Murder in a Cornish Teashop

Fighting Burnout by Solving a Murder 

This is the beginning of a new series with amateur sleuth Maddie Penrose. From the start, things are hopping with Maddie fighting an aging oven. 

Maddie is helping her grandmother at the teahouse on the family farm. I am a fan of bakery/teashop cozy mysteries and really wanted to like this one. Biggest problem - writing murder notes on recipes and not just any recipe, but family recipes meant to be passed down. I get how organizing notes like a recipe could help solve a murder, but why not write on an empty page structured like a recipe? Adding insult to injury was rolling up the recipe book and stuffing it in a jean pocket. I cringed when this came up.  Yeah, I know has nothing to do with the murder per se, but still cringed.  

There was no obvious reason why Maddie would jump into investigating the murder. I felt like it was a diversion for her to ignore the reasons she came to stay with Grandma Nor. I may not have the full backstory, but near the end, she began to address them. 

The murder investigation yielded some nice surprises, but the story seemed a bit slow.

Not a bad story, but the repeated reminder that Grandma Nor is 82 felt unnecessary, and I was glad when she put Maddie in her place about it. I did like that the conflict between law enforcement and the amateur sleuth made sense and was not forced. There is a backstory waiting to be shared between the sergeant and Nor/Maddie. It seems like more than just the fact that the “hunky” detective is showing interest in Maddie.

I do plan to read the next book in the series. I want to learn more about Grandma Nor; she makes some saucy comments that make me think there is more to her than meets the eye.

Thanks #NetGalley and #Bookouture for the opportunity to read and share my thoughts.

Happy Reading!