French Pressed - Cleo Coyle (April 2008)

This is the 6th Installment of The Coffeehouse Mystery Series
Started: 4/16/2008
Ended: 5/7/2008

Synopsis:
Clare Cosi's daughter, Joy, is immersing herself in the foodie culture with an internship at Solange, one of New York's hottest French restaurants - and she's getting pretty intimate with the older, married Chef Tommy Keitel as well. Clare's not buzzed about the relationship, but what twentysomething takes romantic advice from her mother?

Resolved to keep a closer eye on Joy, Clare makes a deal to micro-roast and French press exclusive coffee blends for Tommy, a man she wouldn't mind seeing roasted and pressed. Then the competitive kitchen turns cutthroat, and Joy becomes a murder suspect. To clear her daughter of the crime, Clare knows she must catch the real killer-even if it lands her in the hottest water of her life. Story takes place one month later from last book. It is November.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>WARNING-SPOILERS BELOW<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Characters:
Clare Cosi: Manager of the landmark coffeehouse, Village Blend, in Greenwich Village, NY; chestnut-colored hair with green eyes; disagrees with Joy’s affair with her boss and they have had several fights over the subject; recently called a truce with Joy to not discuss her relationship; becomes royally pissed off at Matteo when he unexpectedly moves back into the apartment they legally share until his girlfriend gets back into town; Matteo and Mike do not get along and Mike has refused to come over and fuck her as long as Matteo is staying there; Mike asks her to move if they want to continue their relationship and she agrees; after Joy is arrested for Keitel's murder, she becomes hellbent on finding the real killer; suspects Brigitte, and she and Mike investigate any leads that could connect Brigitte to the murders
Madame Blanche Dreyfus Allegro Dubois: Clare's ex-mother-in-law; over 80 y/o with a slim figure; has outlived 2 husbands; going on a 20 year relationship with Clare as her mentor, friend and employer; owns the Village Blend but lets Clare and her son Matteo run the business; always projects an effortless elegance; has shoulder-length silver-white hair with blue eyes; recently broke up with Dr. McTavish (an oncologist that retired at the age of 73 and wanted to move to New Mexico to play golf and hike); wanted to stay in NYC, so she broke off their relationship; on the prowl for a new suitor; a cougar; despises Breanna and has a fit when she learns that her son has become engaged to her; not-so-secretly wants her son and Clare to reconcile and get married again
Joy Allegro: Clare's daughter; chestnut-colored hair, green eyes and a heart-shaped face; 4 inches taller than Clare; interning at Solange restaurant; having an affair with Tommy Keital who is 30 years her senior; lives in Hells Kitchen and her roommate (Yvette) is in Paris for the next 6 months; finds Vinnie's corpse and immediately calls her mother, who rushes over; went over to Vinnie's apartment in Queens because he had left a message asking her to come over after work; message said that Vinnie needed to talk, that he was not really sick, that he couldn't come back to Solange until they talked; had a key to Vinnie's apartment so that she could feed his fish and water his plants when he would go home to Ohio; admitted to Clare that she would also take Keitel there to fuck and Vinnie knew about it; also admitted that she was the one who instigated a sexual relationship with Keitel, not the other way around; after she is cleared of Keitel's murder she is expelled from culinary school due to the scandal and the fact that she was fucking her instructor; parents decide to send her to Paris to stay with Yvette and get a fresh start on life Matteo Allegro: International coffee broker; Clare's ex-husband; while married, became addicted to cocaine, cheated on her repeatedly and also emptied out their bank account; has been clean for several years now; travels the globe brokering deals for the planet's finest coffee beans; square-jawed with a Roman nose and cleft chin; hard body from the many extreme sports he participates in (rock climbing, cliff diving & mountain biking); right arm is in a white plaster cast (see last book); authority-loathing, hence he does not get along with Clare's current boyfriend, Mike; although a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, his girlfriend, Breanne, likes to keep him dressed like one of her cover models in expensive clothing; been dating Breanne for over a year now; book ends with the Revelation that he has become engaged to Breanne
Mike Ryan Francis Quinn: Clare's boyfriend; NYPD lieutenant; tall, broad-shouldered with arctic blue eyes; square-jawed New York native, who has a long, powerful physique, short sandy-brown hair, a dry sense of humor and a load of street smarts from his working a uniformed beat; his wife had left him for a younger Wall Street chump; been working out a lot more lately; been dating Clare for a month now, but no fucking; wants to take the relationship slow; still feeling the burn from his bitch of an ex-wife; shares custody of his two kids with his ex-wife; currently working on a case supervising 3 undercover teams at 3 different nightclubs (people are being lured to remote locations and then robbed and beaten)
Java: Clare's 10 lbs female housecat
The Village Blend Coffee House: Occupies the first two floors of a 4-story multi-million Federal-style townhouse in New York's historic West Village; beveled glass front doors; 20 coral-colored cafe' tables; restored wood-plank floor; exposed brick walls; working fireplace; colorful collection of antique grinding mills and tin coffee signs throughout the cafe'; wrought-iron spiral staircase leading to a 2nd-floor lounge; line of french doors (that during warmer times, would be opened to allow for sidewalk seating); blueberry marble counter fronting a pastry case and state-of-the-art espresso bar; the top two floors have been converted into a luxurious apartment that both Clare and Matteo have legal right to live in; Clare lives there year long while Matteo stays from time-to-time while he is in the city; recently Matteo has moved in with his girlfriend, Breanne, but then moved back to the townhouse temporarily; apartment is a two-bedroom space with it's walls covered in priceless art; Clare's master bedroom has a 4-posted bed of carved mahogany, a marble fireplace and even a chandelier Tommy Keitel: DEAD: Solange's acclaimed executive chef; married with children; tall, fit man in his 50's with arresting blue eyes; has salt-and-pepper hair, a slightly crooked nose and a perpetual smirk of confidence; hardly around the restaurant anymore, leaving Brigitte in charge; does not actually own Solange; when Clare confronts him about his relationship with Joy, he confesses that since he met Clare he now realizes how young Joy really is and has decided to break-off their affair; plans to send Joy to another restaurant, Anatomy, to finish her internship; Clare notices that he has been receiving notes in black glossy envelopes that enrage him; found dead in Solange's kitchen with Joy's own personal chef's knife (that Clare gave her last Christmas) sticking out of the back of his neck; stabbed in the same manner as Vincent; revealed to have been killed by his wife, Faye
Napoleon Dornier (aka Nappy): Maitre' d & wine steward at Solange; manages the front of house; tall scarecrow of a man in his early 30’s; resembles Icabod Crane; has spiked radish-colored hair and long red sideburns; wears catlike amber eyeglasses; considered a fussy & meticulous manager that is not easily pleased; in order to keep an eye on Joy and find out what was going on in Keitel's kitchen, Clare pitches a contract to improve Solange's coffee service; defends Brigitte to Keitel, after she is fired and they end up in a argument; revealed that he & Brigitte were past lovers (Clare thought he was gay!); was no more than a waiter when Brigette was head chef of an exclusive restaurant and she used her influence to help him move up, therefore he was always indebted to her; after Solange is closed he finds a backer to open his own restaurant and offers Keitel's entire staff jobs
Brigitte Rouille: DEAD: Executive sous-chef at Solange; from Quebec and speaks with a heavy French accent; hired by Keitel since they have known each other for many years despite her reputation; tall and thin and a few years older than Clare; has pale skin, a long nose and long straight ebony hair; has a raging temper; always accusing everybody in the kitchen of fucking up; attacked Joy one night with a foot-long chef's knife but was restrained by Nappy; quickly came to her senses, confused about the confrontation and ran out of the kitchen crying; entire kitchen is afraid of her erratic behavior, suspecting she is on drugs (uppers); Keitel eventually fires her because she broke their agreement that she would stay off drugs; Clare and Mike find her dead body at her boyfriend's apartment; appears she had committed suicide by overdosing on pills after her boyfriend died from using tainted heroin and overdosing himself; revealed that she & Nappy were past lovers Rene': Somber Haitian gentleman with a heavy French accent; works at Solange
Ramon: Older Latino prep supervisor,swing cook and official translator at Solange; squat, dark-haired with a slightly pockmarked face; has a gold tooth
Henry Tso: Saute' chef at Solange; never seems to make a mistake; after Brigitte is fired he is promoted to executive sous-chef; tall with small hands; like Keitel, also has an ego and radiates confidence that borders on arrogance
Don Maris: Seafood chef at Solange
Yves Blanchard: Saucier at Solange; slight, pale man in his late 20's with dark curly hair; speaks with a French accent
Vincent Buccelli: DEAD: Interned at Solange; was a nice-looking, quiet, Italian boy; friends with Joy from their culinary school class; moved from Ohio a few years ago to attend culinary school; Clare met him about a month ago at a business event (see last book); he & Joy would come into the Village Blend several times after that; died from a single blow with a knife to the root of the neck & bleed to death; the knife which was left in the body was determined to be a 10-inch chef's French knife, the same type of knife used at Solange; gay porn magazines were found in his apartment; Joy did not know he was gay as he never hit on her and was a bit of a loner; Joy had the impression that he liked or was involved with someone in Ohio; revealed to have been killed by Anton because he overheard Anton on the phone plotting Keitel's murder
Nick Vlachek: Keitel's buddy from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn; clad all in black including black shades; speaks with a deep, almost guttural voice; pale complexion with skin cold to the touch; has light brown hair, which hangs in long strands from his elongated head; deep cleft in his chin and has thin and expressionless lips; Clare finds his name and info written down on a scrap of paper she finds in Brigitte's abandoned apartment; Clare finally tracks him down and they meet; he turns out to be a restaurant entrepreneur that imports caviar, among other commodities, hence he was one of Solange's vendors; confesses he was going into business with Keitel and was actually helping him establish contacts in Russia so that Keitel could move there and learn how to cook authentic Russian dishes; apparently Keitel's contract with Solange was up in 7 weeks and he planned to move on; Keitel would return to America and they would both open a new restaurant together
Tucker Burton: Assistant Manager at The Village Blend; also a writer and actor; gay
Gardner Evans: Part-time barista at The Village Blend; serious jazz musician
Dante Silva: Part-time barista at The Village Blend; fine arts painter
Esther Best: Part-time barista at The Village Blend; NYU comparative literature major; has untamed dark curly hair with large brown eyes; plump figure with a pale complexion; a goth girl; tends to be very critical, but mostly cranky; wears black rectangular glasses; dating BB Gun
Boris Bokunin (aka BB Gun): Esther's boyfriend; a Russian emigre' slam poet and urban rapper; they met at a Park Slope poetry slam where they both read; young, wiry frame with an angular face; has blonde, spiky hair; has close-set gray eyes , wide nose and a genuine smile; likes to listen to rap music; still lives with his mother; works as a baker's assistant until his music career takes off; takes Clare to a banya to meet Nick Pedechenko (she thinks she is meeting Nick Vlachek)
Breanne Summour: Editor-in-chief of Trend magazine; dating Matteo (for about a year) and they are now living together in her NYC downtown penthouse for the last 4 weeks; however she recently had to fly to Milan for a trade show, leaving Matteo alone with her male housekeeper; her housekeeper kept coming onto Matteo, creeping him out, so he moved back to the apartment he legally shares with Clare until she got back into town; using her numerous contacts she is able to get the best legal defense for Joy who has been incarcerated for murder
Lieutenant Ray Salinas: NYPD lieutenant in charge of Vinnie's homicide investigation; older,wider man, but not much taller than Clare; has thick, coarse, slate gray hair with bushy eyebrows and a 70's style mustache; olive complexion; asks Clare to make a visual ID on the corpse
Dr. Neeravi: CSI; attractive, middle-aged, petite with high prominent cheekbones; has dark shoulder-length hair and a mocha-hued complexion; speaks in an East Indian accent
Brian Murphy: NYPD officer; built like a line-backer; has words with Matteo
Anton Wright: Owner of Solange; a restaurant entrepreneur; younger than Keitel by at least 10 years; fit, tanned and polished with thick black hair; wears expensive clothes; tall and lean figured; upset with Keitel that he fired Brigitte and promoted Henry to sous-chef; started out as the son of a butcher, where he probably learned his knife skills; revealed to have killed Vinny and Benedetto; spent millions opening 3 restaurants, but Solange was his only success; wanted to capitalize and franchise Solange, but learned that Keitel wanted out and would be taking all his recipes with him; was already having an affair with Keitel's wife and so they plotted his murder to further themselves and Solange; arrested and charged with murder
Janelle Babcock: Pastry Chef at Solange; full-figured African-American; has shoulder-length ebony hair styled in rows of tight braids; has a roundish thirtyish face that displays Creole features; graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Paris; from New Orleans; works with Clare on a dessert pairing menu with her coffee; declines Nappy's generous offer to come work at his new restaurant because she had already found a position with one of the most prestigious cake makers on Manhattan Island
Eugene Lippert: NYPD detective at the 19th precinct; ~50 y/o with a large build; has a florid face and a rust-colored comb-over with sagging hazel eyes; quiet and reserved in manner; partnered with detective Tatum
Ray Tatum: NYPD detective at the 19th precinct; ~ 40 y/o; African-American; radiates an outgoing authority; partnered with detective Lippert; arrests Joy for Keitel's murder because:
1. Keitel was her lover
2. Keitel not only jilted her but also fired her, humiliating her in front of the whole kitchen staff in the process
3. Murder weapon belonged to her
4. She found his body alone and it was determined by the medical examiner that he had died within the hour that she found his body
5. Only Joy's fingerprints were found on the weapon
Toby DeLonge: DEAD: Brigitte's boyfriend; aspiring artist; Clare finds one of his empty Methadone prescription bottles in Brigitte's abandoned apartment; from the address on the bottle, Clare & Mike are able to track down where Brigitte is hiding out; however they end up finding his & Brigitte's dead bodies; appears that he died from a bad heroin overdose; his body was found with a hypodermic needle still sticking out of his arm
Nick Pedechenko: Russian Mafia; sells recreational drugs to people with the cash to waste on them; Clare under the assumption he is Nick Vlachek, meets him in a banya (steam bath) and inquires about his connection to Solange; Clare is unable to actually see him through the thick steam but when he comes closer she realizes he is not the Nick she was seeking; large bald man with beefy hands and thick muscular arms; arranges a meeting between the Clare and the other Nick
Roman Brio: Food writer and restaurant critic; heavyset man with a round, chubby-cheeked face and intense luminous eyes; friend of Breanne and writes contributions for Trend magazine; Clare runs into him at Keitel's viewing and he introduces her to Keitel's widow
Faye Keitel: Tommy's wife; strikingly good-looking 40-something woman; wears designer clothes; has shimmering blonde hair with golden highlights; met Tommy when she was just a talented young line cook (roast chef), but gave up her career for him and their growing family; at her late husband's viewing, Clare notices that she does not seem very broken up about his death and was even seen canoodling with Anton; revealed to have killed Keitel and was actually the mastermind behind the killings of Vinny & Benedetto; when Clare confronts her at Keitel's memorial dinner about the murders, she attacks Clare with a steak knife, stabbing her in the shoulder; arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder
Billy Benedetto: DEAD: Beverage manager at Club Flux; was sending bill notices to Keitel in glossy black envelopes because many years earlier, Keitel had abandoned his family's restaurant; Keitel took all his recipes and basically ruined Benedetto's family and their business because he was bored and wanted to try something new; older large man with bloodshot eyes that sagged on a deeply lined faced; Clare could not place his age but thought he was somewhere between 50-60 y/o; had grayish long hair that he tied back into a ponytail and wore a diamond stud in his ear; confesses to Clare that he was basically blackmailing his restaurant backer but would not tell her a name; Clare decides to stake out Benedetto's office at Club Flux and notices that Anton shows up and makes the connection that he is the mysterious backer; revealed to have been the mastermind behind the many attacks and robberies occurring through several nightclubs; after one of his operator's (Simon Ward) is caught in a sting operation involving Clare, he is fingered as the head guy; however when the cops go to arrest him, they find him in his office dead; revealed that he had seen Faye leaving Solange the night Keitel was murdered and put 2 & 2 together; aware of their affair he started blackmailing Faye & Anton that he'd go to the police if they did not back his own restaurant; so Anton slipped him a Mickey and after he passed out, slit his throat
Lori Soles: NYPD detective; part of Lieutenant Quinn's task force; built like an Amazon; late 30's; has a longish, slightly horsey, oval face and wears her very short blonde hair in tight curls against her scalp; partnered with Sue Ellen Bass; Clare runs into her when she is staking out Benedetto's office at Club Flux and becomes involved in Mike's sting operation.
My Review: A well-written, fast-paced and amusing story with some surprising twists. I very much enjoyed this book and bottom-line I am addicted to this series. I have read a few other cozy mystery series and Cleo Coyle is by far the superior writer with great characters and storylines-it just keeps getting better and better. The ending is especially intriguing, and makes me more than a little anxious to see what will transpire in book seven! Can't wait!
Book Score: 9.5/10