Murder over Mochas is the fifth book in the Java Jive
series by Caroline Fardig. I have read all of the books in this series,
and think it is extremely helpful in figuring out the character
relationships, but the mystery itself can stand on its own.
As
a newly minted private eye, Juliet Langley has sworn to leave homicide
to the authorities, limiting the scope of her investigations to cheating
spouses and dirty business partners, like her ex-fiancé, Scott
O’Malley. When Scott shows up unannounced at her coffeehouse, Java Jive,
Juliet’s first instinct is to punch him in the nose. Her second is to
turn down his desperate plea for help with a case that’s way too
dangerous for her liking. But when Scott drops dead before her eyes,
Juliet isn’t going to wait around for someone else to clear her
name. It’s only a matter of time before her tumultuous past with her
ex-fiance comes out, so Juliet teams up with her ex-boyfriend,
police detective Ryder Hamilton, to figure out who poisoned Scott. They
soon confirm that Scott was involved in an illegal scheme that’s
definitely grounds for concern. Just as romance is finally beginning to
percolate for Juliet and her best friend, Pete Bennett, she has no
choice but to head back to her hometown to seek out the truth. And
she’ll need help from the locals to find the real killer—otherwise her
happily ever after could easily end up including an actual ball and chain.
Murder over Mochas
is a well crafted mystery with plenty of wacky characters, some funny
moments, and plenty of tension. I like the depth of the mystery, and how
complicated the mystery became with the variety of characters that
readers met through the read. I was a little annoyed with the amount of
ex boyfriends and whatnot of Juliet's crept into the story, but I was
glad to see many of the relationship issues resolved by the end of the
book. I liked the tangled nature of the mystery- it is not just murder
and cheating- there are kickbacks and desperate people doing good and
bad for different reasons. I kind of wanted more of the why's
surrounding the bad guys decent and how he ended up where he was and how
the people ended up so connected in unexpected ways. I admit that I
suspected who the big bad was after awhile, since the track of suspects
got to be too predictable, but the way everything came together made the
read a lot of fun.
Murder over Mochas
is what feels like the last book of this series, although I could be
wrong. I love that I got a wrap up of so many long standing questions,
and that fans of Fardig's other mystery series, Lizzie Hart Mysteries,
will get a kick out of seeing their favorite characters make an
appearance. Now I just need to find the time to read the other series
because I want to see more.
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