Tuesday 14 July 2020

Book ~ "Tea, Tiramisu, and Tough Guys" (2015) Harper Lin

From Goodreads ~ When Francesca’s old high school crush, Todd, is accused of murder, she is convinced he is innocent. The police don’t believe Todd’s story, and neither does Matty. 

During the busy summer tourist season at Cape Bay, Francesca sets out to prove Todd’s innocence. Matty, however, investigates to prove Todd is guilty. Why does Matty detest Todd so much? But what if he’s right—what if Todd is a murderer?

Francesca is in her mid-thirties and worked in New York for many years in PR.  She moved back home to run the family Italian café in a small town in Massachusetts when her mother passed away a couple months ago.

A man named Joey is found murdered outside Todd's Gym.  The police investigate and it seems like they are focusing on Todd, the owner of the gym, since that's where the body was found and Joey worked out at the gym.  Pretty slim reason to suspect Todd, I thought.  Fran had a crush on jock Todd when they were in high school more than 15 years ago and they haven't seen each other since then.  All of a sudden he has a crush on her now that she's back in town and is putting the moves on her.  She automatically thinks he's innocent and sets out to find out who killed Joey.

This is the second in the Cape Bay Cafe Mystery Series (I read the first a couple weeks ago) by this author ... it works as a stand alone (you don't have to read the first one to know what's going on).  It is written in first person perspective in Fran's voice.  The "whodunnit" and ending came together really quickly.  It's a quick light read and is a "cozy mystery" so there is no swearing, violence or adult activity.  Fran has been dating her high school friend, Matt, for a couple months and though there have been a couple hugs, I don't think they have actually kissed yet, which given their ages is unrealistic.

I found it unbelievable that café owner Fran would be proactive in investigating the murder of a stranger even though the police, who she acknowledges are competent, are on it.  She's adamant that Todd didn't do it, which I found hard to believe considering she hasn't seen the guy since high school and he barely knew she existed in high school.

There are recipes at the end.

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