Fresh Brewed Murder is the first book in a new culinary mystery series. Set in Portland, featuring coffee culture with an engaging amateur sleuth, Fresh Brewed Murder is an exciting modern cozy.

20-somethings Sage and Harley are opening a coffee cart in the competitive food truck world. Some of the other vendors are jealous that Sage has been given a prime location. Others dislike that she gives away food and drinks to the local homeless people.

One morning, Sage discovers a murdered customer, in front of her cart. Even worse, he was killed with a box cutter from her cart, making her the prime suspect. Now she has to unravel layers of mysteries involving local property development, protesters, her estranged mother's past misdeeds, and complicated family ties.

Such a fun book! Emmeline Duncan brought Portland to life for me. I enjoyed the coffee talk and never felt like it was an info dump or page filler. Sage and Harley felt authentically knowledgeable about coffee- roasting the beans and creating beverages.

She handled homelessness, runaways, and gentrification sensitively.

Sage, with her humor, dating angst, desire to give back, and conflicted feelings about her own past is a well-developed and believable main character. I wanted to hang out with her while drinking one of her coffee creations.

Fresh Brewed Murder is a fast-paced, quick read with a twisty mystery. The book has a great sense of place, conversational style, and an engaging, spirited main character. I can't wait to read more about Sage, her quirky family and friends, and her further coffee business adventures.