This week I decided it was time to read something less gory and selected “Murder Behind the Coffeehouse” by Brenda Kennedy and Kayden Keaton. It is the first in their Pineapple Grove Cozy Murder Mystery series.
A few years ago, divorcee Piper Armstrong moved to Pineapple Grove, Georgia, and opened “Bean There, Dunk That” coffeehouse. It’s the middle of the night and Piper’s son needs to be bailed out for DUI again. He’s grown man and needs to get his life together, but she also needs his help at the coffee shop.
As usual, the elderly Mildred Moore is waiting for Piper to open the shop. In a town full of gossips, Mildred is known as the biggest. She sits at the same table crocheting and listening to everything and making loud comments on the latest gossip.
Most days she is the first to arrive and the last to leave. When Piper closes at 2 o’clock, she fills her thermos with free coffee and moves on. Today she already knows all about Paul’s arrest and announces it to the busy shop.
Lindsay Miles is one of Piper’s regulars. As a reporter for the local paper, she uses the coffee shop as a source for potential stories. The regulars quickly leave when Ethel Bowers arrives. Ethel is about the same age as Mildred but carries an aura of anger.
It is no secret that Mildred and Ethel have been bitter enemies for a very long time, but no one knows what started the feud. Like Mildred, Ethel fills her thermos with free coffee at the many businesses who offer it.
This morning Ethel is complaining that someone is trying to poison her. She suspects the local butcher, Bob Stevens, of selling her bad meat. She and Mildred argue and Ethel leaves complaining of stomach troubles.
The following morning Paul finds Ethel’s lifeless body behind the coffeehouse. It takes a day or two but the sheriff finally confirms that Ethel died by drinking poisoned coffee. It is a strange and frightening situation as Ethel’s long-ago fiancé, Carson Eubanks, was poisoned the night before their wedding. Could this be the same killer?
After being appointed executor of Ethel’s estate, Piper and Lindsey begin to inventory her property and investigate. If they can find the killer, they can clear the names of all the places that offer free coffee, including Bean There, Dunk That.
As they sort through her possessions, they connect with Ethel’s sister and begin to piece together her life. By chance, Piper meets Carson Eubanks Jr. and they hit it off. Through their conversations Piper develops a hunch about the cold case and Ethel’s death.
When preparing to auction off Ethel’s possessions, Piper, Lindsey and Carson decided to confront the killer. Surprisingly, Mildred confesses everything. She and Carson Sr. had been lovers but he dumped her when she became pregnant. He insisted on taking the baby and moving away but then moved back when Carson Jr. was 12. He was engaged to Ethel and she did her best to torment Mildred with her relationship with the boy.
When he turned 18, his father told him the truth and he established a good relationship with his mother, Mildred. Mildred put rat poison in Carson’s drink and went on with life. When he moved back to Pineapple Grove, she decided it was time to get rid of Ethel, too.
Mildred agrees to turn herself in to the sheriff in the morning, but drinks poison and dies in the night. The three debate what to do and conclude to let everyone believe Mildred died of natural causes as there is nothing to gain by revealing the awful truth. Pineapple Grove with just have to accept that two people died by poison with the cases unsolved.
You can read all kinds of small-town histories and secrets in books from your public library. Stop by soon and check it out.
AT A GLANCE
Book: Murder Behind the Coffeehouse (Pineapple Grove Cozy Mysteries, Book 1)
Author: Brenda Kennedy and Kayden Keaton
Publisher: Brenda Kennedy
Year published: 2021
Number of pages: 218
Town has a problem with poisoned coffee
