In Peppermint Peril: A Tea and a Read Mystery

Callie has come home to Heart's Harbor, Maine, to spend the holidays with her great aunt and help in her tearoom, the Book Tea. Helping to set up a special tea for childhood friends at her beloved Haywood Hall, she's shocked when the man who inspired her current career of travel guide and story teller is murdered during the tea. Setting up a rocky start with Deputy Falk when she questions his abilities to solve the crime, Callie delves right into the thick of things as she and her aunt attempt to play detective. Book 1 of this new series is filled with excellent characters. You truly feel the bittersweet reconnect of coming back home after having been gone for so long. The characters themselves are beautifully flawed which makes the character development all the greater. The dialogue is well-done. Nothing about it felt overly stilted or unnatural. There was a good pace between the action and stepping away from it. There was a nice mixture of the unexpected blended with the mundane of every day life. The mystery itself was excellent. I didn't guess it straight away at all. In fact, the big reveal felt a little sudden and from left field. I didn't exactly get how Callie suddenly came to put those particular pieces together but it may have had something to do with those she ruled out. All in all, I felt this was a wonderful book that I definitely recommend. I can't wait to read more of this series. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books, Joy Avon, and NetGalley for the chance to read this book and share my honest thoughts and opinions with others.

cozy-mystery It's basically a good cozy and the characters are interesting. But it just doesn't read like a series debut, there are disconnects that made me hunt around for parts of the backstory. Callie makes a good protagonist, and an excellent job is done in portraying Sheila as an insecure, thoughtless, controlling person who has to push her own agenda without a care for her daughter or for the person who really initiated the party. Initially there seems to have been no reason to single out the man who was murdered, but after some interesting twists and red herrings there really is a solution. I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.