Tea by the Sea #4
Steeped in Malice opens with Lilly Roberts on a mission to get her tea house, Tea by the Sea, some additional tea cups and saucer sets from a local antique sale. A Peter Rabbit themed tea set in a wicker basket causes her to bring home a lot more than she bargained for. Specifically, it causes a very irate and rude woman named Kimberly to come storming into her place of business, demanding to buy the basket and tea set back, and oddly enough she seems primarily interested in the basket. After much harassment, Lilly finally decides that surrendering the basket would be less trouble in the long run. When she does, however, Kimberly doesn’t take it, instead extracting an envelope from its lining and leaving.
But the drama doesn’t stop there – shortly after Kimberly leaves, an old acquaintance, Rachel, arrives looking for the same tea set. Obviously, Lilly has tripped and fallen into a rather major family drama: two half-sisters, both desperate for a tea set that contains their mother’s true last will and testament. While Lilly wants nothing more than to keep herself, her tea house, her grandmother Rose, and her B&B out of this personal mess, she’s constantly dragged back in.
To make matters even worse, her crazy ex-boyfriend is Kimberly’s brand-new husband. The stress of seeing him leaves her constantly on edge, worried he will pop up and harass her, or make her life difficult in some other manner. Luckily, she has all of her friends watching her back, helping to keep her safe. But there is only so much they can do to keep them separated when he is a paying guest at her grandmother’s B&B. Lilly is just desperate to keep her head down and avoid as much of the rising drama as possible.
Unfortunately, when one of the sisters winds up dead at Rose’s B&B, there seems to be no recourse but to try and help sort things out herself. This is the fourth book in Vicki Delany’s Tea by the Sea series. Readers will not be lost or confused by picking up this book before its predecessors – however, after finishing it, you might very well find yourself seeking out the previous books. I personally was compelled by both Lilly and Rose, enjoying their personalities and way of handling the various situations that seem to constantly get thrown at them, despite their best intentions.
Rose is headstrong, spunky, and more than ready to run around town with Lilly as she follows leads. Lilly wants nothing more than to mind her own business, literally, and ensure all her guests at both the tea house and her grandmother’s B&B are taken care of. Lilly’s constant turmoil at being dragged into Rachel and Kimberly’s personal drama will compel readers to keep reading to see how she manages to untangle things. At every turn you might think that you’ve deduced who is behind the murder, only to find a more favorable suspect appearing. One thing is certain – Lilly will be doing a bit more questioning about any future antique purchases. -Carla Schantz