Without a Brew is the fourth Sloan Krause cozy mystery by Ellie Alexander. Released 10th Nov 2020 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 304 pages and available in hardcover, mass market paperback, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a small town cozy series which has really found its stride and is always fun to revisit. Microbrewer (and amateur sleuth) Sloan is intelligent, well grounded, vulnerable, and compassionate. She's an easy protagonist to like.
This whole series has been a fun and diverting read. There is a lot of beer
and brewing information woven into the narrative and the ensemble cast
of returning characters are mostly appealingly quirky and fun (except
for April, her I want to smack). The small town politics and
interactions provide a lot of color and atmosphere.
The multi-story plot arc
concerning Sloan's biological parents and her background in the foster
care system has a different, more serious vibe and does't mesh
as well with the story for me. The multi-book plot arc took a sharp turn into unbelievability and I found myself drawn out of the story at several places. I'm not going to give up on the series, it really is well written and engaging.
The language is clean, the murder is off-scene, there's no sexual
content, and this is a mostly light cozy in a consistently strong cozy series. There is enough back story interwoven into this one, that it
does work well enough as a standalone. I have enjoyed the rest of the series,
so it is probably worth picking up the earlier books.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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