BULLETPROOF BARISTA

An opportunity to promote the Village Blend coffeehouse turns into a murderous disaster.

Clare Cosi is a big fan of comedian Jerry Sullivan, so she’s thrilled when his popular TV series Only Murders in Gotham chooses the Village Blend as a place to shoot. Another fan is Clare’s barista Tucker, an actor who has a speaking role. The production has already suffered its share of problems. Jerry’s assistant has been injured in an accident, and Lizzy Meeks, the president of Jerry’s fan club, is stalking him. When it appears that the coffee in the craft services truck run by Driftwood Coffee, avowed enemy of the Village Blend, has poisoned the property master, who’s saved by the quick thinking of Clare’s coffee buyer and ex-husband Matt, Jerry cuts Driftwood loose, and Clare and Matt step in. When Jerry shoots Tucker with a gun containing a real bullet instead of blanks, only the fact that Tucker was smart enough to wear a bulletproof vest saves him and the production from disaster. Clare strikes up a friendship with an intern who turns out to be costar Kylee Ferris, who’ll be terrorized by a snake in her trailer. Amid all the other miscues, Clare, who’s helped solve many a murder, follows the property master to Central Park, where he’s shot dead. Though Clare’s fiance, Mike Quinn, is an NYPD detective whose position makes Clare’s own position awkward, he’s willing to ignore minor problems until Clare becomes a target.

Scads of red herrings, peeks behind the show-biz curtain, and bountiful appended recipes will leave fans smiling contentedly.