Tea Cups and Carnage Series: Tourist Trap Mysteries #7 on June 7, 2016
Pages: 192
Purchase: Amazon
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Also in this series: Guidebook to Murder, Mission to Murder, If the Shoe Kills, Dressed To Kill, Killer Run, Murder on Wheels, Hospitality and Homicide, Killer Party, Rockets' Dead Glare, Santa Puppy, Memories and Murder
The quaint coastal town of South Cove, California, is all abuzz about the opening of a new specialty shop, Tea Hee. But as Coffee, Books, and More owner Jill Gardner is about to find out, there's nothing cozy about murder . . .
Shop owner Kathi Corbin says she came to South Cove to get away from her estranged family. But is she telling the truth? And did a sinister someone from her past follow her to South Cove? When a woman claiming to be Kathi's sister starts making waves and a dead body is found in a local motel, Jill must step in to clear Kathi's name--without getting herself in hot water.
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
Review
Lynn Cahoon does it again with Tea Cups and Carnage, the latest book in her Tourist Trap mystery series. This may be one of the strongest yet, with good pacing, new tensions between some regular characters, and of course a mystery that kept me guessing. While I did suspect the murderer (among several other characters I was also considering), the author does a good job of concealing both the identity and motive of the killer as well as offering up several alternative suspects. There’s plenty going on, too: there’s a summer beach festival in town; the gorgeous, charismatic new tea shop owner and her sister don’t seem to get along; the bank has teller problems; there’s a new motorcyclist in town, terrorizing the inhabitants as well as the tourists; Coffee, Books and More has financial issues; and to top it all off, someone finds a dead body at the local cheap motel. Greg is kept pretty busy investigating, but not so busy that he can’t drop Jill a hint now and then!
Ms. Cahoon is also allowing the regulars’ relationships to change, in both positive and potentially negative ways. Jill and Greg are still an item, but there are a few underlying issues they’ve both been avoiding, and it looks like some of them might come to a head in the next few books. There are hints of possible problems with both the other coffee-and-bookstore employees, several surprises involving Aunt Jackie, and Josh is obviously up to something, plus we get to see a facet of Lille that I totally wasn’t expecting. All in all, I’m really pleased at how realistically the recurring characters’ lives are developing—though I hope Jill and Greg can deal with their issues instead of ignoring them (never a good plan.)
Although Tea Cups and Carnage is the seventh book in the Tourist Trap series, you could easily jump in here; the author does a pretty good job of reintroducing the recurring characters without being obvious about it. (That’s one of my pet peeves with some series.) On the other hand, if you enjoy light, breezy cozies, why not start at the beginning of the series, so you get the fun of reading all the previous books?
Giveaway
You could win an e-copy of Tea Cups and Carnage!
About Lynn Cahoon
Lynn Cahoon is the author of the NYT and USA Today bestselling Tourist Trap cozy mystery series. Guidebook to Murder, book 1 of the series, won the Reader’s Crown for Mystery Fiction in 2015. She’s also the author of the Cat Latimer series; the first book, A Story to Kill, was released in mass market paperback in September 2016. Lynn lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about with her husband and two fur babies. Sign up for her newsletter at www.lynncahoon.com
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Cruisin' Thru the Cozies 2016
Becca @ The Bookkeeper's Apprentice
This sounds like exactly the kind of book I love-great review!
Becca @ The Bookkeeper’s Apprentice recently posted…True Crime and Thriller Thursday: I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Agatha, and The Jolly Roger Social Club
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Becca! It’s light, but very fun.
Rita @ View From My Books
I read the first two in this series and enjoyed them. I really need to get back to Coffee, Books and More soon 🙂
Thanks for the opportunity here, Lark.
Rita @ View From My Books recently posted…Weekend: July Books & My Bookish News
Lark_Bookwyrm
Don’t you wish we could really go to Coffee, Books and More? But they need to serve tea, because I can’t drink coffee… Still, books and cheesecake? Mmmmmm!
Carol
This looks like fun. A series to read!
Lark_Bookwyrm
Indeed it is! Thank you for stopping by.
dianne casey
I haven’t read this series yet, but it sounds like a fantastic read. Looking forward to reading.
Lark_Bookwyrm
I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Kathleen Costa
I am very excited about the newest Tourist Trap mystery…thanks for joining in on the giveaway.
Lark_Bookwyrm
They’re so much fun, aren’t they?
Sally Schmidt
I love all the info on the book tours. thanks for the giveaway
Lark_Bookwyrm
I hope you get a chance to read the series, Sally!
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library
I’m loving this series and am really looking forward to seeing what Cahoon does with the new series that’s starting in September (I think). My only complaint with this one was that I didn’t feel like the teller subplot was really wrapped up as much as I wanted but that was pretty minor.
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…Ten Things I’m Loving Right Now
Lark_Bookwyrm
I have a feeling that teller subplot may continue into the next book, so I didn’t mention it. But yes, it was a little bit of a loose end. Incidentally, the new series stars a character who makes a brief appearance in Tea Cups and Carnage!
Stormi Johnson
I love this series and can’t wait to get my hands on the audio for this one since I have listened to this whole series. 🙂