Death by Red Velvet Latte: A Bittersweet Wedding Mystery Brews in Krissy Hancock’s Bookstore Cafe #16

Read time: 5 minutes

📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 320 pages ⏱ Duration: 5 hours Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher name: Kensington Cozies ARC provided by NetGalley | Expected publication: October 27, 2026

Book Blurb:

As bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock counts down to her wedding, plans hit a snag when the baker set to make her red velvet cake has to cancel. Two competing cake decorators step in, but they seem more interested in feuding with each other than baking. The next day, Krissy walks into the bakery to find both bakers dead beside a smashed red velvet cake. Was it a fight gone fatal, or something bigger? As the case unfolds, it turns out to have far more layers than a wedding cake, and now Krissy has two problems on her hands: catching a killer, and finding a baker before her big day.

Let’s talk … murder!!!

I cannot get over Krissy Hancock’s chocolate chip cookie soaked coffee. Every time I read Alex Erickson’s Bookstore Cafe mystery stories, I need a cup of coffee with a chocolate chip cookie at the bottom of the cup to enjoy the book. It just is a mandate. Unfortunately, this time, I couldn’t do it, because Red Velvet Latte sounded so amazing, and none of my local cafes served it. So I had to imagine myself with this drink to read this book.

16 books in and Alex Erickson has not lost the touch of coffee magic. The thrill is still there, and so is the realism, more so this time. Krissy is busy planning her wedding with Paul. So, it definitely is not a good time for a broken espresso machine or double murder, but that is what ends up happening.

So what worked? And what didn’t work?

The best part of this particular book though, wasn’t the crime solving itself. The best part was how Krissy handled it all. There are some books where the amateur sleuth does a million and a half things and it is just noon, which is so unrealistic. But this one does not do that. Krissy is overwhelmed because there is just so much to do for her wedding, so she does not want to solve this crime. Yes, she is involved because everyone wants her to be involved and everyone keeps telling her things. But she does the smart thing and informs the detectives about everything. I liked that Krissy did not attempt to add things to her plate when things were already overflowing for her.

One thing that pauses me from giving it 5 stars is that I felt the pacing was slow. The ending felt like it was wrapped up pretty quickly because the word count was already exceeded. The ending felt a lot like a cop-out because quite a few things were left unexplained with a very spiritual answer provided as closure. Yes, that works in real life, but that’s why we read fiction, especially cozies, because we know that there will always be a bow-wrapped ending. I missed that in this book. Also, the way it ended, I got a weird vibe that Alex Erickson is planning to wrap up the series. I hope not. Although this is not my favourite, I want to very much continue with Krissy’s journey.

Would I recommend it?

Sixteen books into the Bookstore Cafe Mystery series, and I’m still showing up for Krissy Hancock every time, even when this one wasn’t my favorite installment. What sold me wasn’t the murder mystery itself but watching Krissy actually behave like a real, exhausted bride-to-be instead of a superhero sleuth. The pacing dragged and the ending leaned a little too hard on a spiritual hand-wave instead of a proper wrap-up, so it’s not a perfect entry. Still, Alex Erickson knows this world too well for me to give up on it now. Mark your calendar for October 27, because this one’s worth adding to your TBR.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

5 Book Recommendations

1. Death by Coffee by Alex Erickson (Bookstore Cafe Mystery #1) If Death by Red Velvet Latte has you missing Krissy before the wedding stress, go back to where it all started, when she first opened Death by Coffee and stumbled into her very first murder.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

2. Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #1) Another wedding gone wrong at a bakery, this time with cupcakes instead of cake, and a bridezilla dead before the first bite is ever served.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

3. On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle (Coffeehouse Mystery #1) For the coffee obsessed who need their next caffeine fix in book form, this one hands the espresso machine over to Clare Cosi at New York’s Village Blend.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

4. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen Mystery #1) Since Krissy’s cookie-soaked coffee habit is basically a personality trait at this point, meet the queen of cookie-shop cozies herself, Hannah Swensen.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

5. Peach Pies and Alibis by Ellery Adams (Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery #2) Another baker juggling a wedding catering job and a body count, proof that in cozy world, nobody’s engagement party goes off without a murder.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

Bittersweet Endings: What Do You Say?

Do you forgive an ending that leans on fate instead of a proper reveal, as long as the ride there was worth it? And if you’ve read the Bookstore Cafe Mystery series, did this one give you the same “is this the last one” feeling I got? Let me know in the comments.

Book Links

Want to purchase this or any of your favorite books while supporting a local bookstore? Consider purchasing using the sites below. These sites work with independent local bookstore owners to fulfill your book orders. #SupportLocal

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