“Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love” by Carlos Allende, $25.95 (Red Hen Press)
Allende’s take on the mystery novel is a darkly humorous one, and that’s a good thing. Dual narrators Charlie and Jignesh each tell their version of how Jignesh’s co-worker got murdered and wound up in the freezer Charlie was desperate to sell.
Jignesh has more mischievous intent in mind like a workplace fraud scheme that whips the two men into a frenzy of scenarios and possibilities that work primarily because the two characters are so different, and yet so devilishly quirky and likeable. In the end, it’s all good fun provided by two outspoken men with the kind of personality and razor-sharp wit that could carry a novel all on their own.