This Christmas, Callie Aspen returns to her childhood hideout Heart’s Harbor, Maine where her great aunt runs Book Tea, a vintage tearoom where every sweet treat contains a bookish clue. Upon arrival in the fairy-tale snowy town, Callie is drawn into the preparations for a special tea party at Haywood Hall, the rambling house of Heart’s Harbor’s oldest resident, rich but lonely widow Dorothea Finster, who invited her estranged relatives, old friends and the elite of the town to make a mysterious announcement about her will. Believing they can touch a part of her fortune, everybody is determined to come, despite not liking each other or even their hostess. And Callie’s old friend Sheila complicates things by using the tea party to announce her daughter’s engagement, even though her daughter isn’t sure she’s in love with the young lawyer her mother thinks so perfect for her. Catering to people who each have their own agenda isn’t easy for the Book Tea crew, especially once the valuable engagement ring goes missing and a dead body turns up in the conservatory. Can Callie and her great aunt use their love of clues to dig into the crimes and show their unhappy hostess and squabbling guests the true Christmas spirit?
In Peppermint Peril by Joy Avon. Narrated by Laurel Lefkow. Run time 7 hours and 19 mins. Published by Dreamscape Media in 2019. I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was a little bummed with this book. I normally love any kind of cozy mystery that involves cute animals and reading. Sadly this book just didn’t hit it off for me. It is kind of hard for me to put my finger on what exactly I didn’t like.
It felt like it took a little bit too long to set up the murder. Not saying it should happen super fast, but it felt like this was a little bit too long of a wait for finding the body. I enjoyed the clues leading up to finding the body, but… I didn’t know. It just fell a little flat.
I also wasn’t totally in love with any of the characters. I didn’t hate anyone, but I also didn’t super love anyone. That made it a little bit harder for me to feel totally invested in what was going on with everything.
I never really felt totally hooked by the plot. I enjoyed the idea of the will reading and tea party, etc. It just never fully pulled me in. I was left feeling kinda MEH about the over all plot and I struggled to finish such a short book.
This was not a terrible first book. Just a few hiccups here and there. Hopefully book two has a little bit better flow. I don’t know if I would read another book in the series though unless I knew for sure that the pacing is a little bit quicker.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 