Ellie Alexander: Sloan Krause Mysteries

Death on Tap by Ellie Alexander is the next book that I am featuring as part of my Most Popular and Recommended Cozy Mystery Series posts. Death on Tap introduces Sloan Krause, a craft beer expert who works at a family brewery in Leavenworth, Washington.  Within the first few pages of the story, Sloan catches her husband cheating on her with a barmaid, and she leaves him and joins a new brewery called Nitro. There she meets Garrett Strong, a handsome brewmaster who is the owner of the newest microbrewery in town.

The story takes place in Leavenworth, Washington, a small town that has a Bavarian theme and attracts tourists and beer lovers with its festivals and breweries. When I say small town, I mean really small town with maybe 2000 full-time residents. Thus, when Sloan, who had been married for around 15 years to Mac, discovers him with another woman, she is mortified that everyone will find out or, even worse, already knows about his cheating. So, she lies low for a few weeks, kicks Mac out of the house, and finds a job with another brewery since she can’t see herself continuing to work beside Mac in his family’s brewery.  

Before too long, there is a murder and Sloan feels compelled to try to solve the mystery of who committed the first such crime in town in many years.

Death on Tap is perfect for fans of Cozy Mysteries who enjoy quirky characters, witty dialogue, delicious food descriptions, and especially beer information in a very a cozy setting. The book is also great for beer enthusiasts who want to learn more about craft beer and its origins. 

I was especially impressed by the quality of the writing. The style is concise and precise. There are not too many flowery descriptions and the story (written in the first person from Sloan’s perspective), jumps from one important scene to another. I have to admit, I appreciated for once that the murder did not take place until maybe 20-30 percent into the book. Despite the apparently slow pace that this suggests, the introduction of Sloan and the town is written in a way that I found hard to put down.

Anyway, I guess I’m just trying to say that I really enjoyed Death on Tap.

As a side note, Ellie Alexander has also written the Bakeshop Mystery Series which I wrote about back in 2021 — here’s a link to that post if you are interested.

And, finally she also has written under what I believe is her real name, Kate Dyer-Seeley.

If you’re interested in seeing some of the other entries I’ve written on other highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.