MURDER WITH LEMON TEA CAKES

By Karen Rose Smith

This New Year brings yet another new cozy series to fans. Titled Daisy’s Tea Garden Mysteries, readers are immediately drawn to main character, Daisy Swanson, and her beloved Aunt Iris.

Daisy is a widowed woman who works hard to be a good mom to her two teenagers. She owns Daisy’s Tea Garden which is set in an old Victorian located in the middle of Pennsylvania Amish country. Serving rich, memorable food along with a plethora of tea choices to the tourists and the community, Daisy and Iris have a daily schedule to keep. It’s only when Iris begins dating Harvey Fritz that things start to go awry.

Harvey is a wealthy chap but his current wife is not exactly on the ‘ex’ list. And one day the still-Mrs. Fritz shows up at a party being catered by Daisy and makes a massive scene that is the perfect set-up for murder. But when Harvey is taken out, there’s more than one suspect. Not only is Iris in line to take the rap because she was basically, the other woman; but Harvey’s grown children were also not all that happy with Dad considering they were going to be written out of his will. So…whodunit? You’re going to love finding out.

Thankfully, a former Philadelphia detective by the name of Jonas is on Daisy’s side and she has faith that he’ll help clear Iris’s name and find the real killer before Daisy and her Tea Garden go up in smoke.

Like all the good authors out there, readers can also add recipes to their cookbooks for: Daisy’s Leek and Potato Soup, Tessa’s Carrot Salad, and Iris’s Lemon Tea Cakes. The latter sounds as awesome as the story was. Great characters, great backstory, it will be hard waiting to see what happens next in Daisy’s world.