Vivian Wainwright owns the British-style Misty Bay Tearoom and likes to solve mysteries. Her latest challenge involves the murder of a loner beachcomber Lewis Trenton who was given a souvenir from her shop before he died. Vivian decides to become a friend to the victim and find his killer. But how will she manage this task and support her shop and two assistants, active dog, and new love interest?
I really enjoyed this novel. It flows well, and all the pieces fit together. The characters are mostly likable, too. Jenna and Gracie each have a bright future, and we learn more about their backstory and dreams in this book. I would love to see recipes for some of the baked goods Vivian makes!
The author does mention strawberry jam quite a bit and repeats details that make me think she's trying to fill space with words.
I definitely want to read more books by this author!

In Too Steep is the second installment of the Misty Bay Tea Room Mystery series where Vivian Wainwright operates a British Tea Room in the small Oregon coastal town of Misty Bay. When Lewis Trenton, a recluse is murdered with a replica Big Ben from the tea room, Vivian with her staff/side kicks Jenna and Gracie start an investigation to leads to danger. Vivian also has a blossoming love interest with neighboring store owner, Hal.

You can start with In Hot Water first or start with this book. I would give this book 3.75 stars with a delightful cozy mystery.

I received this book in an exchange for a honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books!

This is a delightful Oregon teashop cozy. Shop owner Vivian, her two assistants, and her dear Hal, try to hunt down a Big Ben replica which was involved with a diamond theft and, potentially, the murder of a beachcomber/hermit.

This is the second in the Misty Bay Tearoom series. I enjoyed the first one but absolutely loved this second one. Great characters and an interesting plot.

More please, I hope. Well recommended for cozy fans!!

I truly enjoyed reading "In Too Steep" written by Kate Kingsbury. It was my first encounter with this author and I was certainly not disappointed.

The book cover is truly lovely and first attracted me to the book. It matched the contents within satisfactorily.

Ms. Kingsbury is a strong writer with a wonderful ability to create a cozy, deeply engaging setting that draws the reader in. The atmosphere was warm, inviting ad the relationship depicted between the ladies was heartfelt and genuine. The characters were amply fleshed out, contributing to the overall cozy effect.

I think I gained an extra five pounds just reading about the succulent desserts, sandwiches and teas the author described in significant detail.

In summation, the story was even-paced and flowed beautifully from one scene to the next which made for a pleasurable read. It was not an effort to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Kate KIngsbury for the opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of this delightful book. It is scheduled to be released on August 9, 2022 and I am sure it will not disappoint.

Cheers!

I really enjoyed following the MC along as she tracked down the path of the clock. I enjoy the characters and the setting.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Kate Kingsbury book and I really enjoyed the cozy mystery. In Too Steep is the second book in her Misty Bay Tearoom series. I plan to go back and read the first in the series but I wasn't too lost. I really enjoyed the love stories of different generations, along with the mystery.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery. The relationship between the main character and her love interest was a little clunky. It was very slow, and then very fast very quickly. Even though this is the second book in the series, I'm still having trouble picturing the characters. I know Vivian is older, and Gracie is in her twenties, but I'm not sure about Jenna.

It’s a treat to revisit the Willow Pattern Tearoom, Vivian, Messina and all the folks of Misty Bay. Kingsbury has not only written a great twisty turny mystery that will keep you guessing but she’s given us an older protagonist in Vivian. In addition, Kingsbury also provides the viewpoint of Messina throughout the book, which is something very different from most single pov cozies. While there are no recipes included, all the British baked goodies descriptions will definitely make you hungry, so you’ve been warned. With the way this book ended, I'm interested in what's next for this series. This is the second book in the Misty Bay Tearoom Mystery series; get caught up by reading book one In Hot Water.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

"In Too Steep" by Kate Kingsbury
A Gentle Mystery
This was my first time sleuthing with Vivian plus two which equals "The Three Rookies". AND, it was a fun adventure. A bit unbelievable but that is why they call it 'fiction'. If the description caught your attention, then I expect you too will enjoy this adventure as much as I did. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley.
This review expresses my honest opinion.

Vivian Wainwright is the owner of the Misty Bay Tearoom. When a picture of the living room of Lewis Trenton, a hermit, appears along with the article of his murder, Vivian recognizes a replica of Big Ben which is sold in her shop. She decides to track the buyer down to inform the person about Lewis's murder - not as straightforward as one would expect. None of the people she talks say they are acquainted with Lewis. How did Lewis end up with Big Ben? To complicate matters, a diamond is found in the replica - was Lewis involved with a recent diamond robbery? Vivian and her assistants Jenna and Grace are eager to uncover the murderer before anyone else gets hurt.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy.

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

There's much to be said about a cozy mystery that is cozy enough that you can blaze through the whole book in a single day. I hadn't read the first book in this series, but I had no problems getting into the groove here. The setting is the Oregon coast, centered around the tea room of protagonist Vivian, a widowed grandmother who is living out her dream by baking up loads of delectable British baked goods each day and solving a murder or two while she's at it. In this book, a local beachcomber is killed, and though she doesn't know the man, she's intrigued that a Big Ben sculpture from her shop was in his shack when he died. She sets out to find out how it ended up there, and ends up emotionally invested in proving that man wasn't involved in any other crimes at the time of his death.

Some elements of the investigation felt forced. I especially cringed when Vivian set about questioning a small child who was even given the Big Ben as a gift--that just seems all sorts of awkward in this day and age. The point of view shifts to the local detective also didn't feel necessary at all--all they did was confirm his interest in dating one of the workers in the tea shop. Even so, the mystery overall was quite good, and I ended up being surprised by the identity of the killer. I loved the sweet romance that Vivian develops with Hal, too. That made me smile throughout the book.

This was such a good book 2 in the Misty Bay Tea Room series! I really enjoyed the character development in this follow up, and I especially liked the fact that our protagonist recognised she was doing something stupid and should do better in the future. The mystery was filled with enough twists and turns, and clues to help you try and solve the case if you wanted to. I really liked that it was actually solved and not just accidentally! Also really enjoyed the British treats she mentions; it’s nice to see actual British sweets mentioned alongside tea, sandwiches, and scones.

When Vivian Wainwright, the owner Willow Pattern Tearooms in Misty Bay, sees an article about the murder of a local man in a newspaper something catches her eye. In the background of the picture there is a miniature Big Ben, one she is sure she sold recently. The murdered man, Lewis Trenton, is describled as a loner with no family or friends but Vivian knows that someone must have cared because they gave him the ornament.
Enlisting the help of her assistants Jenna and Gracie Vivian decides to track down who bought the ornament and how it ended up with Lewis. But what she sees as a straightforward enquiry could lead them all into danger.

This was an enjoyable second book in the series.
All the hallmarks of a good cozy mystery.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Vivian gets caught up in a murder investigation when she spots the Big Ben figurine she sold at her tea shop in the victim's photo circulating in the news. How did he come to get the figurine? When a real diamond is found within the figurine, there are many suspects to question, will Vivian get to truth and clear a dead man's name?

The murderer wasn't immediately suspect and took me awhile, which I enjoyed. The main character was more mature in age, and her romantic life felt realistic and relatable.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books for the ARC and NetGalley. #InTooSteep #KateKingsbury

This is a very enjoyable story. The ladies run aEnglish tea house and they enjoy baking and serving their customers. When they come to find out that a bum from the beach was murdered they take it upon themselves to find out why. They read in the newspaper that he had a statue of Big Ben that is only sold in their gift shop. The ladies go in search of who had purchased it and follow the leads they find. They find a diamond in the bottom of the Big Ben have it authenticated to find out it is real and the police say it maybe from a jewel heist in Portland. With the leads that they found they figure out that one lady and her boyfriend maybe suspects and go back to their condo to confront them. The boyfriend pulls a gun and locks both women an abandoned shack on the beach till he can figure out what to do. The characters in the story are amazing and the story is well written leaving the reader to want more.

A perfect book for Angela Lansbury and Murder She Wrote fans.
Thank you for the digital review copy.

I gave up reading Kate Kingsbury's Pennyfoot Hotel mystery series years ago because they were very formulaic and all starting to read the same, and plagued by that one thing I hate in historical mysteries--characters who act modern and speak modern despite the timeframe of the book. But I though I'd give this book, the second in the Misty Bay Tea Room series, a chance because I adore tea and I am off to vacation on the Oregon coast in two weeks. And maybe with a modern series, and the passage of time, the author would have improved or been motivated by a new character and a new location. But I was disappointed again; the book was pretty dreadful. The mystery is very contrived; the relationships are described in juvenile prose; there are inconsistencies in the way the characters act and speak.

The main character, who is almost the same age I am, made the cardinal sin (to this reader, anyway) of thinking the police were stupid (while encouraging her employee to date the detective investigating the murder) and that she needed more evidence before she could tell them her suspicions.

I found her personal quirks also a little irritating; we must have read the exact same sentence--that Vivian needed to make keys to the tearoom for her two employees--at least 7 or 8 times in various chapters. I was also not convinced by the basic premise, that Vivian felt so bad for the hermit that was murdered because he had no one to mourn him. People usually become hermits by choice; he's not homeless, he's purposefully chosen to live in the shack on the beach and eschew the company of people. I really doubt he would have cared that no one attended his funeral. It's not that I don't think Vivian was sympathetic to feel this way; it's a kind and admirable thought, but to seize it and use it as the excuse for her investigation, and the almost obsessive fixation she develops when there's barely any connection between her and the crime, was insufficient to establish the storyline. "Although she'd never met Lewis Trenton, she'd become so involved in finding someone to mourn him, she now considered him a friend." Without knowing anything about him at all. It just wasn't believable. We learn nothing about Lewis as a person because he's a complete nonentity in the book; he's an excuse, and a flimsy one at that. The denouement was also contrived--after multiple references to "the three rookies" and bringing Jenna and Gracie to all her interviews of her suspects, when she finally thinks she's identified the killer, Vivian makes a clear decision to go alone to confront the killer? Yes, she has to be alone to set up the ending as written, but we've spent the entire book with all three characters traipsing around and investigating en masse. It just made no sense for her to undertake this one investigation on her own.

There were also a few glaring instances where it's really clear the author did no research for her book: there are strict laws about animals being restrained in cars in Oregon, and holiday-themed toys and pet costumes are a huge business in the US, yet Hal's pet store only has a a few because "dogs don't care about Halloween." Nope, that's true, they don't, but their humans do, and those humans spend a lot of money on holiday toys and costumes. Both of these glaringly obviously wrong sentences make it clear Ms. Kingsbury is banking on a steady stream of uncritical cosy lovers who don't care if her world reflects reality at all. But this reader does. I want enough realism to make the unrealistic premise of a cosy mystery--that an amateur can solve a murder mystery faster than the police--believable. Otherwise I get distracted by the errors and end up disliking the book.

I'm not sure if there will be a third book in the series, as it ends with Hal and Vivian making plans for a future that doesn't include the tea room, so maybe this was just a brief 2-book contract. But Ms. Kingsbury is writing too many series (I think this is number 5!), and they all suffer from lack of attention and time, so her numerous books go back onto the TBA pile. TBR = To Be Read. TBA = To Be Avoided.

One star for the setting, although there is little description of the beautiful Oregon coast where Misty Bay is located

I love a cozy mystery that keeps me guessing and this one did not disappoint. There were some twist and turns that kept me reading even when I should of been sleeping. I loved that the main character was an older woman as I don’t come across those too often. Not only was the mystery entertaining, I also enjoyed seeing the relationships blossom between the characters — friendship and even some romance. Add an adorable dog to the mix and I was hooked.


Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books, for allowing me to review this e-book. . In Too Steep will be published August 9th.

The characters are entertaining. They have formed wonderful relationships both in friendships and romance. There is even an adorable dog for pet lovers. The mystery is fast paced, action packed, and full of red herrings. Recommended to cozy mystery fans.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.