penguin. Together Cleo and her husband also write the Haunted Bookshop Mysteries under the name Alice Kimberly. When not haunting coffeehouses, hunting ghosts, or rescuing stray cats, Cleo and Marc are bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for NBC, Lucasfilm, Disney, Fox, Imagine, and MGM. In their spare time they cook like crazy and drink a lot of java. You can learn more about Cleo, her husband, and the books they write by visiting www.CoffeehouseMystery.com.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Fairy tale fever has descended on New York City. Broadway fans are flocking to Red Riding Hood: The Musical; museums are exhibiting art inspired by the Brothers Grimm; and Clare Cosi and her merry band of baristas give their coffee truck a “Jack and the Beanstalk” makeover for a Central Park festival. Clare’s coffee hunter ex-husband contributes a bag of African beans with alleged magical properties. His octogenarian mother entertains customers with readings of the grinds, but Clare remains skeptical–until she receives a vision that helps her find a young model’s body in the park’s woods.

The police dismiss “sleeping beauty” as the victim of a drug overdose. Then Clare uncovers evidence that points to a list of suspects–from a New York Giant to quite a few wicked witches–and a cold case murder that reaches back to the Cold War. Now Clare is really in the woods with a dangerous predator on her heels and an investigation that leads from a secret Prince Charming Club right back to her own NYPD detective boyfriend. If she doesn’t solve this mystery, those magic beans predict an unhappy ending.

MY REVIEW

Matt brings back “magic beans” from Ethiopia. Coffee beans with special properties. Properties that affect special people like Shamans. And Claire. Will her visions help solve the mystery? This is the kind of book you start in the evening and in the morning you’re found on the couch, snoring with book fallen to the floor.  I suspect Alice and Marc are incapable of writing anything less than a ♥♥♥♥♥ book. And I have read ALL their books (in other series as well). So now you know the book is good, let’s talk about the risks. This lifelong tea drinker now owns a French Press. And I am seriously addicted to Alice’s peanut butter cookies. But what the heck, live dangerously and read this series from book one if you haven’t, and if you are an addict like me, your fix is here!!!

Author Links

Visit Cleo online: www.coffeehousemystery.com

Friend Cleo on Facebook:www.Facebook.com/CleoCoyle

Follow Cleo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleocoyle/

 

IN ADDITION TO THE SECRET CODE GIVEAWAY, YOU COULD WIN A COPY OF THE BOOK JUST BY LEAVING A COMMENT HERE. THEN IF YOU GO HERE, SCROLL DOWN TO THE RAFFLECOPTER, YOU COULD WIN THIS FANTASTIC PRIZE PACKAGE:

 

PRIZE DESCRIPTION:

Cleo Coyle’s Coffeehouse Escape Tour Giveaway – Prize Package Includes…

* An autographed copy of Cleo’s brand new book, ONCE UPON A GRIND, in its beautiful first-edition hardcover format

* A complete set of all 13 Coffeehouse Mysteries published to date, each one personally inscribed by Cleo to the winner

* A durable, custom-designed Coffeehouse Mystery Tote Bag

* A freshly-roasted package of Billionaire’s Blend, a hand-crafted coffee created by One Good Woman Fine Coffees and Teas as a tribute to Cleo’s recent bestseller BILLIONAIRE BLEND.

* A Coffeehouse Mystery cup, featuring a favorite saying of Madame’s, the octogenarian owner of The Village Blend: “Survive everything. And do it with style.”

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

December 3 – Griperang’s Bookmarks – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway

December 4 – Editing Pen (Latte’ Da!) – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway

December 5 – rantin’ ravin’ and reading – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway

December 8 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway

December 10 – Shelley’s Book Case – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway

December 12 – Books-n-Kisses – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway

December 15 – Musings and Ramblings – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway

December 16 – Community Bookstop – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway

December 18 – Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – Review with Guest Note & Giveaway