Maggy Thorsen Mystery

In her delightful debut, Balzo puts a 21st-century spin on the traditional cozy, replacing tea with coffee as the comfort beverage of choice. Maggy Thorsen, a divorcée whose husband left her for his 24-year-old dental hygienist, and two women friends are eager to open a coffee shop, Uncommon Grounds, in the small Wisconsin town of Brookhills, whose inhabitants include such recognizable types as the local gossip and tennis moms. In a world where Starbuck's and other chains are ubiquitous, Maggy and her friends have their work cut out for them. The challenge becomes even greater when Maggy discovers the body of one of her partners, Patricia Harper, on the floor of their coffee shop. Determined to find out who killed Patricia and why, Maggy delves into the mystery with a sense of humor that would make Miss Marple smile. In her search for the truth, she works with, and sometimes against, the new and unpredictable county sheriff, Jake Pavlik-and uncovers at considerable personal risk the secrets of some of the town's most prominent citizens. Readers will want to curl up with this winner with a cappuccino or maybe even a Viennese cinnamon latte.

Exactly how hot is the competition at the annual coffee trade industry conference in Milwaukee? Scaldingly hot.What's not hot? Finding Marvin LaRoche, owner of the HotWired coffeehouse chain store stone-cold dead under a banquet table in the middle of the convention.And everybody knows that Maggy was no great fan of Mr. LaRoche, nor of his overly competitive business practices - so it's up to Maggy's own amateur sleuthing skills to get herself out of the hotseat!Mrs. LaRoche, newly widowed, certainly seems a bit too cheery. But then there's the angry activist who denounced LaRoche's practice of exploiting Third World coffee growers.As the conference coordinator and the number one suspect, Maggy is on a countdown to find the murderer, save her coffeehouse and maybe, just maybe heat up her love life...Thank goodness for caffeine!!

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 you most certainly should not invite this new missus, Mrs. Rachel Thorsen, in for a cup of coffee. But big-hearted Maggy can't seem to help her own hospitality. Unfortunately, most unfortunately, this mistress-cum-missus disappears shortly after her coffeehouse confab with Maggy and is later found murdered...making Maggy's ex, Ted, the chief suspect. Now it's up to Maggy to discover the truth...even if it upsets her on-again, off-again relationship with the handsome Sheriff Jake Pavlik...Despite the tempting satisfaction of seeing her ex go down, Maggy knows Ted is innocent. Cheater? Most definitely. Murderer? Most definitely not. So Maggy reluctantly agrees to help him. Rachel's wealthy family, however, disagrees and spares no expense in trying to put Ted behind bars.

A torrential spring snowstorm leaves Maggy and her friendly (and not so friendly) neighboring tenants stuck in the strip mall where her coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, leases space in Brookhills, Wisconsin.Shut up in her coffeehouse with little light and no heat, Maggy looks for help from her neighbors in the plaza...but while crossing the snow-filled parking lot, Maggy nearly trips over the mall's landlord, Way Benson, who has a hatchet in his back and looks very, very dead.Since Way's plan was to evict all the tenants and sell the space to a superstore chain, the list of enemies and suspects is hardly meager. Figuring out who had the means to do it...that was going to be the tricky part.But when Way's ex-wife is also killed, the clear and obvious motive goes out the window. Then when there's another death, Maggy is scrambling to pick up the pace and solve the murder...before she's next...

When a freak spring snowstorm destroys her beloved coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, Maggy Thorsen resolves to reopen. With her best friend, Sarah, as an ally, they find the perfect spot right near the train station – and lucky for Maggy that she's just in time for the opening of a new commuter route. Seems things are finally looking up for the amateur sleuth and barista extraordinaire! But then Sarah's uncle dies under suspicious circumstances…and Maggy's instinct tells her that his death was no accident. And when there are more suspicious "accidents," Maggy must uncover the link between the deaths…or she may just never be able to reopen Uncommon Grounds!

Maggy Thorsen, cynic extraordinaire, has a few things to feel optimistic about lately. After her original coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, was destroyed in a freak May blizzard, Maggy and her best friend, Sarah Kingston, have found the perfect spot to relocate – right next to the new commuter train in Milwaukee.After successfully securing the spot, Maggy and Sarah plan to piggyback the city's celebrations for the train and re-open Uncommon Grounds on the same day. In fact, Maggy's feeling so positive, she even digs deep in her budget and hires a giant inflatable coffee cup to attract more notice to her grand reopening. All seems to be running right according to plan…until Maggy's event manager is found dead – and now Maggy must find the killer before the killer finds her!!

The state of Wisconsin has never been known for its mild winters and this particular season is no exception. But that's all good news for Maggy Thorsen and Uncommon Grounds, her newly renovated Brookhills coffeehouse. Now that Maggy and her real estate maven pal, Sarah Kingston, have finally completed the relocation of Uncommon Grounds to the town's historical train station, they've concocted just the perfect drink special to warm up the residents of Brookhills – Triple Shot, a heady coffee drink with massive doses of sugar and caffeine – during this especially cold season.And all is going well for Maggy (okay, maybe she's a little over-caffeinated, but what do you expect?) when Ward Chitown, a has-been TV personality, rolls into town in search of a long-hidden Mafia stash. And Chitown knows the stash is here because his father led the FBI bust some thirty years ago, in which three agents lost their lives…But now, it's the real estate agents in Brookhills that should be looking over their shoulders. Two of Sarah's fellow brokers were shot and left to die at the properties they were showing…and the whole town is feeling nervous, staying home with their windows drawn…When the stench of death starts to pervade Uncommon Grounds, Maggy and Sarah are forced to put all other business aside and find the killer before Sarah becomes the recipient of the murderer's third shot…

It's November and Maggy Thorsen, co-owner of the Wisconsin gourmet coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, is in South Florida at an annual crime-writers' conference with her beau, local sheriff Jake Pavlik, who is due to speak as a 'forensics expert'. Maggy's pledge to behave solely as a tourist becomes trickier than she anticipated when the conference's opening night event turns out to be a re-enactment of Agatha Christie's classic, Murder on the Orient Express. As Maggy and Jake reluctantly set off on the night train to the Everglades to solve the 'crime', it's clear that, as in the original novel, nothing is quite what it seems. And amidst rumours of careers taken, manuscripts stolen and vows broken, it seems that in the Everglades – as in life – the predator all too often becomes the prey.

First, Maggy Thorsen is shocked to find her ex-husband Ted in a fight with William Swope, an oral surgeon at Ted's dental practice, outside Uncommon Grounds, the Wisconsin gourmet coffeehouse she co-owns. But she's even more horrified to discover Swope's dead body outside Thorsen Dental's office block the next morning. Did he jump from the tenth-floor office window, or was he pushed? It's not long before Maggy is uncovering disturbing family secrets, lies and betrayal. Maggy must try to piece together the clues-even if it endangers her relationship with Sheriff Jake Pavlik...

The choice of an antique silver coffee urn as the final resting place for elderly Celeste Bouchard's ashes might seem a cruel joke. After all, the wealthy boutique owner was taken ill and died while daughter Hannah was off having lattes at Uncommon Grounds. But Maggy Thorsen, the coffeehouse's owner, has more pressing things on her mind: a jailbreak and subsequent shoot-out has forced her main squeeze, Sheriff Jake Pavlik, to take refuge with her. Maggy is pondering her decision about marriage-but it's hard to think about when there's still an escaped convict on the loose...

Coffee, a canine and a corpse: a bad feeling leads to an even worse discovery when Maggy tries to return a Chihuahua to its owners in the new coffeehouse mystery. Maggy Thorsen's evening with her fiancé Sheriff Jake Pavlik and his parents in Chicago takes a dramatic turn when Jake's mother falls ill, then a Chihuahua jumps in front of Maggy's car on her drive back to Uncommon Grounds, her Wisconsin coffeehouse. Attempting to return Mocha to her owners, George and Marian Satterwite, the following day, Maggy comes face-to-face with Arial, their dog-sitter and her business partner Sarah's niece. But something doesn't feel right . . . Returning to the property, Maggy and Marian make a shocking discovery. And where are George and Arial? With Jake still in Chicago and Sarah desperate to find her niece, Maggy is soon drawn into another deadly puzzle.

Trouble is brewing for coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen when her barista's wealthy beau is murdered. Maggy Thorsen's head is spinning thanks to partner Sarah Kingston's latest idea - selling luxe espresso machines in their Wisconsin coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds. But Maggy soon faces a far bigger problem when her fiancé, sheriff Jake Pavlik, makes an official call on the coffeehouse's star barista, Amy Caprese. Amy's wealthy new beau, investment adviser Kip Fargo, has been shot dead in his bed - and Amy is the last known person to see him alive. Kip had just proposed to Amy, but she turned him down, triggering a terrible argument and making Amy the prime suspect. Determined to prove her barista's innocence, Maggy soon makes a number of disturbing discoveries. Can she untangle lies, jealousy and Kip's shady dealings in time to avert the disaster that's brewing?

Coffee and romance - the perfect way to warm a freezing winter at Uncommon Grounds! Until Maggy Thorsen's new barista's beau turns up on the doorstep, bringing a deadly chill with him... Maggy Thorsen and her business partner Sarah Kingston have taken on a new barista at their Wisconsin coffee house, Uncommon Grounds, to fill Amy Caprese's boots while she takes a much-needed vacation. Unfortunately Christy Wrigley's barista skills are as underwhelming as her love life, but is her luck about to change with her new beau? Christy gushes about her long distance, online relationship with Barry Margraves from Denver, leading Maggy to urge caution. When the new love of her life turns up unexpectedly on the coffee shop's doorstep on a snowy winter morning, Christy is shocked - but what follows next is even more staggering, and Maggy is soon drawn into a deadly blend of betrayal, deception and lies.

Wisconsin coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen attempts to solve a mystery steeped in shocking family secrets, tragedy and murder. Maggy Thorsen's new neighbours, Philip and Vivian Woodward, are forging ahead with their plans for The Big Steep tea shop. Philip's enthusiasm to turn the neglected cottage once owned by Vivian's reclusive grandparents, the Koepplers, into a tea lover's paradise is infectious, but Vivian seems less excited. And when Maggy's sheepdog Frank arrives at Uncommon Grounds coffeehouse bearing a 'gift' he discovered in the Woodwards' compost heap, the tea shop project takes a chilling turn... As the Woodwards' backyard becomes a crime scene, a deadly chain of events is set in motion. Can Maggy dig up the truth of what happened at the cottage many years ago before further tragedy strikes?

Things go from bad to worse for Wisconsin coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen when her cousin Jacque Oui finds himself in hot water. Wisconsin coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen's cousin, Jacque Oui, is in trouble. Big trouble! Not only is his cash-strapped Schultz's Market facing competition from a major new grocery chain, but his ex-wife Paulette has arrived from Paris, spectacularly claiming that she and Jacque are still married, despite Jacque being engaged to Maggy's friend and star barista Amy Caprese. When a huge fire rips through Schultz's Market overnight and a gruesome discovery is made in the shop's upper flat, Maggy is drawn into her cousin's affairs. But where is he? With Jacque suddenly missing, can Maggy uncover the truth behind the disturbing events triggered by Pauline's arrival, or is she about to be scorched by a determined killer?

Trouble is brewing for coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen when she's caught up in a storm - and murder - at a writers' retreat. Coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen has reluctantly travelled north with her business partner, Sarah Kingston, to cater for a weekend writers' retreat at Payne Lodge log cabin. The remote location deep in the Wisconsin forest is the perfect setting for mystery writing workshops . . . and murder. Maggy's no fan of the outdoors, but forest bugs are the least of her worries when lightning strikes the lodge during a storm and she and Sarah discover the body of the retreat's organiser, editor of the local newspaper and president of the Brookhills Writers' Club, Kate McNamara. It seems that Kate had annoyed many of the retreat's attendees, but who hated her enough to plot her murder?

When the sister of Maggy Thorsen's coffeehouse business partner Sarah is hospitalised on the day of their mother's funeral, Maggy is drawn into uncovering the family's darkest secrets . . . The Kingston family has always been at odds, but Maggy Thorsen hopes that the passing of Edna Mayes Kingston, mother of Sarah Kingston, her Uncommon Grounds coffeehouse partner, might unite them. Alas, few tears are shed over the self-righteous Edna, and the wake is barely over when Edna's body is shuffled off unceremoniously for burial and Sarah's sister Ruth is found unconscious in the family home. Did Ruth suffer accidental carbon monoxide poisoning or something more sinister? And could there have been more to Ruth's haste to bury Edna than meets the eye? Determined to find out, Maggy and Sarah join forces with Sarah's niece, Arial. As questions mount and family tensions percolate, the presence of a mysterious stranger leads the trio into the past to uncover the darkest of family secrets.

The first three titles in the Maggy Thorsen Coffeehouse Mystery Series UNCOMMON GROUNDS In her delightful debut, Balzo puts a 21st-century spin on the traditional cozy, replacing tea with coffee as the comfort beverage of choice. Maggy Thorsen, a divorcée whose husband left her for his 24-year-old dental hygienist, and two women friends are eager to open a coffee shop, Uncommon Grounds, in the small Wisconsin town of Brookhills, whose inhabitants include such recognizable types as the local gossip and tennis moms. The challenge becomes even greater when Maggy discovers the body of one of her partners, Patricia Harper, on the floor of their coffee shop. Determined to find out who killed Patricia and why, Maggy delves into the mystery with a sense of humor that would make Miss Marple smile. In her search for the truth, she works with, and sometimes against, the new and unpredictable county sheriff, Jake Pavlik-and uncovers at considerable personal risk the secrets of some of the town's most prominent citizens. GROUNDS FOR MURDER Exactly how hot is the competition at the annual coffee trade industry conference in Milwaukee? Scalding What's not hot? Finding Marvin LaRoche, owner of the HotWired coffeehouse chain store stone-cold dead under a banquet table in the middle of the convention. And everybody knows that Maggy was no great fan of Mr. LaRoche, nor of his overly competitive business practices - so it's up to Maggy's own amateur sleuthing skills to get herself out of the hotseat! BEAN THERE, DONE THAT 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 you most certainly should not invite this new missus, Mrs. Rachel Thorsen, in for a cup of coffee. But big-hearted Maggy can't seem to help her own hospitality. Unfortunately, most unfortunately, this mistress-cum-missus disappears shortly after her coffeehouse confab with Maggy and is later found murdered...making Maggy's ex, Ted, the chief suspect. Despite the tempting satisfaction of seeing her ex go down, Maggy knows Ted is innocent. Cheater? Yes. Murderer? Definitely not. So Maggy reluctantly agrees to help him. Now it's up to Maggy to discover the truth...even if it upsets her on-again, off-again relationship with the handsome Sheriff Jake Pavlik...