Ground Rules #3
Flat White Fatality is Emmeline Duncan’s third book in her ground rules series. First, I feel I would be remiss in saying that heroine Sage is every barista’s dream manager as she is passionate about coffee and cares for her employees, as well as sticking up for them. Anyone who has worked behind a steaming espresso machine will appreciate the realism of Emmeline Duncan’s descriptions of running a coffee establishment – including the customers who get unreasonably angry over having ordered the wrong thing and not wanting to admit it. In such situations, Sage’s managerial prowess also shines as she deescalates the situation and stops the customer from abusing her baristas. Ground Rules is currently just a coffee cart, but is expanding to a brick and mortar building due to its popularity. Given how innovative Sage is about her product, their growing popularity isn’t a surprise.
In Flat White Fatality we join Sage as she is embarking on her boyfriend Bax’s company’s team building scavenger hunt. She’s taking part because she does some motion capture work for their video games. Even though Bax’s company is called The Grumpy Sasquatch, most of the employees are far from it and are actually very kind and creative. However, as the scavenger hunt progresses at least one Sasquatch, Robbie, goes past grumpy to straight up angry. This could just be due to Robbie’s competitive nature, but it seems that there are some deeper issues at work. Sadly, she does not get a chance to resolve them as Sage finds her dead in her strangely unlocked roastery.
Detective William E. Will has bumped into Sage on previous homicides. While he isn’t thrilled to do so again, he does not reject her giving him information as the investigation proceeds. However, Sage takes exception to the fact that Detective Will’s primary suspects are her boyfriend Bax, and her friend and co-owner of Ground Rules, Harley. Then, to push her even further, her ex-boss Mark is hanging around her coffee cart and trying to pressure her into selling her business to him. The murder happening in her roastery has her twitching to get involved, and everything else pushes her to start asking around and looking for answers herself.
Sage isn’t afraid to ask people questions that could make them uncomfortable, and more than once gets under people’s skin for making them think she suspects them of murder. But once she is sure that they are in the clear, she does her best to put them at ease. Many of her friends comment that they would hate to be on her bad side, and, given her tenacity and fearlessness, I have to agree. Sage is a force to be reckoned with. Luckily, she directs that energy into either her coffee or finding killers.
Readers do not need to have read the first two books to appreciate Flat White Fatality. Emmeline Duncan gives enough background information of each reoccurring character, as well of the town, that readers will not find themselves confused or lost. Saying that, however, does not mean that after finishing Flat White Fatality readers won’t be drawn to the first two books. The references and vernacular used makes this a wonderful read for anyone in their thirties and younger to feel they can truly relate to the characters, but that is not to say that it cannot be enjoyed by those of any generation. After all, the main theme of the series is a deep appreciation and love of coffee. To my mind, few things bring people together more than a cup of strong, hot, well roasted, coffee. – Carla Schantz
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Carla Schantz is a Courthouse Clerk Supervisor and has a bachelor’s degree in English as well as a master’s in legal studies. Books have been a passion of hers since she was young, and she is a firm believer in the purse book so that she is never without a book at any time.