Without a Brew

In Alexander’s well-crafted fourth mystery featuring microbrewer Sloan Krause (after 2019’s Beyond a Reasonable Stout), Sloan—along with her boss, Garrett , and her coworker, Kat —launch a bed and breakfast above Nitro, Garrett’s brewery in Leavenworth, Wash. Their guests range from a self-important corporate vice president and his friends on a skiing vacation to a couple taking an anniversary getaway. Then there’s distraught Liv Paxton, who says she’s in town from Spokane on some unspecified business. After Liv’s body turns up in the river, her car is vandalized, and her room is ransacked, Sloan begins to wonder about the reasons for Liv’s trip, potential grudges against Liv held by the other guests, and puzzling accounts from local mechanic Taylor , who constantly contradicts himself about Liv. Meanwhile, Sloan butts heads with her soon-to-be-former in-laws about her share in their business and their lack of candor about their relationship with her birth mother. Alexander excels in balancing Sloan’s sleuthing with brewery lore. Readers will be eager to learn more about Sloan’s roots in her next outing. (Nov.)