A brewpub. A female brewmaster. An ex-hockey player. Buffalo chicken pierogies. Yep. This culinary cozy has everything needed to turn me into a fan.
Title: To Brew or Not to Brew
Author: Joyce Tremel
Series: Brewing Trouble #1
First Published: December 1, 2015
Publisher: Berkley
Categories: Mystery
Acquired: Purchased
When I was browsing the bookstore for a culinary cozy mystery I hadn’t read yet, Joyce Tremel’s Brewing Trouble series caught my eye. Although it has many elements in common with every other culinary cozy out there (female protagonist, some sort of relationship with law enforcement, new romantic possibilities, a murder or two and lots of mentions of food), two things stood out – the story was about a female brewmaster AND there was a hockey player involved. So, yeah, I grabbed To Brew or Not to Brew off the shelf immediately.
WELCOME TO THE ALLEGHENY BREW HOUSE
After studying in Germany for a brewmaster certification, Maxine ‘Max’ O’Hara is back home in Pittsburgh to open her own brewpub, The Allegheny Brew House. Weeks before the grand opening, her chef and assistant brewmaster, Kurt Schmidt, becomes convinced that someone is sabotaging them. One night Kurt calls Max, telling her he has found proof of the sabotage. However, when Max arrives at the brewpub, she finds Kurt strangled to death in one of the brewing vats.
The police, including Max’s homicide detective father, rule Kurt’s death as an accident. Max disagrees and with the help of her friends from her monthly book club, launches her own investigation. Her list of suspects includes the other shop owners on the street, some of whom have an interest in stopping Max’s business from opening. Her main suspect is Dominic Costello, the owner of the Galaxy bar. He’s a mean, chauvinistic man who sees Max as competition and has threatened her several times about ‘stealing’ his customers.
NOTHING EVER GOES SMOOTHLY FOR OUR AMATEUR SLEUTHS
To complicate things further, Max hires Jake Lambert as her new chef. Jake is an ex-pro hockey player and Max’s brother Mike’s best friend (Max as FIVE brothers). Max has had a crush on Jake since she was a kid but he has always treated her as the kid sister of his friend Mike… until now. With Jake back in town, cooking in her kitchen, flirting with her and dodging calls from his gorgeous ex-fiancee, Max has a hard time keeping her emotions in check.
Just as Max starts to build a solid case against Dominic, he turns up dead in Max’s brewpub and she has to look elsewhere for a suspect.
The rest of the story is a typical standard cozy mystery solution (although the motive is a little surprising). What is less typical is there’s a lot of good food (Jake is a really good chef!), interesting friendships and an enemy-turned-friend twist that kept the story humming along at a good pace. I found myself really liking Max and her eclectic group of friends, smiling at her brothers’ antics and halfway in love with Jake myself. I can’t wait to dig into Book 2!
In the tradition of many other great culinary cozies, there are several recipes included at the back of the book, including one for Jake’s Buffalo Chicken pierogi. I recently had some amazing Buffalo Chicken pierogi (at Ru’s Pierogi in Buffalo, NY) and they were amazing so I’m definitely looking forward to making them for myself!
READ IT FOR YOURSELF
(The following Amazon and Book Depository links are Affiliate Links. Click here to read my Advertising & Affiliate Disclaimer)
Hallo, Hallo Stephanie,
I personally ADORE this Polish dish – I tend to go veg when I make them, but I was thinking – maybe I should try making buffalo or BBQ jackfruit (dying to try that!) or the same style with tempeh? I haven’t made homemade versions of this yet *but!* I love making wontons stuffed with mushrooms/onions for homemade borscht!
Like you, I love culinary and cookery Cosies – I need to dig back into the Coffeehouse Mysteries this year as I have been a ready fan of Cleo Coyle’s foodie blog where Mum and I sneak off into to spy out new recipes to try! This is how we found our favourite way to make pumpkin fettachini! I might just have to give this one a whirl – I’ll see if one of my local libraries has it – tried Scribd but although they have the author, the titles aren’t avail at this time. Not sure if their audios though, so the libraries it shall be! 🙂
I’ll keep you posted if I source a copy — eek. Can’t wait to see more of your Cosy thoughts as this is something we share in common! Cosies just rock my world – Contemporaries like this yes, but also Cosy Historical Mysteries which are a bit of an addiction! lol
PS: The foodie factor always makes me swoon in joy,…
Thanks Jorie! Even more things that we can chat about! Love it! I’m a huge foodie too. I actually wrote a food blog for years before switching gears and trying my hand at book blogging. I’ll still be dabbling in food blogging once in a while but it’s on the back burner for now. If you want, you can also check out my food blog at http://www.kitchenfrolic.ca 🙂