Disaster is on tap in this all-new mystery from the author of Tangled Up in Brew.It’s Oktoberfest in Pittsburgh, and brewpub owner Maxine “Max” O’Hara is prepping for a busy month at the Allegheny Brew House. To create the perfect atmosphere for the boozy celebration, Max hires an oompah band. But when one of the members from the band turns up dead, it’s up to Max to solve the murder before the … murder before the festivities are ruined.
Adding to the brewing trouble, Candy, Max’s friend, is acting suspicious… Secrets from her past are fermenting under the surface, and Max must uncover the truth to prove her friend’s innocence. To make matters worse, Jake’s snooty ex-fiancée shows up in town for an art gallery opening, and she’ll be nothing but a barrel of trouble for Max.
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Such a fun book in a fun series. Exceptionally well written. Quirky but believable with a great cast of characters. The mystery will keep you guessing until the end!
Max O’Hara is getting ready for an Oktoberfest celebration in her brewpub, and part of that is going to listen to the band she’s hired. The evening ends on a weird note when a member of the band claims to recognize one of Max’s friends, something the friend denies. Then a member of the band wants to meet with Max, and a dead body turns up. Can Max figure out what is happening?
This book starts strong and never lets up. I couldn’t put it down, and raced through it, enjoying the twists and turns along the way. I love the characters we’ve met in this series, and they are in top form here. That includes Max’s large family and her relationship with her boyfriend. The new characters are just as fun. This book does spoil quite a bit of the first in the series, so start there. You won’t be sorry since all three books in this series are great.
This series has such a unique fall fee to it. A woman who owns a brew pub and happens to solve crimes in her spare time? Sign me up!
In A Room with a Brew, Max O’Hara is back in the third installment of the Brewing Trouble Mystery Series. When one of the band members she hired to play at the BrewPub for Oktoberfest is found murdered, Max finds herself thrown into the middle of yet another murder investigation.
Take a seat, crack open a cold one, and get ready to enjoy a great book. Here are my top reasons why you will want to read it.
Max Is Fierce
There is just something about the idea of a five foot tall, spunky female brewpub owner that I love. Maybe it’s showing solidarity as a fellow five-footer, but Max is just a fun protagonist to root for. She is kind, works hard, and always willing to go to bat for a friend.
Whoa – Really?!?
One of Max’a friends, Candy, is acting suspiciously after the murder and this worries Max. Could she be somehow involved? Candy finally confides in Max the reason for her odd behavior. And let’s just say it’s not at all what I was expecting. However it did amazing things for adding depth to these characters and had so many possible story lines swimming through my head.
Oktoberfest + Fall = FUN
This is a book set around Oktoberfest, which really helped put me in the fall spirit. I love reading cozies around the season they are set in and the fact that lined up here for me really did enhance the reading experience.
A Room with a Brew is another super installment to this series. Max is a lot of fun and I enjoy her adventures in brewing, love, and murder.
Originally published at: https://cozyexperience.com/cheers-room-brew/
A Room with a Brew by Joyce Tremel is the third installment in A Brewing Trouble Mystery series. Maxine “Max” O’Hara owns the Allegheny Brew House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Max is busy preparing for the Oktoberfest weekend she is going to have at the brew house. To see if she wants to hire The Deutschmen, a local oompah band, Max and her girlfriends are going to an event at the fire hall. Felix Holt, accordion player, stares at Candy and insists that he knows her from somewhere. Candy ends up being rude and leaving without providing an explanation. The next day Max receives a call from Walter “Doodle” Dowdy, the sousaphone player, asking to meet in person. He has something to share with her. When Max, Jake and Candy arrive they find Doodle dead with his head stuffed in his sousaphone. Candy is at the top of the suspect which sends Max into overdrive to find out who killed Doodle and why. Just when Max thinks things cannot get worse, Jake’s ex-fiancé, Victoria pops up at a gallery opening they are attending for the unveiling of a newly discovered Vermeer painting. Max will need to keep her wits about her if she is going to nab a killer, finish her Oktoberfest preparations, and avoid the manipulative Victoria.
A Room with a Brew can be read as a standalone novel. I had some trouble getting into the story. I found it to be a slow starter and the murder did not occur until I reached the 18% mark (seems to be a new trend). I found the mystery to be expected. Once the Vermeer is mentioned, I accurately predicted how the story would play out. I tried it with a third party, and they came to the same conclusion (I only gave them two details). It was interesting to learn more about the quirky Candy in this story (who only wears black and gold). Most of the characters in A Room with a Brew are flat. We are given scant details on them and the author never gave them life. Candy, Jake and Max are the only fully developed personas. My rating for A Room with a Brew is 3 out of 5 stars. The main focus of the cozy mystery is on the Allegheny Brew House, Max’s romance with Jake, food (lots of food), time spent with Max’s family, and preparing for Oktoberfest. I did not know that blue and white were colors for Oktoberfest (from Bavaria). I have only seen the colors from the German flag used in conjunction with this event. There are recipes for some of the food items at the end of the book. A Room with a Brew is a cute cozy mystery that will appeal to many readers and have you craving a bratwurst (I will be heading to the local German meat market soon)!