- Book: Murder at the Tea Shop
- Author: Alice Castle
- Publication Day: Nov 7th 2024
- Buy link(s): Amazon
Book description:
This cosy seaside village may seem picture perfect, but there are sketchy secrets hiding in plain sight…
Having left the big city behind, Sarah Vane is fully embracing her calmer life in the quaint coastal town of Merstairs. With more time for hobbies, she joins a very popular life drawing class at the local tea shop. But when their usual model, the ever-punctual Mr Williams, doesn’t turn up, Sarah’s worried. He’d been complaining of a cough just last week so she decides to check up on him.
Arriving at his crooked little cottage, it appears the front door isn’t quite shut. Stepping inside, Sarah is shocked to find Mr Williams slumped in his armchair. Casting her eyes down to his coffee table she sees a generous slice of Victoria sponge with one perfectly sized bite taken from it. Is this a case of death by cake?
As Sarah hunts around the cluttered cottage for clues, she finds that Mr Williams had a rather peculiar hobby. It seems that he was an avid collector of ladies’ delicates, and from the looks of it, all the washing lines of Merstairs have been raided. But could his quirky collection really be a motive for murder?
But then the case takes a darker turn when another elderly resident is found dead after eating a slice of red velvet cake. Sarah starts to wonder – why would anyone target pensioners with a sweet tooth? And in a village known for some of the best cakes in the county, can Sarah find the culprit before another life is taken?
A delightfully cozy, utterly compulsive and gripping murder mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Betty Rowlands and Katie Gayle who are looking for their next addictive read.
Sarah Vane has been in Merstairs long enough to get acclimated, so she’s started pursuing different activities around town. When their usually very reliable model doesn’t show up for art club, Sarah decides to check on him. She finds he’s very unwell indeed – in fact, dead, killed by a slice of poisoned Victoria sponge. The ensuing police investigation uncovers a rather distasteful habit the dead man had, and one that might have caused a good many people to feel less than charitable toward him. But would someone have killed over it? Daphne’s daughter Mariella is the detective on the case, but Sarah, Daphne, and Charles are in the thick of it.
The title didn’t really make sense to me, because the murder wasn’t actually at the tea shop, but Sarah did visit tea shops and other establishments where cakes were sold. One must investigate, you know, and how else to figure out where a cake slice came from than by buying cake from every shop in town? Our crime-solving trio was pretty tired of cake by the time they finished!
Sarah continues to be a delightful character, and I like Mariella more every time I see her. I was also glad to see a little progress toward a possible romance between Sarah and Charles. I still can’t really wrap my brain around Sarah and Daphne continuing as friends for the long term. There were a couple of moments in this book where Daphne struck me as positively obnoxious. She is not my favorite character.
The mystery was sufficiently twisty, although the motive seemed a bit thin as a reason for a murder (or two). I would understand being upset, but killing someone over this was a stretch. Still, I like following along with Sarah’s thought processes as she unravels clues, and Hamish is always a treat. I love how he’s pining away for Charles’ much snootier Chihuahua. One of these days he’ll win her heart, I just know it.
Murder at the Tea Shop is wonderfully cozy and a lot of fun to read. It can be read as a stand-alone, although you’ll get more of the backstory if you start at the beginning of the series. Perfect for reading while curled up with a blanket and mug of hot chocolate!
Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the publisher. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
About the author:
Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her latest cozy mystery, set in fictional seaside town Merstairs, stars retired GP Sarah Vane. It will be published in July by Bookouture, who also publish Alice’s nine-book Beth Haldane Mysteries series set in south east London. Alice also writes psychological thrillers for HQDigital as A.M. Castle.
