Beyond a Reasonable Stout

Author: Ellie Alexander
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Type: e-book
Series: #3 in the Sloan Krause craft beer mystery series
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Minotaur Books
First Published: Oct 1, 2019
Opening Lines: "Can you hear that?" I asked Garrett as I dumped a box of fresh Chinook hops into the shiny stainless-steel fermenting tank.

Book Description from GoodReads: Amateur sleuth Sloan Krause delves into the murderous political world in another delightful mystery from popular cozy writer Ellie Alexander.

It's the dead season in Leavenworth, Washington. The throngs of Oktoberfest crowds have headed home, and the charming Bavarian streets are quiet and calm--momentarily. Villagers use the reprieve to drink in the crisp fall mountain air and prepare for the upcoming winter light festival. Soon the German-inspired shops and restaurants will be aglow with thousands of twinkling lights. Visitors will return to the northern Cascades to drink warm mulled cider and peruse the holiday markets. Brewer, Sloan Krause and her partner in crime Garrett Strong are using the slowdown to stock up on a new line of their signature craft beers at Nitro. They're experimenting with a hoppy holiday pine and a chocolate hazelnut stout. The small brewery is alive with delicious scents and bubbling batches of brew.

Sloan is in her element. She loves the creativity and lowkey atmosphere at Nitro. Only that is soon threatened by the incumbent city councilmember Kristopher Cooper. Kristopher is running for re-election on a platform of making Leavenworth dry. Everyone in beertopia is fuming. Leavenworth's economy relies on keeping the kegs flowing. Kristopher wants to banish beer, a policy that might just bankrupt the entire village. However, Kristopher turns up dead days before election night. Sloan quickly realizes that his murder isn't the work of a stranger. Friends, family, and every other business owner had a motive to kill him, including none other than April Ablin, Leavenworth's self-described ambassador of all things German. Sloan finds herself defending April and trying to sleuth out a killer amongst a group of familiar faces.

My Rating: 4 stars

My Review: This is the third book in the Sloan Krause cozy series. Over the past couple of weeks, I've enjoyed the first two books in the series which, like many cozies, provides the reader with the requisite quaint setting, small town feel and a light mystery. The books also give readers interesting tidbits on the world of craft brewing.

This was an entertaining, lighter mystery. There are a few red herrings but the hints to the identity of the culprit were fairly obvious making the ending less surprisingly than expected. Still enjoyable, just not shocking. The beer info and, particularly, the mystery of Sloan's murky past are what have kept me coming back to this series but the plot about Sloan's unknown past is beginning to feel dragged out. My interest is still piqued but I'm hoping to quench my thirst for closure to that part of the story.

Overall, this is an entertaining addition to this light mystery series that is a perfect pick as we begin to get in the spirit of Oktoberfest (at least in my neck of the woods). 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this title, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.