Another fun cozy to tell you about.
I just can’t help myself. I’m addicted to them. LOL
In the Drink
(Mack’s Bar Mysteries Book 3)
Cozy Mystery
Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Kensington (July 28, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0758280190
My Review
It starts out rather ominously.
Mack ( Mackenzie Dalton) receives an anonymous letter touting her claim to being a top dog in crime solving.
The person challenges her to prove it by passing a series of tests. As she passes each test, she’ll move on the next one. A catch – each one is timed.
And there’s a chilling warning:
“Fail it and I will leave a body for you somewhere here in the city…It will be someone you know, someone who is close to you…”
She must do this on her own, no police, including her kind of boyfriend Detective Duncan Albright.
The test starts now and the letter is the first clue.
First off, this is the third book in the series and I haven’t read the others, so I worried about what I didn’t know. The author quickly filled me in on past events and I had no trouble with this installment.
Mack assisted the police in the past, first with her father’s murder and then with the murder of her father’s girlfriend. She has no claims of being a master sleuth. She’s a bar owner. She just wanted answers.
Mack’s is a synesthete, it’s a neuro disorder where the senses are cross-wired. An example is she can taste or see things that she smells. Also, her senses are extra acute, hearing things others don’t, smelling things others can’t. These things can be a great asset when trying to solve a crime. This can also help her sense when someone might be lying.
She’s kept it to herself for a long time. You can imagine the taunting Mack got from her peers when she was young, when she mentioned “music is too green”, or “apple is too loud”.
Someone leaked Mack’s ability to the press and her boyfriend, Detective Duncan was suspended for using her on a case. He eventually got his job back, but wasn’t allowed to use her on new cases.
Their budding romance is on the back burner because he’s been told to stay away from her or lose his job.
Mack knows she can’t handle this by herself, so she uses her crime solving group, the Capone Club, at her bar. They use real and made up crimes and try to solve them. Kind of just for fun, but one man wants the group to help with the cold case of his sister’s murder.
Now they have two real cases to solve.
Since Duncan can’t officially help Mack, and the psycho warned her not to tell anyone, he has a friend, Mal, an undercover cop, pose as her new beau so she won’t be left alone.
The tangled webs are woven.
Mack has a strong personality despite her insecurity about her disorder. I felt she was brave to expose herself to ridicule to help solve a crime. I liked her from the beginning.
It took a bit to warm up to Duncan. He was torn between his job and his attraction to Mack. You don’t get much about him in the beginning, but once the story gets rolling, you learn more. And when Mack feels a strong attraction to Duncan’s friend, Mal, things get really interesting.
Mack tastes chocolate when she thinks of Duncan. She savors the sweetness melting in her mouth. She also has the same sensation when thinking of Mal. Uh oh!
The plot is fantastic. So wicked. So twisted. This would be a great episode for the show Criminal Minds.
And the characters. I loved Mack and quickly became fond of Duncan and Mal. The secondary characters are too numerous to mention. I felt like I new them, the bar employees, the regular patrons, and the Capone Club. I bartended for almost twenty years and I could see their faces, recognize personalities.
Now we’ve reached the end of the book. Obviously I can say a word about it. But, I can say two – No Way!
I love suspense, thrillers, and mysteries, the creepier the better. Add in a frustrated romance, a possible poacher on said romance, and one sick, twisted villain, and I’m hooked til the end.
5 Stars
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Synopsis
Mack’s Bar and its crime-solving clientele are quickly gaining notoriety for helping solve some high-profile cases. But Mack is learning the hard way that not all press is good press…
By day, Mackenzie “Mack” Dalton is the proprietress of a popular Milwaukee watering hole. But after last call, she uses her unique cocktail of extra perceptive senses to help solve some of the city’s most grisly homicides. Now, Mack and her barstool detectives are happy to help when Tiny, one of the bar’s newest patrons, asks them to look into his sister’s murder. Though the case has gone cold, Mack’s heightened senses quickly put her on the killer’s trail. But when a throng of reporters intrigued by her talents descends on Mack’s Bar, her efforts are muddled as a real-life Moriarty begins putting her infamous skills to the test, leaving Mack feeling shaken and stirred…
* Includes drink recipes *
Here’s one I get to share!
MILWAUKEE RIVER ICED TEA
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. gin
1 oz. tequila
1 oz. white rum
1 oz. Triple Sec
1 oz. lemon juice
Beer
Combine all ingredients except beer in a shaker half full of ice and shake for about thirty seconds. Pour into a glass and top off with a beer of your choice.
For a mocktail version, combine 4 oz. strong black tea with 6 oz. apple cider and 1 oz. of fresh lemon juice. Pour over ice and top off with ginger ale and a maraschino cherry.
Yummy!
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About The Author
Allyson K. Abbott is the pseudonym of a mystery and thriller writer who also works as an emergency room nurse. She lives in a small Wisconsin town with her family.
Visit her at
Purchase Links
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August 11 – fuonlyknew – Review, Recipe
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August 13 – Girl with Book Lungs – Review
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August 18 – Shelley’s Book Case – Review, Recipe
August 19 – Jane Reads – Review, Recipe
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