Story Musing: At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber

 

At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities

by Heather Webber

 

I’ve been a fan of Heather Webber’s writing for some time. I thoroughly enjoyed her Nina Quinn mysteries - a compulsively readable series that I wish hadn’t ended. I wrote a little bit about that series here https://storymusing.blogspot.com/2021/04/book-review-nine-quinn-mysteries-by.html

Her standalone novels often feature magical realism, another favorite genre for me. I reviewed Midnight at the Blackbird Café here https://storymusing.blogspot.com/2021/04/book-review-midnight-at-blackbird-cafe.html

At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities falls into the magical realism realm. It’s set in Driftwood, Alabama, on the coast. Maggie runs the coffee shop, Magpie’s, that her mother opened before she disappeared in a riptide swimming incident many years ago. Like a Magpie, Maggie collects little things and has an inspired ability to match people to these “treasures” that always mean more to them than anyone would suspect.

Driftwood is a close-knit community of wonderful quirky characters, very small town and homey. For example, Jolly Smith has a pet chicken that she walks with the Snail Slippers walking group. Sienna has coordination issues and is looking for a job where she doesn’t break everything. Estrelle makes pronouncements and has a terrible reputation for taking revenge, albeit in a witchy way, if someone does not follow her recommendations.

Everyone is very worried as Maggie’s father, Dez, has been acting a bit oddly. He’s talking about a ghost in the house and he has a tendency to collect things and not ever clear out. Then rumors start that he might be about to sell the coffee shop.

My heart rate skyrocketed. This didn’t make sense. My father wouldn’t sell the coffee shop. My mother’s coffee shop. Magpie’s was a fixture in Driftwood. It was the heart of this town. Closing it would be devastating.

Maggie’s blood pressure has been a threat lately, with a warning that she could have a stroke, and the rumors of her father selling the coffee shop don’t help.

In a fit of pique, Maggie posts an ad outside the coffee shop for someone to be a caretaker for her father and help him clean out his house. But she quickly takes it down.

Into this atmosphere drives Ava, half running from the terrible circumstances of her former boyfriend’s death and her own scary childhood of seizures. She’s been in remission from them, but something is going on and she’s scared they might come back.

Someone sent Ava the advertisement that Maggie put up then tore down and threw away. Ava has her own questions about how it arrived.

The letter had been sent by a dead man.

There was no doubt in my mind.

Fine. There was a little doubt. Okay, a lot of doubt. Buckets of it.

Everyone seems to have their own little secrets in this book, nothing too terrible, and some even they don’t know.

Along with her seizures, Ava has a hyperacute sense of smell and hearing that she doesn’t really want anyone to know about. They factor into the story in lovely ways. When Ava arrives at the coffee shop, there are a lot of sounds – “the blender, grinder, steamer, rattling ice, clank of silverware, music, and voices…..” But they somehow don’t overwhelm her. “Why did the whole town feel like a familiar song?”

Is it all coincidence, conniving trickery, unexplained but perfectly legitimate medical phenomenon, magic, or some otherworldly phenomenon?

I adore coincidences in fiction. I don’t need things to be scientifically and convincingly explained, as long as I’ve been given a good reason to suspend my disbelief. (Which is odd because the truth is that I’m something of a doubting Thomas in real life.)

The writing is lovely and humor features beautifully. There’s a dog that gives a quabark, half quack and half bark, according to Ava.

There are romantic interests for each Maggie and Ava, Donovan and Sam, that feature prominently in the story. They don’t have their own character arc, though they do have a little bit of mystery to their actions and motivations.

I love how you get Maggie and Ava’s perceptions about what is going on. They aren’t unrealiable narrators, but their perspective changes slightly as the story progresses and they find things out, which is real. It happens to all of us.

It was a very relaxing read, not too taxing or strenuous.

I anticipate reading more of Webber’s standalone novels and giving her Lucy Valentine mysteries a try soon.