Importance of Being Urnest

Maggy Thorsen Mystery #10

by Sandra Balzo

Maggy confronts a number of mysterious deaths and has an important decision to make about her future with Sheriff Jake Pavlik in the new Maggy Thorsen coffeehouse mystery.

The choice of an antique silver coffee urn as the final resting place for elderly Celeste Bouchard's ashes might seem a cruel joke. After all, the wealthy boutique owner was taken ill and died while daughter Hannah was off having lattes at Uncommon Grounds. But Maggy Thorsen, the coffeehouse’s owner, has more pressing things on her a jail break and subsequent shoot-out has forced her main squeeze, Sheriff Jake Pavlik, to take refuge with her.

And Maggy has a serious decision to marriage or not? And with an escaped convict still on the loose, Maggy suddenly has a difficult and dangerous puzzle to solve.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

192 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2017

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

[Kirsty ❤️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I managed to read this on the 4 hour train journey to where I was working this week. It's quite fun and even though it's a cosy murder story it felt for me more a story of all the inhabitants of the small town Maggy lives in. There was a lot of characters. I got very lost trying to work out who was who and who was important to the plot. I don't often get overwhelmed with numerous characters but there were too many here for me. 

It's a quick fun book and the main characters are interesting. I liked the mix of personalities. Not a bad way to spend a train ride.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maggy delves onto the deaths of 2 elderly friends

[Elite Group · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder, mystery and a cappuccino.

Maggy has a number of deaths to investigate, an important decision to make and her fiancé have been shot. Three ladies have newly arrived in the area of the Uncommon Grounds coffee shop. Soon two are dead and the third looks to inherit a lot of money as a result of their deaths.

There is also a fugitive on the loose after shooting the Sheriff and one of his men. It is a busy time for Maggy and her friends.

This book was not so much cosy as snoozy, I like a good cosy mystery, but this wasn’t one of them. I got bored very quickly and had a job to keep up with who was who and whether I really cared. It was predictable and really didn’t get going until the end and by then the damage was done. It may have been because this was not the first of the series and I haven’t read the others, so perhaps that may have been part of the problem.

It was not a good experience for me but have a go at reading it and see what you think.

Shesat.

Breakaway Reviewers were given a copy of the book to review

[Sue Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun entry in this cozy series. Maggy and her partner Sarah own the Uncommon Grounds coffee shop. One of the strengths of this series is the amusingly sarcastic dialog which really sounds like real people cracking wise.

A long-time group of friends meet Sunday mornings at Uncommon Grounds and the mother of one attendee passes away while there. That is only the start of a number of deaths in one. While Maggy helps her friends, her boyfriend sheriff Jake Pavlik is injured on the job and moves in with her to recuperate.

Maggy must figure out what is happening....and what her answer to Jake's marriage proposal is going to be.

[Cozybooklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a fan of this series for quite a while. I love Maggy and all the characters in this cozy series.
When a death strikes close to home, there seems to be some unanswered questions and Maggy can't help but get involved.
The twists and turns were exciting and I kept guessing who the guilty party was.

I do wish Maggy would marry Pavlik, I think they are both good for each other.
I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

I voluntarily read an ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Importance of Being Urnest by Sandra Balzo is the 10th book in the Maggy Thorsen mystery series, and my first book by this author. I was so lost with all the characters and trying to keep up, I did not finish this book. I am going to go back and read the series in order. I would not recommend this book as a stand alone.

I received this book for a fair and honest review.

[Lara Frater · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read but not her best.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coffee shop owner Maggy Thorsen’s world is turned upside down when two officers are shot — one of them her beloved Sheriff Jake Pavlik. The shootout occurs at Brookhills Manor, a nursing home, and it ties in to some other goings-on. But the most important matter in the book isn’t crime related: Maggy, still scarred from her first marriage, has been asked to enter into a second with Pavlik. Will she, or won’t she? Unlike Janet Evanovich, who dragged that same question in her Stephanie Plum novels out so long that it turned the series into an unreadable parody of itself, Sandra Balzo knows how to balance her suspense.

Maggy, sassy, clever and endlessly endearing, always delights, making this one of my very favorite series. A few regulars are back in The Importance of Being Urnest (which refers to a funerary urn, not a coffee urn), but most of them appear only in a mention, but readers won’t care because Maggy and Pavlik — and the two latest mysteries — are so compelling. Highly recommended.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Severn House in exchange for an honest review.

[Grace Koshida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uncommon Grounds coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorson confronts a number of mysterious deaths and has an important decision to make about her future with Sheriff Jake Pavlik. When elderly Celeste Bouchard dies while her daughter Hannah was having coffee at Maggy's shop, it seems at first to be just a sad death. Then a jailbreak, hostage-taking and subsequent shoot-out at a retirement home injure both Jake and another fellow police officer. Maggie decides to care for Jake upon his release from the hospital and maybe seriously consider his marriage proposal. When Celeste's elderly female "companion" Nancy dies of suffocation, it appears there is a wily killer on the loose. The process and rules of cremating bodies in Wisconsin is an important clue to solving this mystery.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Severn House with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic cozy set in a Wisconsin coffeehouse. This is the latest in a series and the uninitiated might find all the characters a tad confusing at first. Maggie, the owner of the coffeehouse and your intrepid investigator, is dealing with the death of one of her customers in the shop when things start to spiral. Her long time love Flavik is shot in an odd event and is recuperating at her home. Will these two- who have had an off and on relationship- finally get married? Will Maggie discover the causes of additional deaths? All good questions. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a quick read that will appeal to fans of the genre.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After starting this mystery, I realized that I needed to go back and read the series in order. This was my first encounter with this series and it's the 10th entry. No wonder I was confused and having a hard time finishing it. This is a series that, in my opinion, needs to be read in order. So, I gave it three stars because I was the reason it was hard to read and I am now on the hunt for the first book. I'm looking forward to catching up.
My thanks to the publisher Severn House and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coffee house owner Maggy Thorsen welcomes new customer Hannah, who is caring for her elderly mother and her mother's equally aged friend. Maggie also has many friends who live in the nearby retirement community. When Hannah's mother dies, Maggie's bipolar partner Sarah suspects Hannah of having helped the woman along. Meanwhile, Maggie's significant other, the local sheriff Pavlik, is involved in a shootout at the retirement community, where an escaped convict is hiding in his brother's room. There are, perhaps, too many characters for this to be a very clear read.

[Marie (UK) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea why people rate this so highly. I thought i was drunk through the first 3 chapters i was so unable to keep all the characters being introduced. The whole book was slow, the plot so thin it had holes in it and was in essence just a series of conversations finishing with a chapter to tell you what happened. There was nothing in the book to lead you to the finale and the whole was just boring. I wouldn't be tempted to anything else by this author

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a difficult story for me to get into---the opening dialog appeared haphazard and ragged, maybe even irrelevant-? Pushing past that...the story...hmmm-wow too much "personal chaos" from main character Maggie; for me this "interrupted" the flow of the actual mystery. Sigh, I get it--revealing Maggie's reluctance to marry had to come to a resolution but I would rather have had more of the mystery storyline.

[Groucho42 · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this one does have a mystery, it's on the back burner. As I enjoy characters, this was much more fun because that's what it focused upon. The only problem I had was that I'm getting really tired of Sarah being an ass. It has gotten old.

Speaking of old, this one has to do with an old folks home, a crematorium, and, oh, yeah, a murder.

[Linda Smatzny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mystery set around a coffee house. The main character is Maggy Thorsen who has been asked to marry by Sheriff Jake Pavlik. She is in love with Jake just not sure she wants to marry again. Also deaths keep occurring among the elderly and she had questions. The book was a quick easy read.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I shouldn't jump in to the middle of a series, but the review called it a "gentle mystery", and I could use that right now.

Update: i've finished. A quick read, lots of fun, but I'm not sure that the body count makes this a "gentle" cozy.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Series keeps getting better

If you like this series, you are going to love this book. The characters have really matured and Balzo's writing has really matured. Fun read different twists

[Nolan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may have unduly suffered because of the volunteer narration in Wisconsin. I'm glad there appear to be no more books in this series available through NLS. Highly unlikable characters and a plot that left me yawning and yearning for the next book.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

180 pages and it took me 3 weeks to read; enough said.

[Kyle Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the other books in the series this was a quick, comfortable read. The characters feel like friends. I'd actually give it 3 1/2 stars.

[NancyS · Rating 2 out of 5]

The dialogue in this book was way too silly for me.

[Eileen Lynx · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun fast read.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoy this series but this was quite slow and confusing at times .

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book was predictable and there were lot of mistakes by the author and very cheesy and unrealistic dialog. But managed to read it quickly so that was a plus.

[Peggy Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Maggy Thorsen, was pouring not only coffee drinks but great sluething!!!!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the series, but still really enjoyable. I love visiting Maggy Thorsen in Brookhills!

[Victoria Deacon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the most Scooby Doo book I’ve ever read.

[Kori · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Susan Sarabasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

cheap shots, rudeness, inuendo, snide remarks, etcAnd these are from so called ‘friends’. In this political climate there is no reason for me to read such negativity.