Shoals of red herrings abound, but Lily and her delightful friends winnow out the big fish.
A missing will, a lot of money, and a dysfunctional family add up to murder.
Lily Roberts left her job as a high-powered Manhattan pastry chef to return to Cape Cod and open Tea by the Sea on the grounds of her grandmother’s high-end B&B. At an antiques fair she's attending with her best friend, Bernie, and her grandmother Rose to replenish her supply of teacups, Lily also decides at the last minute to purchase a delightful children’s tea set in a wicker box. The next morning, a pushy woman shows up demanding to buy not the set but the box. Kimberly Smithfield, who claims it belonged to her family and was sold accidentally, gets so nasty that Lily has to be rescued by Simon, her handsome English gardener. The next morning Kim returns, throws money at Lily, cuts open the lining of the box, and departs with a plain envelope, leaving everything else behind. Soon Kim, who’s recently married celebrity chef Wesley Schumann, the ex-boyfriend who drove Lily out of New York with his ferocious temper, is followed by her half sister, Rachel Morrison, a restaurant designer Lily knows from her time in New York. Rachel also wants what was in the box, which turns out to be a handwritten will in which their mother determines whether her residual legatee will be Kim, Rachel, or their brother. Soon after Kim and Wes move into Rose’s B&B, Lily stumbles upon Kim’s dead body and is forced to investigate before her business is ruined.
Shoals of red herrings abound, but Lily and her delightful friends winnow out the big fish.Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781496737724
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The appended specialty grilled cheese recipes and a hint of romance add spice to a promising new series.
Eschewing her beloved cats, last seen in The Girl With the Kitten Tattoo (2020), Reilly debuts a cheesy new series.
After the death of her husband, Carly Hale returns to her charming Vermont hometown and opens her dream restaurant devoted to all things grilled cheese. All goes well until her new landlord, Lyle Bagley, gives her notice that he plans to turn her shop into a boutique run by his girlfriend, Tiffany. When Tiffany finds Lyle dead in the alley behind the restaurant, Carly’s an obvious suspect, but there are many others who hated Lyle. Unfortunately, one of them is Carly’s valued worker, Suzanne, whose dicey position makes Carly decide to do a bit of sleuthing. The police chief is an old family friend who takes time from a rash of high-end burglaries to warn Carly to be careful. It turns out that Lyle was a dishonest slum landlord whose adoring secretary did his bidding and that his half brother, who’s still furious over not getting their father’s Cadillac, is back in town. The editor of the town’s free weekly newspaper, whom Carly once babysat, wants her to team up with him to find the killer. Getting help from friends who go all the way back to high school, Carly apparently spooks the culprit, whose threatening notes suggest that she may be slated to be the next victim.
The appended specialty grilled cheese recipes and a hint of romance add spice to a promising new series.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72823-832-6
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Once again, Muller combines a heartfelt but routine investigation with strong elements of a family reunion.
Just when you think things can’t get any worse for San Francisco, miscreants prowl the area determined to prove otherwise.
Someone has it in for several of the city’s privately owned roads. Now that vandals have dumped fertilizer, broken windows, spray-painted graffiti, and otherwise made life miserable for the residents of four different streets, a grassroots neighborhood coalition has hired private investigator Sharon McCone to keep an eye on Rowan Court, the most recent target, presumably so that she can report on the horse that’s already left the barn. A map that’s dropped off at the home of Ted Smalley, McCone’s office manager, sends her in a new direction, toward Herrera Terrace. Could that be the next spot the vandals have in mind? Why are they carrying out this campaign in the first place, and why are they tipping her off? McCone’s questioning of Theresa Segretti, her coalition contact at Rowan Court, and Sam Sage, an internet influencer/meth cooker on Bancroft Lane, comes up empty-handed. Meanwhile the latest casualties of the war on the streets are Sam’s meth lab and then Sam himself, whose flight to a cousin’s distant home extends his life by only a few hours. The motive for all this misbehavior is likely to puzzle readers a lot less than McCone and Hy Ripinsky, her husband and partner, but the identity of the perps is more surprising. Although you can see why Ripinsky announces at the end, “Well, McCone, this sure has been one of our more stressful experiences,” fans will probably nod in recognition rather than flinch under the stress.
Once again, Muller combines a heartfelt but routine investigation with strong elements of a family reunion.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781538724521
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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