Any Pot in a Storm

Maggy Thorsen Mystery #16

by Sandra Balzo

Trouble is brewing for coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen when she's caught up in a storm – and murder – at a writers' retreat.

Coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen has reluctantly travelled north with her business partner, Sarah Kingston, to cater for a weekend writers’ retreat at Payne Lodge log cabin. The remote location deep in the Wisconsin forest is the perfect setting for mystery writing workshops . . . and murder.

Maggy’s no fan of the outdoors, but forest bugs are the least of her worries when lightning strikes the lodge during a storm and she and Sarah discover the body of the retreat’s organiser, editor of the local newspaper and president of the Brookhills Writers’ Club, Kate McNamara. It seems that Kate had annoyed many of the retreat’s attendees, but who hated her enough to plot her murder?

Genres: Mystery

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2023

About the author

Sandra Balzo is an award-winning author of crime fiction, including fourteen books in two mystery series--one set outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the other in the High Country of North Carolina. MURDER a la Mocha, the eleventh Maggy Thorsen Wisconsin coffeehouse mystery, will be released in January, and the series has been optioned for development as a TV series/film.

Balzo's books have garnered starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, while being recommended to readers of Janet Evanovich, Charlaine Harris, Joan Hess and Margaret Maron.

In addition to Twitter and her website, Sandy also hangs out at https://www.facebook.com/SandraBalzoM... and http://pinterest.com/sandrabalzo/

Reviews

[Ivonne Rovira]

Much against their better judgment, Maggy Thorsen and caterer Tien Romano allow themselves to be persuaded to provide the food and beverages at a writers’ workshop at the isolated Payne Lodge in northern Wisconsin. Maggy, co-owner of coffee shop Uncommon Grounds, almost immediately regrets allowing her prickly partner Sarah Kingston to talk her into traveling hours to northern Wisconsin. The place is mosquito-ridden, run down, and being hit by a severe thunderstorm. But the trouble is just starting.

Unscrupulous reporter Kate McNamara (who we first met in the debut novel in this series, Uncommon Grounds) has made herself the president of the Brookhills Writers’ Club, and nearly everyone at the retreat has good reason to dislike her. So no reader will be surprised when grating Kate turns up dead. But who hated Kate enough to murder her?

This 16th hilarious novel in a fun series shows Maggy far from her Brookhills stomping ground, and readers will enjoy the fish-out-of-water element. As always, author Sandra Balzo provides amusing banter, memorable characters and a great plot. And what a shocking ending! Five coffee-flavored stars!

[Susan]

Barista and coffee house owner Maggie Thorsen is persuaded to travel to a remote hunting lodge with a writers' group from her home town, including her business partner Sarah, for a retreat at which Maggie will provide the coffee. When they get there, the group leader, who owns the local newspaper, antagonizes all the guests just before a storm strikes. The power goes out, and the group leader is found murdered. The lodge owner, who had provided financing for the newspaper, confides that she'd left her money to the group leader, and Maggie suspects that someone expected to inherit in the dead woman's place. Maggie's fiance, the sheriff in their home county, is not available, nor is phone or internet service, and the driveway is blocked by a massive tree that crashed during the storm. Can Maggie get herself and her friends--minus any murderers--out of the woods in one piece?

[Linda Smatzny]

Story is set in northern Wisconsin with Maggy Thorsen and Sarah Kingston are invited to take part in a writers retreat. Maggy is there along with another woman to cater the event while Sarah is there to participate in the retreat. Things begin badly and only worsen. The book was an easy read.

[Farah G]

No lover of the great outdoors, coffee shop owner Maggy Thorsen is already reluctant to venture into the wilds of the Wisconsin forests to cater to a writer's retreat event. If she had any idea how "unique" an experience awaited her, she would flatly have refused to go.

After arriving at the Payne Lodge log cabin with her colleague Sarah, Maggy discovers a secluded place well-suited to unleashing the creative imagination. Even more so for a gathering of murder mystery writers.

Just about prepared to encounter various creepy-crawlies in the wilderness, Maggy is certainly not expecting to find what is in store for her at the retreat.

In the midst of a storm, she and Sarah stumble across an actual murder - the corpse of retreat organiser and local newspaper editor, Kate McNamara.

But while no great shakes in the popularity stakes, could Kate really have upset one of the writers badly enough for one of them to off her?!

With all the oddball writers in residence, finding the perpetrator may be easier said than done. Though there's no doubt the members of this group would not have trouble coming up with ideas for how to pull off a spot of murder and mayhem...


This is a light-hearted cosy mystery that nevertheless offers some solid writing and an interesting cast of characters. A fun read, especially if you're looking for a change of pace from gritty thrillers and the like.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Janaya Kabamba]

This felt a lot more lighthearted than a pot of the murder mysteries I read but it works well for the characters and the plot. It was a quick read but the characters all felt well developed and I enjoyed the locked room style mystery. It was actually a nice change form the amount of murder/ thrillers I've read recently where gore for shock factor seem to be the main factor. This just relied on good writing, well formed characters and a good plot

[Madeleine D'Este]

A fun cosy crime set in a remote lodge during a storm - with a cast of quirky characters as the finger is pointed from one potential suspect to another.

[Kiri Scherer]

A great little short story! This is number 16 in a series I think but read like a stand alone. Can't wait to read the others in the series!

[Nancy]

I’ve read all of these. The banter between Maggy and Sarah was unbearable and I won’t read any more. It was just mean and hateful.

[Kyle Fisher]

This should be a 3.5. It’s like a closed room mystery but set in a cabin in the woods in northern Wisconsin.

[Lynn Langenfeld]

One of the best in the series.

Fast paced and engaging read! And Maggie sharing! Loved it was a team effort reminiscent of Agatha Christie. Must read