MURDER WITH CINNAMON SCONES – Karen Rose Smith
A Daisy Tea Garden Mystery, Book 2
Kensington
ISBN: 978-1-61773-962-0
June 2018
Cozy Mystery

January in Willow Creek, Pennsylvania, 

Business slows down in the small town of Willow Creek in the winter, so the local merchants are planning a Quilt Lovers Weekend to attract tourists and townsfolk. The area has a community of Amish and others who sew wonderful quilts. Daisy Swanson, who with her Aunt Iris, owns Daisies Tea Garden where they serve delicious baked goods, soups, and other delights along with various tasty teas from around the world. Daisy's best friend, Tessa Miller, lives upstairs in the old Victorian and works as Daisy's kitchen manager. Tessa is currently dating Reese Masemer who owns an art gallery in town. It looks pretty serious between the two, but Reese is suddenly found dead near a covered bridge. Tessa often paints in the area and the local detective in charge of the case zeroes in on Tessa as the prime suspect. This is not the first time Daisy has had dealings with Detective Rappaport. (See book one in the series, Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes.) Daisy soon sets out to help her friend . . . a dangerous thing to do, as it turns out.

Just as reading MURDER WITH CINNAMON SCONES may make you a bit hungry, it will involve you in the story with its many well-done characters. Among the local citizens and outsiders there are the widowed Daisy's two teen-age daughters, her parents and aunt, all with personalities and involvements of their own, as well as her employees who are like another family.

In her investigations, Daisy is helped by a friend, Jonas Groft, an ex-Pittsburgh detective who now builds and sells furniture in his own shop. As they get closer to the victim's secret past, will they get closer to each other?

Ms. Smith has many cozy mysteries to her credit, some running to long series, but I don't see mention of more Tea Garden adventures as yet. Don't miss this good read with recipes at the end. I'll keep my fingers crossed.


Jane Bowers