At times I felt like the knowledge and background eclipsed some of the plot points. I think the basics would have been plenty for the average reader. Which on one hand was informative and interesting but on the other hand, I felt like this isn’t a story about beer, it’s a murder mystery. I felt like I was getting a crash course in beer and brewing. The only complaint that I had about this one was there was a TON of information on beer. I love when a murder mystery gives me a little dosing of humor with it. There were many comical moments in this book and a few times I actually laughed out loud. There was an edge to her that made he not quite fit in with the other characters or townspeople, but yet she wasn’t a completely odd duck. Everything about this book worked together to create a unique hybrid of genres. The mystery was a fast read and I found myself intrigued by not only the characters but the setting. It was charming and yet enticing all the same. It wasn’t your traditional cozy but it wasn’t so ‘racy’ to be deemed something other than a cozy. Even though it was a cozy, it had a little more on an edge with some of the themes which I liked a lot. It’s not every day that I read a murder mystery set in a quirky town that not many people have heard of and with a brewery.

This book sounded unique if nothing else. Danger is brewing in Beervaria and suddenly Sloan is on the case ( summary from Goodreads). When Mac, is arrested, Sloan knows that her ex might be a cheater, but a murderer? No way. Nitro’s owner, brewmaster Garrett Strong, has the brew-world abuzz with his newest recipe, “Pucker-Up IPA.” This place is the new cool place in town, and Mac can’t help but be green with envy at their success.īut just as Sloan is settling in to her new gig, she finds one of Nitro’s competitors dead in the fermenting tub, clutching the secret recipe for the IPA.

She decides to strike out on her own, breaking away from the Krause family brewery, and goes to work for Nitro, the hip new nano-brewery in the Bavarian-themed town. Sloan has spent her life in Leavenworth, Washington becoming an expert in brewing craft beer, and she doesn’t have time to be held back by her soon-to-be ex-husband. When Sloan Krause walks in on her husband, Mac, screwing the barmaid, she gives him the boot. This book is set in this little hidden mini Germany in the mountains of Washington, and it’s the first in a new series so I could hardly say no to something so unique and new. The beer and the Christmas festival are famous throughout the Pac NW, even here in Oregon. It’s like the Northwest version of Germany year round. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I know all about the magical town of Leavenworth Washington.

Death on Tap by Ellie Alexander