What to Read this Summer

 
 What to Read this Summer

Murder Spills the Tea by Vicki Delany-- Cozy Mystery

Thank you to Kensington for a free advanced reading copy. All opinions expressed in this review are all my own and not affected by the gift.

Lily has been signed up, against her will, for America Bakes! a popular TV contest. Lily wants nothing to do with being on TV but Rose and Bernie insisted. The crew are staying at the B&B and Rose believes the publicity will be good for business. Lily is swamped with business right now and doesn't really have time to be on TV but she goes along with it. Filming baking for TV is nothing like it is in real life and Lily is close to her wit's end. When bad boy judge Tommy Greene purposefully trips her waitress, Marybeth, and proceeds to insult Marybeth and insist Lily fire her, Lily has had enough. To make matters worse, the owner of the local bakery is Lily's competition and come to spy and throw accusations at Lily. When Lily tries to quit, the director threatens to sue her for breach of contract. She can only continue and hope the torture doesn't last too long. Early the next morning while opening her kitchen, Lily discovers Tommy Greene bashed in the head with her marble rolling pin! Not again! This time she'll leave it to the police to discover the murderer and stick to baking. However, when Detective Williams sets his sights on Lily's waitress Cheryl, who is Marybeth's mother, Lily has no choice but to go along with Bernie and Rose's plans to get involved. Can she solve this one before Cheryl is arrested for a crime Lily is sure she didn't commit?

I liked this third book best of the three so far. The story stays focused on the mystery and the baking without veering off into the insane antics of the two sidekicks. Even Bernie remains more focused this time. I still think Chuck Williams needs to be sacked. He's still a pompous fool. I had the same list of suspects as Bernie but I discounted the obvious ones. I changed my mind about who I thought it was and ended up being right about the murderer, but I won't tell you if it was my initial top suspect. The murder doesn't make a whole lot of sense but it doesn't seem to have been premeditated.

Lily does not have any interest on being on TV. Her passion is baking. Baking makes sense. You follow a formula and end up with something delicious. She also feels no need to compete with the North Augusta Bakery. Comparing the two is not like comparing apples and oranges but like comparing Hostess and Entenmenns. There's some overlap in the types of food they make but they're different. Lily hosts a tea room for an indulgent experience where people come to linger and enjoy the whole experience. The bakery is your standard café where people can sit down to eat for soups and sandwiches or grab a tasty treat. I don't know why the owner, Allegra is such a witch. Allegra feels antagonistic towards Lily for no good reason. She makes assumptions about Lily's personality and motivations which could not be farther from the truth. Lily goes way out of her way to be nice to this woman. I would have stayed away from the crazy. Lily has enough crazy in the form of her grandmother, Rose.

Rose's helpless little old lady act fools only those who don't know her. She's conniving and spunky. She likes to be in the thick of things and know everything that's going on. Encouraging Lily to spy on the police questioning suspects is unethical but how else is the reader supposed to know what is going on since the story is told from Lily's point-of-view. I don't mind it although I would be furious in real life if someone did that to me. Bernie claims to be sticking to the outline Lily made her submit and writing is going well. She still makes time to investigate though and to appear on TV. Rose and Bernie have big egos and should back off when Lily asks them to. Bernie's romance with Matt seems to be progressing slightly-I hope. At least she's willing to hang out with him and stopped sparring with him.

Lily's romance is still stalled. She's attracted to Simon and feels jealous that he's gotten close to Det. Amy Redmond but still won't date him. He's CLEARLY into her and such a great friend. I can see why Lily wants to keep him at arm's length but how about an adult discussion on what his plans are for after the summer? How about she tell him she's attracted to him, enjoys his company but doesn't want to start a relationship that won't go anywhere. Move over Lily because Simon is swoony!

Cheryl Wainright is a Mama Bear when it comes to her family. She will defend her cub no matter what. She may be abrasive at times and have a hot temper but I don't think she's a murderer. Marybeth is an adult and Cheryl shouldn't have stepped in. Marybeth was upset but she handled the situation and should have told that to her mother. It wouldn't have changed anything though. If Marybeth was a kid, I could see why Cheryl would step in to rescue her but she's a grown adult with children of her own. Cheryl may have been a wild child in high school but judging her based on past behavior 30 or more years ago is just silly. People grow and mature. Marybeth is more timid than her mother, sweet and hard-working. I feel bad for her that she was put in that ridiculous situation and the moronic police accuse her mother of murder. She doesn't deserve that.

We learn more about Amy. She's a real straight shooter but this time she seems to be leaning towards believing Cheryl is the murderer. She knows she needs to gather the evidence, unlike Chuck. We also learn more about her personal life which shows a softer side of her and reveals she really is a kind person. Unlike Chuck who lacks brain cells and initiative to actually solve a murder case. How many times does Lily have to be nearly killed before the chief fires Chuck and promotes Amy? That idiot should have been fired for the first investigation!

The TV people are not a very pleasant lot. The only nice one is Melanie, the hair and makeup person on set. She sure likes to gossip though. The victim, celebrity chef Tommy Greene, is the bad boy of the cooking world. He continually loses his temper at everyone and everything. Like Rose, he's English and working class. Tommy champions the workers and the common man. He turns his nose up at Lily's posh tea room and sneers at the ladies who enjoy Lily's tea parties. Yet he owns more than one home, restaurant, a boat, etc. He'd probably say he worked for it all and clawed his way to the top. So did Rose! Rose has lived the American dream and made it possible for Lily to live her dreams. It's Tommy who sets in motion the events that lead to his death-or did he? Tommy has a few surprises up his sleeve.

Josh Henshaw, director, is really mean and tough. He's also a sleazy womanizer of the first order and I was hoping he would be murdered. He doesn't bother to learn the names of anyone from Tea By the Sea or Victoria On Sea. He always refers to Lily as "the pretty blond", suggests she wear something more revealing and doesn't understand why hair should be up and covered when working in a kitchen. It's all about TV for him. I think he's the murderer because right away he knew Tommy had been killed. Reilly, the assistant director, is even more nasty than Josh. I think they have a rivalry to see which one can be as loudmouthed and rude as possible. Reilly acts more like the director than Josh and is not happy with anything less than MAJOR drama.

Claudia D'Angelo, a legend in the New York City baking world, cookbook author and Lily's inspiration, seems nice enough at first. She acts mild mannered and soft spoken but the longer she stays, the more she becomes unraveled. Her temper flares and she becomes snappy and rude. Some of the clues point to her as the murderer but what was her motive and why would she frame Cheryl? Just opportunity? Scarlet McIntosh, former beauty queen, lacks a background in food. She's more of a femme fatal. She supports Tommy's anti-posh people crusade and seems interested in currying favors from him. Did he reject her and she took her revenge? Scarlet is disinterest in Cape Cod, the murder and Lily's tea room. She's very selfish and annoying. I do think she could be the murderer.

Other suspects come from within the North Augusta community. Gary Powers is married to the mayor but you'd never know from the way he acts. He's a serial cheater, a womanizer and so obviously sleazy. The way Bernie deals with him is fabulous. I think he's too obvious and too dumb to be the murderer. The other suspect is Allegra from the North Augusta bakery. Allegra is a local woman who inherited the bakery from her mother. She doesn't have the training, the passion or the drive that Lily has. Lily puts love into everything she does, uses locally grown produce and bakes original baked goods. Allegra produces standard café/coffee shop fare like cakes, cookies and tarts. Allegra believes she should win the show and how dare anyone think Lily deserves it. Allegra has a giant chip on her shoulder, hates everyone and is even nasty to her own nephew. Her brother-in-law Gary owns a stake in her business. How far would Allegra go to win? How far would Gary go to see her win? I can see Allegra as the murderer because Cheryl is framed. Allegra is the only suspect who has a personal reason to frame Cheryl and using Lily's rolling pin would even implicate Lily, someone she sees as an enemy.

I still don't get a Cape Cod vibe from this series but it's enjoyable for a bit of light reading.