Customer Reviews

A Cup of Jo (Maggy Thorsen Mysteries)

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Sandra Balzo brews up a great mystery in A Cup of Jo the latest in her Maggy Thorsen series! When Maggy orders a huge inflatable coffee cup emblazoned with the Uncommon Grounds logo to promote her coffee shop, it seems like a great idea... until a body is found inside the giant decoration.

With motives all around and suspects close to heart, it's up to Maggy to sort through clues while trying to maintain a booming coffee business. Trouble has a knack for following Maggy, though, and the twists and turns in this mystery are as abundant as the quirky characters. Balzo fills her Wisconsin town with a great supporting cast of friends and fiends ensuring that Maggy's tale is heartwarming, hilarious, and perfectly puzzling.

The challenge is on for the reader to solve the murder alongside Maggy Thorsen. Armchair detectives everywhere will definitely want to cozy up with A Cup of Jo.

Uncommon Grounds coffee house co-owners Maggy Thorsen and Sarah Kingston were checking last minute details for their grand opening in a new location when they began to question why their event planner JoLynne Penn-Williams hired an obnoxious mime for the festivities. And, by the way, why wasn't said planner present and helping them with preparations and the press?

After all, this was a very special occasion for Maggy after she lost her first business due to a freak snowstorm. She was excited about relocating to the Brookhills Junction commuter train station depot where a direct line to Milwaukee 15 miles to the East should bring the the gourmet coffee shop many thirsty customers.

Just as the train carrying the dignitaries arrived, the mime tripped over an air hose to the huge inflated cup and saucer display above the podium area causing the whole display to collapse to the ground. As a hundred people watched the public relations nightmare unfold, Maggy found her missing event planner.

A Cup of Jo is the sixth Maggy Thorsen mystery by Sandra Balzo, and I am sure fans will welcome this new edition. Balzo writes with a sassy sense of humor that makes her stories fun to read. The eccentric characters and entertaining story line keeps readers wondering what can possibly happen next to our heroine.

There is never a dull moment in this story, and the author wisely keeps the reveal to the very end allowing readers the chance to guess who committed the crime and why. Whether you are already a fan or have just discovered this wonderful series, you will definitely want to grab a copy of A Cup of Jo.

A special thank you goes to Sandra Balzo and Severn House publishers for providing an ARC copy for me to review.

A Cup of Jo (Maggy Thorsen Mysteries)

This is the sixth story in thec Maggy Thorsen mystery series. The story starts with the grand opening of Maggy, and her new business partner/old friend, Sarah's, new coffee shop (the first one was destroyed in a snowstorm). The new coffee shop is located at an old depot where a new commuter train will start running. Maggy ordered a giant, inflatable coffee cup to be erected on a stand to advertise her shop for the event. All is going well until a body is discovered in the coffee cup and Maggy's boyfriend, the sheriff, is the prime suspect in her murder. It is a fun story, but I get the sense the author might be getting a little bored with the series. Perhaps that is why she recently (2010) started a new series called the Main Street Mystery Series.

Very disappointing. I have read the other 5 books in this series and the last 2 have been written differently - too many similes and cliches. I will probably stop reading this series. Plot recap of this one: During the grand opening of the new location for Uncommon Grounds, a body falls out of the balloon over the shop front. Maggy goes snooping for the murderer and hopes that it isn't her beau Sheriff Jake.

"Floppingly flippant" is the perfect phrase to describe the dialog in this book, which is what makes it so entertaining. Maggy Thorson flips and flops from one theme to another as she talks her way through her life, the people she deals with and the body that appears in a blow-up coffee cup that advertises her coffee shop called Uncommon Grounds. There is a climactic scene where the murderer is unmasked but it generates little tension.
It is the grand opening of Uncommon Grounds and everything is going great until the body of JoLynne Penn-Williams falls out of the deflating cup. She was murdered by strangulation and Maggy once again has a body in her vicinity. Not even a dead body can keep her from mentally and verbally wisecracking her way around everything from her relationships to her suspects to the unusual people that are her fellow passengers on her local roller coaster. Most of the characters are unusual; there is even a laborer that moonlights as a very annoying mime. The murder and the unveiling of the killer(s) are secondary to the snappy talking of the metaphor-a-minute Maggy Thorson, which makes this book a fun one to read.

Sandra Balzo spent twenty years in corporate public relations, event management, and publicity before turning to mystery writing. Her first novel, UNCOMMON GROUNDS, garnered an Anthony and a Macavity Award. Her short stories won two awards, and her second short story was also nominated for a Macavity award. Sandy is involved in the World Mystery Conventions and has served on the board of Mystery Writers of America. She currently has four mysteries published and will publish her fifth, A CUP OF JO, in October 2010.

Maggy Thorsen, co-owner of a Milwaukee, Wisconsin coffeehouse called UNCOMMON GROUNDS, and her new partner are hosting a grand reopening of their business. The party includes both an irritating mime and a gigantic inflatable UNCOMMON GROUNDS cup and saucer sitting on top of a gallows-type wooden frame. The perfect place for a murder? You bet! The fates can't resist, and by and by the body of Brookhills event manager JoLynne Penn-Williams is found stuffed into the bottom of the inflatable cup. If that isn't enough bad luck for one day, Maggy's boyfriend, Sheriff Pavlik is immediately fingered by the press as a possible murder suspect, but not before he accidentally lets an interesting sideline to he and Maggie's relationship slip:

"'But you and I were dating in May.' My voice sounded small, even to me. Pavlik looked up, his blue eyes startled. 'Well, yes. But we didn't see much of each other as I recall.'

'Because I was busy. Because you were busy.' With HER?

It was like he'd read my mind. 'Maggy, I never said I wasn't dating other people.'"

With that bombshell, the plot is off and running. Is Pavlik a real jerk? Was he also having an affair with the deceased? Did he murder her? Maggy, though sick at heart, swings into action. After all, it's her business and love life that are at stake. And what does the mime have to do with all this? Time will tell. Sit back and enjoy the almost virtual cup of java while Balzo slings one liners that are hilarious even as she takes the reader through this delightful story.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

Thanks to the new train stop connecting Milwaukee to the Brookhills Junction Depot, Uncommon Grounds gourmet coffeehouse is ready to open for business on the first day of the new route. To celebrate their grand opening, owners Maggy Thorsen and Sarah Kingston commission a giant balloon in the shape of a coffee cup and saucer by professional artist Kevin Williams.

Imagine their shock when the two proprietors find the body of Kevin's wife JoLynne Penn-Williams in the bottom of the cup; the cause of death asphyxiation by someone who cut off her breathing. Brookhills County Sheriff Jake Pavlilk eventually arrests Kevin for murdering his wife. Rumors explode that the sheriff and the deceased were lovers and other evidence leads to Pavlik's's arrest. Maggie rejects the notion her lover is a killer, but her insecurities make her wonder if he might be a cheater. She investigates and almost loses her life in the process.

Anyone who enjoys a fun caffeine crime cozy will want to read the Maggy Thorsen mysteries (see From the Grounds Up) as the series contains some of the best amateur sleuths on the market. The obstinate lead protagonist is an interesting person with doubts about her abilities yet also strong convictions that make her need to prove her lover innocent even while she debates his fidelity. With a well constructed whodunit, fans will enjoy A Cup of Jo (or two) as Sandra Balzo provides her readers with a gourmet mystery topped off with a wonderful shocker as to who is behind the victim's death.

Harriet Klausner

Maggy Thorsen is embarking on a new business, a coffee shop, and to get it going she has a giant coffee cup and saucer made to advertise. Great idea, until a body is found inside the cup and Maggy's world becomes wrapped in murder and mystery. Now, Maggy is drawn into a world where she is not sure who is friend or foe, lover or user, protecter or murderer. Maggy must use all her wits and clues to find out the truth and come away alive.

This was a great read. The author did a good job in bringing the characters to life, enhancing their personalities and blending them together within the storyline. She also brough the locals alive, you could almost smell the coffee brewing, taste the sticky buns, and hear the train whistle.
It made you want to walk into the book and be part of the drama. Ms. Thorsen weaved a murder mystery that gave you clues but also left some dangling puzzle pieces for you to piece together.
Did I figure it out? Well, okay, I had to read to the end, but I rather like it that way.

All in all a great read,full of likeable and seedy characters that keep you guessing, great locals, humor and romance, mystery and suspense a real page turning. I recommend this book, highly enjoyable.