THE DEVIL’S BEACH BEACON/Your Hometown Newspaper
HEADLINE: Coffee Shop Owner a Devil’s Beach Native
SUBHED: Ex-journalist Lana Lewis takes the helm at island’s most popular café
By Mike Heller
Publisher
Page One

DEVIL’S BEACH, Fla. _ There’s a sign in Perkatory, the iconic local island café, that captures the spirit of the woman who runs it.

Coffee. Cookies. Books. Grind on.

It’s the personal motto of Lana Lewis, Perkatory’s co-owner. Lewis, who is 30, is a Devil’s Beach native who left the island when she attended the University of Florida. Post-graduation, her journalism career took her to Miami, where she worked for the Tribune and was an award-winning reporter. Now she’s returned to the island and is managing her family’s coffee shop.

Perkatory has been a Devil’s Beach institution for years, having been started by Lewis’s parents, Peter and Nanci Lewis. It’s the hub of all social life here on the island, and the place to find rich coffee and juicy local gossip.

Lana Lewis sat down with The Beacon for this week’s Newsmaker Notes.

BEACON: What are your earliest coffee memories?
LANA LEWIS: My mother was a coffee buyer, so she’d travel the Caribbean and Central America to purchase beans for various roasters in the U.S. She’d leave for a week at a time when I was young, and when she returned, she’d always bring home her latest discovery. I begged her for coffee because I loved the aroma, and when I was eight, I remember her making a pot of stovetop espresso and mixing a little bit in with warm milk. She handed it to me, and said, “here’s your first latte.” It was like an entirely new world opened up for me. After that, I was hooked. Later, I ended up traveling with my mother to the Caribbean on her coffee trips, which were fascinating.

BEACON: What’s your favorite coffee drink?
LANA LEWIS: Right now my favorite drink at Perkatory is something new that my friend and Perkatory’s new barista Erica Penmark has created. It’s called a rosemary latte. It contains simple syrup made with rosemary, honey, caramel powder, whole milk, and of course, espresso. We garnish it with a sprig of rosemary. It’s like the essence of the Mediterranean in a cup, and it’s so delicious!

BEACON: Tell us about a typical day running Perkatory.
LANA LEWIS: I wake up early, at around five-thirty, then take my puppy Stanley for a quick walk. After that, I usually walk or bike to the café — I only live a couple of blocks away — and open for the morning rush. Mornings are the busiest time at Perkatory. By eleven, things have slowed a little and I’m able to do some errands, then we get slammed again around lunch. By that time, the afternoon baristas come in — my dad is usually on that shift — and I go home and let Stanley out. The rest of the day is spent on paperwork and making the cold brew for the next morning. We sell out of our cold brew every day.

BEACON: What about your personal life? What’s it like being a young, single woman on Devil’s Beach?
LANA LEWIS: <Pauses> Can I say no comment?
BEACON: <Laughs> No.
LANA LEWIS: <Sighs> Okay. Being single is a mixed bag here on the island. The nightlife is pretty good, with all the bars and clubs on the beach, but there are so many tourists that it’s hard to find someone who wants to settle down. But, uh, I’m not looking to meet anyone. I know that the rumor mill is strong here on Devil’s Beach, so here goes. I’ve been divorced for more than a year, and now I’m dating someone new. <pauses> Okay, fine. I’ll tell you everything. I’m dating Noah Garcia, the police chief here on the island. We met when he came into the café and we started dating last year.

BEACON: Tell us about your most recent challenging moment.
LANA LEWIS: Last year one of our baristas, a man named Fabrizio Bellucci, was found dead in the alley behind Perkatory. Well, actually, I found his body. Fabrizio lived on the fourth floor of the building, above the café. My family owns the entire building, and ah, authorities thought he’d committed suicide by jumping off the roof. Because I used to be a crime journalist, I didn’t believe he’d take his own life, and I started to investigate. Let’s just say it was difficult to get to the truth of what happened to Fab. May he rest in peace.

To find out more about Lana Lewis, her relationship with Noah Garcia, and the death of Fabrizio Bellucci, buy Grounds For Murder by Tara Lush.

Grounds For Murder is the first book in the NEW “Coffee Shop” cozy mystery series, released December 8, 2020.

When Lana Lewis’ best — and most difficult — employee abruptly quits and goes to work for the competition just days before the Sunshine State Barista Championship, her café’s chances of winning the contest are creamed. In front of a gossipy crowd in the small Florida town of Devil’s Beach, Lana’s normally calm demeanor heats to a boil when she runs into the arrogant java slinger. Of course, Fabrizio “Fab” Bellucci has a slick explanation for jumping ship. But when he’s found dead the next morning under a palm tree in the alley behind Lana’s café, she becomes the prime suspect.

Even the island’s handsome police chief isn’t quite certain of her innocence. But Lana isn’t the only one in town who was angry with Fabrizio. Jilted lovers, a shrimp boat captain, and a surfer with ties to the mob are all suspects as trouble brews on the beach.

With her stoned, hippie dad, a Shih Tzu named Stanley, and a new, curious barista sporting a punk rock aesthetic at her side, Lana’s prepared to turn up the heat to catch the real killer. After all, she is a former award-winning reporter. As scandal hangs over her beachside café, can Lana clear her name and win the championship — or will she come to a bitter end?

Purchase Link

Meet the author
Tara Lush is a Florida-based novelist and journalist. She’s an RWA Rita finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow and the winner of the George C. Polk award for environmental journalism. For the past decade, she’s been a reporter with The Associated Press, covering crime, alligators, natural disasters and politics. She also writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations. Tara is a fan of vintage pulp fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, 1980s fashion, tropical chill, kombucha, gin, tonic, seashells, true crime podcasts, Art Deco, telenovelas, street art, coconut anything, strong coffee and newspapers. She lives on the Gulf coast with her husband and two dogs.

All comments are welcomed.