In Cappuccino by ML Hamilton, Zion Sawyer is busy at work one day in San Francisco when she gets a call from a lawyer informing her that her biological mother has died and that she is the sole beneficiary. Having never met Vivian Bradley, Zion is confused about how to react to the situation, but her adoptive parents encourage her to go to the small town in Central California of Sequoia, where Vivian lived. When Zion arrives in Sequoia to meet with David Bennett, the lawyer, she is concerned when David tells her that Sheriff Wilson wants to talk to her. Then the concern turns to alarm when he tells her that he is investigating Vivian’s death as suspicious.
Her few days of bereavement leave to take care of her birth mother’s business gives Zion an escape from the job for an insurance agency that is becoming more and more unbearable. Thus Zion moves, at least temporarily, to Sequoia to manage The Caffeinator, the coffee house Vivian owned. She meets her neighbor, Tate Mercer, the owner of the local hardware store and a former LAPD officer, who has been drafted into consulting on the case for the Sequoia Police Department. In the midst of this, Zion gets involved in the investigation and her community.
I really had a fun time listening to Cappuccino. The plot was compelling, making me intrigued by the situation and eager to find out what would happen next. The characters also connected me to the book, making me feel invested in their situation. The conclusion, however, seemed a bit out of right field, with little evidence built in to the plot to make us listeners feel that we missed the clues to the solution to the murder. This is a minor issue, but it got annoying to hear the characters talk about driving “up” to Sequoia from San Francisco when Sequoia is south of the Bay Area. Since we generally use up and down to refer to north and south respectively, the correct term should be “down.”
I enjoyed the performance of Kelley Hazen as narrator of this book. She gives distinct voices for each character and has a very pleasant voice to listen to. I especially liked her interpretation of the character of Dimos, who is a fun, hippy- style barista. However, I did feel that despite the jokes of people who don’t live in Sequoia that the town is a backwater, none of the residents would use a hick accent, which Hazen assigns to one or two characters.
Despite my aforementioned reservations about this book, I really loved getting to listen to Cappuccino, which kept me entertained throughout. It made me eager to listen to the next book in the series, which I happily look forward to doing very soon. I give the book four stars.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free for review purposes, but that had no influence on the content of my review.
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