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Sandra Balzo
Newest Release
A native of southeastern Wisconsin, USA, Sandra Balzo currently splits her time between Florida and the High Country of North Carolina. She turned to mystery writing after twenty years in corporate public relations, event management and publicity. Her novels have been nominated for both the Anthony and Macavity awards and received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist. In addition to her books about coffee-maven Maggy Thorsen and displaced journalist AnnaLise Griggs, Balzo writes short stories, two of which have been published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, winning the Macavity, Derringer and Robert L. Fish awards. She has handled publicity for three Bouchercons (World Mystery Conventions), as well as the International Association of Crime Writers, and has served as a national board member of Mystery Writers of America.
Full Series List in Order
A Maggy Thorsen Mystery
1 - Uncommon Grounds (Sep-2005)2 - Grounds for Murder (Dec-2007)
3 - Bean There, Done That (Sep-2008)
4 - Brewed, Crude and Tattooed (Jun-2009)
5 - From the Grounds Up (Mar-2010)
6 - A Cup of Jo (Oct-2010)
7 - Triple Shot (Dec-2011)
8 - Murder on the Orient Espresso (Dec-2013)
9 - To the Last Drop (Nov-2016)
10 - Importance of Being Urnest (Dec-2017)
11 - Murder a la Mocha (Jan-2019)
12 - Death of a Bean Counter (Apr-2020)
13 - Flat White (May-2021)
14 - The Big Steep (Jan-2022)
15 - French Roast (Dec-2022)
16 - Any Pot in a Storm (Sep-2023)
Main Street
1 - Running on Empty (Apr-2011)2 - Dead Ends (Sep-2012)
3 - Hit and Run (Sep-2014)
Book List in Order: 21 titles
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Uncommon Grounds
- Sep-2005
- / Mystery
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Nothing marks opening day at a chic new gourmet coffee shop like an espresso machine rigged for death. When Patricia Harper, one of the three owners of Uncommon Grounds, is electrocuted while frothing the first latte, it's up to partner and coffee ma...
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Grounds for Murder
- Dec-2007
- / Mystery
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Self-made espresso bar owner Maggy Thorsen would rather be whipping up steam with her sexy sheriff boyfriend than organizing a barista competition. But the big Java Ho convention, the coffee industry's seasonal trade show, has come to Milwaukee. And ...
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Bean There, Done That
- Sep-2008
- / Mystery
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When Maggy Thorsen's ex-husband's trophy wife shows up at her door, pleading for help, Maggy could have said no. But perhaps her maternal instincts overpowered reason -- after all, Rachel was barely older than Maggy's college-age son. Or maybe she fe...
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Brewed, Crude and Tattooed
- Jun-2009
- / Mystery
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A freak snowstorm in early May strands coffee house proprietress Maggy Thorsen in her store, Uncommon Grounds, with no power and no plows in sight. There's not much to do but commiserate with the other tenants of the strip mall and wait. That is, unt...
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From the Grounds Up
- Mar-2010
- / Mystery
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THE BEST-BREWED PLANS… By now, the only thing Maggy Thorsen can trust to stay smooth in her life is her coffeehouse's specialty roast. Though she's got wealthy real estate agent Sarah as her new partner, Maggy has only three months to renovate ...
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A Cup of Jo
- Oct-2010
- / Mystery
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The new ‘Maggy Thorsen’ caffeine cozy - Maggy Thorsen's heart, uncharacteristically, is swelling with optimism. Sure, her original Wisconsin coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, was destroyed in a freak blizzard. But, with new business partner Sarah Ki...
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Running on Empty
- Apr-2011
- / Mystery
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Home, Sweet Homicide… A frantic call sends reporter AnnaLise Griggs back home to Sutherton, North Carolina. Her mother's confusion and memory problems nearly caused her to drain all the blood out of the mayor's mother at the annual drive. The...
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Triple Shot
- Dec-2011
- / Mystery
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There's a chill in the Wisconsin air, and it's a shot in the arm -- a triple espresso shot -- to Uncommon Grounds, the Brookhills coffeehouse owned by Maggy Thorsen and real estate maven Sarah Kingston. Their new autumn drink is a huge success. B...
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Heaven's Fire
- Apr-2012
- / Romantic Suspense
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"Heaven's Fire" may be what Pasquale Firenze, patriarch of the family-owned Firenze Fireworks, calls his painting of the night sky with light, color and sound, but television producer Wendy "Jake" Jacobus has more practical considerations than her fe...
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Murder on the Orient Espresso
- Dec-2013
- / Mystery
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It’s November and Maggy Thorsen, co-owner of the Wisconsin gourmet coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, is in South Florida at an annual crime-writers’ conference with her beau, local sheriff Jake Pavlik, who is due to speak as a ‘forensics expert’...
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Hit and Run
- Sep-2014
- / Mystery
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AnnaLise’s philandering father’s attempt to ‘do right’ by his many heirs goes deadly wrong Journalist AnnaLise Griggs' return to her hometown in North Carolina's western mountains has led to some unexpected surprises -- most notably the di...
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To the Last Drop
- Nov-2016
- / Cozy Mystery
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Maggy Thorsen returns in this brand-new coffeehouse mystery, where the death of her ex-husband's colleague leads to events that hit Maggy close to home - in more ways than one... Maggy Thorsen's shock at finding her ex-husband Ted in a fight with ...
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Importance of Being Urnest
- Dec-2017
- / Mystery
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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 ...
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Murder a la Mocha
- Jan-2019
- / Cozy Mystery
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Coffee, a canine and a corpse: a bad feeling leads to an even worse discovery when Maggy tries to return a Chihuahua to its owners in the new coffeehouse mystery. Maggy Thorsen’s evening with her fiancé Sheriff Jake Pavlik and his parents in Ch...
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Culinary Criminality
- Dec-2019
- / Mystery
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UNCOMMON GROUNDSA 21st-century spin on the traditional cozy— Maggy Thorsen, a divorcée whose husband left her for a 24 year old, is eager to open a coffee shop, Uncommon Grounds, in the small Wisconsin town of Brookhills. In a world whe...
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Death of a Bean Counter
- Apr-2020
- / Mystery
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Trouble is brewing for coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen when her barista's wealthy beau is murdered. Maggy Thorsen's head is spinning thanks to partner Sarah Kingston's latest idea â€" selling luxe espresso machines in their Wisconsin coffeehouse, ...
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Flat White
- May-2021
- / Cozy Mystery
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Coffee and romance - the perfect way to warm a freezing winter at Uncommon Grounds! Until Maggy Thorsen's new barista's beau turns up on the doorstep, bringing a deadly chill with him... Maggy Thorsen and her business partner Sarah Kingston have t...
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The Big Steep
- Jan-2022
- / Cozy Mystery
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Wisconsin coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen attempts to solve a mystery steeped in shocking family secrets, tragedy and murder. Maggy Thorsen's new neighbours, Philip and Vivian Woodward, are forging ahead with their plans for The Big Steep tea shop. ...
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French Roast
- Dec-2022
- / Cozy Mystery
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Things go from bad to worse for Wisconsin coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen when her cousin Jacque Oui finds himself in hot water.Coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen's cousin, Jacque Oui, is in trouble. Big trouble! Not only is his cash-strapped Schultz's ...
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Any Pot in a Storm
- Sep-2023
- / Cozy Mystery
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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...
