Book Review: Tangled Up in Brew by Joyce Tremel

Brew pub owner Maxine “Max” O’Hara and her chef/boyfriend, Jake Lambert, are excited to be participating in the Three Rivers Brews and Burgers Festival. Max hopes to win the coveted Golden Stein for best craft beer—but even if she doesn’t, the festival will be great publicity for her Allegheny Brew House.

Or will it? When notoriously nasty food and beverage critic Reginald Mobley is drafted as a last-minute replacement judge, Max dreads a punishing review. Her fears are confirmed when Mobley literally spits out her beer, but things get even worse when the cranky critic drops dead right after trying one of Jake’s burgers. Now an ambitious new police detective is determined to pin Mobley’s murder on Max and Jake, who must pore over the clues to protect their freedom and reputations—and to find the self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner.[summary via Amazon]

In the second book in the Brewing Trouble Mysteries, Max and Jake are setting up for a weekend of fantastic brew and food at the Three Rivers Brews and Burgers Festival. Things turn deadly when a nasty judge dies, while eating one of Jake's burgers. When a new police detective is determined to pin the crime on Jack and Max, Max needs to poke around to find the real killer.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, To Brew or Not to Brew. While there are a lot of "foodie" themed cozy mysteries, this was the first "brewing" themed mystery I had read, and it was a great debut. I was looking forward to picking up with Max and Jake's story again, and this second mystery didn't disappoint.

This mystery centres around the the Three Rivers Brews and Burgers Festival, and it was interesting to find out about different brews, and what a brewing festival entails. The competition between each brewmasters is fierce, despite them being friends. Joyce Tremel sets the scene so perfectly, that I could imagine walking through the festival, with the smell of ale and burgers in the air. 

In a love-to-hate kind of way I liked the inclusion of Detective Vince, or as Max calls him "Vince the Viper". He is young and cocky, and determined to pin the murder on Max and Jake, and it takes everything they've got to prove him wrong. I very much can't wait to see what kind of trouble Vince will try and cause in the third book.

With adorable adopted kitten "Hops"and the picturesque setting in Pittsburgh (Go Penguins!) this was a fun, intriguing second instalment in this series, and I can't wait for the next book.