Maggy Thorsen Series by Sandra Balzo
Maggy Thorsen #1
Uncommon Grounds
Sandra Balzo
Independent Mystery Booksellers Association BestsellerRobert L. Fish Award-winning authorAnthony Award-nominated authorPatricia Harper is dead, killed by a hot-wired espresso machine inUncommon Grounds, her very own gourmet coffee store! Maggy Thorsen wants to know who killed one of her partners. Maggy needs the store to succeed. Starting over after her divorce, she's quit her PR job to open the coffee store. And if things aren't already tough enough, she begins to suspect one of her friends is responsible for Patricia's murder. Maggy joins forces with Sarah Kingstown, Patricia's closest friend, to investigate her killing. Together, they uncover unsavory small-town politics, bribes, kickbacks, and rampant infidelity. Before she's through, Maggy's sense of right and wrong will be shaken to its foundations. For once in her life, she is forced to draw her own line in the sand, and be prepared to defend it.
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Maggy Thorsen #2
Grounds for Murder
Sandra Balzo
A sharp and amusing mystery from a talented writer - Set in Milwaukee at a scaldingly competitive trade show for the coffee industry, events reach a head when coffeehouse-owner Maggy Thorsen discovers a body under a table at the conference centre. As the reluctant conference coordinator and a potential suspect Maggy must track the murderer, save her coffeehouse, and hopefully put some froth in her love life . . .
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Maggy Thorsen #3
Bean There, Done That
Sandra Balzo
Here's a tip: if your ex-husband's mistress-cum-missus. asks for your help in proving that he cheated on her while he was married to you, just say no.And you most certainly should not invite this new missus., Mrs. Rachel Thorsen, in for a cup of coffee. But big-hearted Maggy can't seem to help her own hospitality.Unfortunately, most unfortunately, this mistress-cum-missus disappears shortly after her coffeehouse confab with Maggy and is later found murdered...making Maggy's ex, Ted, the chief suspect.Despite the tempting satisfaction of seeing her ex go down, Maggy knows Ted is innocent. Cheater? Most definitely. Murderer? Most definitely not. So Maggy reluctantly agrees to help him. Rachel's wealthy family, however, disagrees and spares no expense in trying to put Ted behind bars.Now it's up to Maggy to discover the truth...even if it upsets her on-again, off-again relationship with the handsome Sheriff Jake Pavlik...
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Maggy Thorsen #4
Brewed, Crude and Tattooed
Sandra Balzo
The new Maggy Thorsen coffee-house mystery - Maggy Thorsen, co-owner of the Brookhills coffee-house Uncommon Grounds, is trapped in a shopping mall by a snow storm which cuts the electricity and phone lines. She finds the body of Way Benson, a local developer and owner of the mall. Maggy's discovery unearths other refugees of the storm and it seems that more than one of these people has a motive for killing the arrogant Way. Then there is another murder.
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Maggy Thorsen #5
From the Grounds Up
Sandra Balzo
*Maggy Thorsen refuses to give in as trouble brews again - * When Maggy Thorsen’s coffee house, Uncommon Grounds, is virtually obliterated by a snowstorm, she and her friend Sarah resolve to reopen – and Maggy’s found the perfect spot near the train station, just in time for the opening of the new commuter route. But when Sarah’s uncle dies suddenly, in the first of a series of ‘accidents’, it’s clear that someone doesn’t want Uncommon Grounds to reopen. Maggy, however, has no intention of yielding . . .
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Maggy Thorsen #6
Maggy Thorsen #6
A Cup of Jo
Sandra Balzo
The new ‘Maggy Thorsen’ caffeine cozy - * * Maggy Thorsen's heart, uncharacteristically, is swelling with optimism. Sure, her original Wisconsin coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, was destroyed in a freak blizzard. But, with new business partner Sarah Kingston, she’s found the perfect place to relocate to – a quaint railroad station that will soon be revitalized by a new commuter-rail connection. Sarah and Maggy hope that the station’s ‘Dedication Day’ will provide great free publicity. But their dream turns into a nightmare when the event manager makes her grand appearance on the day. As a corpse . . .
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Maggy Thorsen #7
Triple Shot
Sandra Balzo
Maggy Thorsen [7]"The new Maggy Thorsen coffeehouse mystery - "There's a chill in the Wisconsin air, and it's a shot in the arm - a triple espresso shot - to Uncommon Grounds, the Brookhills coffeehouse owned by Maggy Thorsen and real estate maven Sarah Kingston. Their new autumn drink is a huge success. But two estate agents have died lately, and Sarah herself is under investigation for irregularities at her job. Then a stench begins to percolate through the coffeehouse, and soon it's clear that corpses - like other bad things - do indeed come in threes . . .ReviewPublishers Weekly: "Maggy Thorsen, the proprietor of Uncommon Grounds, finds that rebuilding her coffee shop in the "Old Brookhills" section of Brookhills, Wis., can be murder in Balzo's witty, smoothly plotted fifth caffeine cozy...sassy, lighthearted whodunit..."Missing Mafia money and murdered female real-estate agents mix in the seventh in Balzo's Maggy Thorsen series. As always, the intrepid Maggy, co-owner of Uncommon Grounds coffee shop in Brookhills, Wisconsin, lands in the midst of the action. When a dreadful odor leads to the discovery of Brigid Ferndale's body near the coffee shop, Maggy's business partner, Sarah Kingston, finds herself under suspicion, since Brigid (the third real-estate agent killed in a week) was an apprentice with a company that had just filed a complaint against Sarah. As Sheriff Jake Pavlik, Maggy's lover, investigates the killings, a past-his-prime Chicago newsman turns up in town, looking for money presumed hidden after the 1974 Brookhills Massacre, a shootout between the FBI and the Milwaukee Mafia that left three dead on each side and millions in cash apparently gone. Despite irritating Pavlik with her probing, Maggy is on-site to put the pieces together, becoming an instant Internet sensation. Multiple bodies notwithstanding, this is appealing, lighthearted fare. --Booklist, November 1, 2011 About the AuthorSandra Balzo is an award-winning author of crime fiction, including eight books in two different mystery series--one set outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the other in the High Country of North Carolina. Balzo's books have garnered starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, while being recommended to readers of Janet Evanovich, Charlaine Harris, Harlan Coben, Joan Hess and Margaret Maron. A former member of the National Board of Directors for the Mystery Writers of America, Sandy and her fiancé, fellow crimewriter Jeremiah Healy, split their time between South Florida and North Carolina.
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