Marvels, Mochas and Murder introduces a new amateur detective in what promises to be a fun cozy mystery series. Kirby Jackson runs a coffee/comics store in partnership with his best friend Ryan. Unfortunately, this partnership has the usual pitfalls of most business arrangements, and Kirby tells Ryan that he wants to split the businesses. Immediately thereafter, Kirby finds Ryan’s dead body on the floor of their shop with a knife protruding from his back. In order to clear himself of the murder and to find justice for his friend, Kirby begins investigating. He is (sort of) aided in this quest by Ryan’s dachshund Gambit and an old high school friend turned homicide detective named Felicia. The author introduces several likely suspects, and we even have another murdered high school friend before Kirby unmasks the guilty party. I had not guessed the identity of the murderer or the motive before Kirby stumbled upon the answer, so that is the mark of an excellent whodunit in my opinion. I loved Kirby’s dry wit and self-deprecating manner, and his relationship with his Memaw (grandma) sealed my approval. I plan to listen to the second book in the series as soon as possible, and I hope to see more books in the series available on Audible soon.
Jeffrey Kafer delivers another amazing narration with this story. Although I especially love him for the romance genre, I found that he handled the cozy mystery genre with equal skill. Kafer used the perfect tone for Kirby’s internal thoughts – most of which were pretty cynical and very funny, and he ramped up the suspense level at just the right moment to add some excitement to an otherwise low danger mystery. I see that Kafer narrates book two in the series, and I am hopeful that he will narrate all future books as well.
I received a copy of this audiobook at my request in exchange for this honest review.