Death on Tap: A Mystery (A Sloan Krause Mystery, 1)

Just completed this first in series about another special town in the Pacific Northwest, Leavenworth, Washington. A delightful tale of family drama and murder centering around the beer brewing industry in the Bavaria of NW USA. Getting to know Sloan and her family has been a true delight and being introduced to the quirky characters of her world has been fun. I have already started the second book in this series! I love the author's Bakeshop mysteries and I decided to give this one a try even though I don't know anything about beer. I am enchanted!

4.5/5 starsSometimes I spot a mid-series book and just read it, usually that’s fine. Sometimes I decide to check out book one before I skip to the most recent release. That never goes well on my pocket as I often end up getting all the books in between! I ended up getting book 2 as well 🙈.The setting of this story caught my attention first. The mysteries occur in the Pacific Northwest town of Leavenworth also known as Beervaria... yup... an entire town dedicated to beer... and creating a little American version of a German alpine village. Stores and businesses embrace the theme in their decor and even costumes for staff. Best of all, the town is home to several micro and nano brewers and the beer brewing culture is fully explored as it’s the livelihood of the main characters.The author goes into detail about craft beer brewing and tasting basics as the characters go about their daily activities. I don’t think the details are over-done. In fact, they add a lot of atmosphere to the story and are well-worked in.The mystery of who killed a local brewer is the one Sloan finds herself in the middle of. She never seeks to put herself in the middle of the investigation but find herself there when the police chief asks her to make some enquiries. Added to that, much as Sloan is pissed off at her cheating husband, she doesn’t want him going down for a murder he didn’t commit. There are several suspects revealed as Sloan finds out more about the victim’s past and we’re never quite sure which villagers we can trust. Several red herrings are thrown in and it’s only towards the end that we really get all the pieces to put together.The mystery was fun but what really sold me on the series is the characters. I really enjoyed reading from Sloan’s perspective. She’s a tough, smart cookie who’s absolutely pissed off with her cheating husband. Yet, she still believes in his innocence and does her best to prove it, as she is determined to protect her son. As a survivor of the foster care system, she’s grateful to her in-laws for providing the family she never had while growing up. Her interactions with Mac’s parents and brother, Hans, are moving and really bring a sweetness to the story.Teenage son, Alex, brings a touch of tech savvy and teenage exuberance to the pages. The police chief is competent and even encourages Sloan to make discreet enquiries given her frequent interaction with townsfolk. I look forward to meeting more members of the Beervaria community and seeing if things heat up between Sloan and Garett.Overall, Death On Tap offers an interesting mystery, entertaining characters and an intriguing glimpse into the world of craft beer brewing!

Well written, if not a bit basic, but entertaining. Easy to follow, decent plot and character development. Good vacation read, I recommend it.

Was disappointed in the way the story was told. The story promo sounded great, but the written story was not that engaging.

I read one of the later books and wanted to see how it all started. Sloan has a lot on her plate. Looking forward to her next adventure and learning more about the beer industry.

After catching her husband with a "beer wench," Sloan Krause leaves her husband's family brewery and the only stability she's ever known to work for the new brewer in town, Garrett. His beer is outstanding and his pub, Nitro, is off to a good start, when another brewer is found dead in Garrett's fermenting tank. Suddenly, Mac is under investigation. He may be a cheater, but Sloan refuses to believe her son's father is a killer, and searches for the truth to keep him in their son's life.I love this book. Never found a cozy set in Germany so this as close as I've seen. Having studied German in school and visited Germany I loved the insertion of the occasional German word. I hope there's more in book 2. The author has created realistic characters and a strong family bond between them. You'll find yourself rooting for Garrett and also (almost) feeling sorry for Mac as he tries to make things right. Not knowing much about brewing I appreciated the explanations and insight into the process. My only complaint is not being able to jump into the pages to explore this magical town and taste the amazing sounding foods described in this book. Hopefully recipes in the future? So glad I discovered this series.

This series is hardly Pulitzer Prize material, and yet...I loved all the books. 202 was a really stressful year for me (as for many people!), and I was struggling with insomnia and relaxing at bedtime. It was hard to find engaging books that didn’t have anxiety-triggers in it for me, and these were perfect.Even though there is a murder in each one, the author just introduces an annoying character and kills him off a few pages later, and it’s not even a huge focus of the book. In fact, it’s a bit of a stretch to call these murder mysteries. These books are more about the town of Leavenworth, beer brewing, baking, and some colorful characters mixed in.

Excellent start to a series. I bought this book because I loved Ellie Allexander's Bakeshop Mysteries so much, but I hesitated to read it because I was afraid, I would be disappointed. WOW! I had nothing to worry about there. Death on Tap is even better than any books in The Bakeshop Mysteries. Now I have to buy the rest of the book the Sloan Krause Mystery series.

characters have different personalities I beleve Sloan and Mac will reunite and work together as a team but on different places Garrett may become friends with the family Every character have their own way or destiny

This book felt like it was written in a rush. I get that it isn't supposed to be serious or realistic, but a lot of the details really strained my patience. A dead body found floating in a vat of beer in a brew pub? No problem! The chief of police will let the bar open for business in a matter of hours. One scene with the chief of police and then she vanishes for the rest of the book. There was so much repetition of pointless details. The village has a Bavarian theme. Got it. No need to repeat that every other chapter. Husband caught with his pants down? Got it. No need to repeat that every chapter--especially when the main character doesn't develop at all. Was there or wasn't there an attraction between the main character and the Nitro pub owner? Maybe this is just a silly pointless book. Okay. Just don't call it a mystery.

I found the stir to be sort of blah. The author seemed to dither about, as if she didn't know what to write next. The storyline was ok but I don't think I'll rush to read the next n the series.