steeped in Malice finds Lily visiting an antiques fair for replacement pieces needed for her tea shop. The mystery starts when one of the items she purchases in the fair has a hidden compartment. The story is fun, easy to read, and the characters are likable.

Highly recommend Steeped in Malice!!

Oy! Have you ever wanted to reach into a book and slap or strangle the person? This book made me want to do just that. The book made me grumpy. Between Detective Williams who is infuriating and incompetent. Lily's ex boyfriend Wesley. Oy! Then the sisters. Lily buys an antique peter rabbit tea set and then drama ensues. Another dead body is found right outside Lily's cottage. Overall a good mystery and I had no clue who the killer was.

Steeped in Malice is the 4th book in the Tea by the Sea Mystery series. The story takes place in the town of North Augusta on Cape Cod. Lily Roberts is the main character who owns The tea shop called Tea by the Sea. She lives in a small cottage on her grandmother, Rose's Campbell property and owns a B&B called Victoria by the Sea. Simon McCraker is the B&B gardner who also helps Lili with the baking when needed. He is also her boyfriend. Marybeth and her mother, Cherl help Lili in her tea shop. Bernadette (Bernie) is her best friend who rents a house down the road who is trying to write a book. Lily realizes that she is getting low with tea cups and decides to go to the North Augusta Antique Show with her grandmother, Rose and Bernie. While there she buys a child's tea set along with other tea cups. Kimberly Smithfield comes to the tea shop and asks Lili if she can buy the set back. It belonged in her family and was given to an antique shop in Chatham by mistake. She gets rude when Lili tells her that she can't do now but if she comes back at closing she would be happy to give the set to her in it's original box. Kimberly comes back at the end of the day and is interested in the box. She gives Lili $200.00 but only removes some of the lining and takes out an envelope and leaves. without the box or tea set. The next day Rachael Morrison who an interior designer specializing in restaurants. She is also interested in the tea set but becomes upset when she hears that her half-sister has already been there and taken the envelope. She tells Lili that it is her mother's revised will.

Kimberly is staying at Rose's B&B along with her husband, Wesley Schumann who is Lili's ex=fiancé. The next morning Rachael, Wesley and Kimberly have a fight in the dining room about the envelope. That night outside of Lili's cottage she hears a fight and goes to investigate. She finds Kimberly dead and calls the police. Detective Amy Redmond ad Detective Chuck Williams arrive. Lili has a bad relationship with Detective Williams.

This is where the story takes off on an adventure to finding out who killed Kimberly and why, There is so much going on in the story that I will leave it to the reader to find out and enjoy. It builds up to an exciting ending..

Lili's father who lives in Detroit comes and surprises Lili at the goodbye party for her neighbor who is going to help her daughter who is expecting a child. He arrives with his suitcases. He is planning to stay with his best friend Doc. The story ends with Lili and Simon going back to her cottage and stops and they kiss. I am guessing that in the next book the reader will find out more about her father coming to North Augusta and more about the relationship between Lili and Simon.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corp for this ARC.

culinary, cozy-mystery, Cape Cod, small-business, small-town, amateur-sleuth, bed-and-breakfast, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, murder, family-dynamics, friendship, situational-humor, siblings, animosity, chef, tea-shop*****

Brangling sisters and a sleazeball chef make for a basis for a murder.
The publisher's blurb is a good hook, but I'm already hooked on the series. This one also has good sleuthing, interesting characters, sneaky twists, and inventive red herrings.
I loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

I received this book for free from netgalley for an honest opinion

So happy I picked this one up I have read the first two and decided to try this one. It filled one of my props for the pop sugar competition. I had a wrap it on the cover.

When I began reading #SteepedinMalice #NetGalley I was not prepared for the wild ride I'd be taking.
Lily Roberts owns Tea by the Sea, a quaint tea shop located in Cape Cod, MA.
Adjacent to her shop is Victoria-On-Sea, a bed and breakfast owned and operated by her grandmother, Rose.
An innocent visit to acquire new tea cups turns deadly, and Lily finds herself immersed in family drama, filled with greed and malice.
When a book features a character that irritates me, I find myself enjoying the story even more. Wes fit that bill for me, I wanted to reach through my Kindle and slap the arrogance and rudeness right out of him.
This story has many twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end, and I was stunned when the murderer was revealed.
This is by far my favorite in the series and I'm looking forward to the next book.
I'm happy to recommend this book to all cozy mystery readers, the characters are quirky and colorful and the stories are well written.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

I loved how quick this book was! There was a lot packed into this short mystery and it was so fun!

I enjoyed this book more than the previous books in this series. The story is complicated, interesting, and fast paced. There are many twists and turns. I was very surprised by who the killer is. #SteepedinMalice #NetGalley