Just another lovely addition to one of my favorite cozy mystery series. I would love to just drop everything and open a tea shop by sea - crime and all. 🫖☕️

Trouble is Brewing is the fifth cozy mystery in the Tea by the Sea Mysteries series. When a bridal party descends on the Tea by the Sea tea shop and mysterious gift is found it sets off a wave of uneasiness through the crowd. No one wants to find a doll head wrapped up in a package for their wedding shower, but that’s exactly what happens. The shocking gift has the already taut tensions rising amongst the guests and it all culminates in a murder. Lily Robert’s is no newbie when it comes to murder and with the help of her best friend and grandma they unravel the case until they’ve discovered the killer.

I am always glad to visit Tea by the Sea again and see what craziness is in store for Lily and the gang. Tea by the Sea is the type of place I’d love to visit and I love living vicariously through the setting in this book. I enjoyed this take on a mystery with the family drama unfolding in front of us. This was a fun and intriguing cozy mystery that pulled me in from the beginning and kept me guessing until almost the end. The different layers in this mystery and the suspects was intriguing and kept this mystery interesting. If you haven’t read the other books in this series you could read this one as a standalone without a problem. If you are looking for a fun cozy mystery with a great setting and fun, quirky characters this series is worth a read!

This book has complex characters. I felt like the family drama was happening right next to me. I was very surprised by who the killer ended up being, ,I’d had no clue. #TroubleIsBrewing #NetGalley

Princess Fuzzypants here: There are books that take the reader away to wherever they are set and elicit strong emotional reactions. I find myself swept away to a wonderful B&B and Tea House. I have no difficulty picturing the house and grounds and I am ready to book a trip and scarf down scones each time. It is a gorgeous spot for Wedding Shower. Lily and her team have outdone themselves. The grooms wedding party are ensconced in rooms at the B&B. it should be a glorious celebration.

Things turn dark when a mean “joke” is played on the bride to be. There is a lot of rancour between the two families and even within the groom’s family. Dysfunctional does not begin to cover it. When the groom’s father ends up dead, there is no lack of suspects including his wife and his mother. Lily, Bernie, Rose and Simon all take part in tracking down the killer and the motive. Even the police begrudgingly admire the work the team does in nailing the guilty party. It is a corker of a story with all sorts of twists and some very cool detecting. The interpersonal relationships are wonderful and they make a strong counterpoint to the vitriol that bounces around the groom’s family. Five purrs and two paws up.

This series is just tons of fun to read. It’s exactly what you want from a cozy - quirky characters, a vibrant setting, and well paced mysteries. This latest installment features a wedding party gone awry when one of the members ends up dead. There were plenty of suspects in the unpleasant crew, with Delany providing serious red herrings. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series. The ending teased something exciting!

Pro
* I feel like tea by the sea and the B&B are home now
* Tea service and pastry details are superb, as usual
* Rose is fun, as usual
* I always appreciate that Lily actually does her job instead of (like many cozy main characters) putting sleuthing before her responsibilities.
* The mystery is solid.

Con
* At times feels like just the basic cozy framework.
* Current trend of police info-dumping to amateur sleuths about active cases

Trouble Is Brewing is a delightful cozy mystery, which is set on Cape Cod and follows Lily and her friends as they run a charming tearoom and B&B while also solving local mysteries. In this installment, Lily is hosting a bridal shower for Hannah at Tea-by-the-Sea. The celebration is going smoothly until the bride opens a package revealing a headless doll. Unfortunately, the doll is the least of the day's problems; that night, the groom's father is discovered murdered. With the two families at each other's throats and a B&B full of guests, Lily has her hands full.

Trouble is Brewing is an excellent cozy mystery. I absolutely loved the setting. I felt as if I was there sitting on the tearoom's terrace among the gorgeous flowers with the ocean waves crashing in the background. The characters are quirky and fun. I particularly enjoyed Bernie and Rose! The mystery was intriguing and kept me guessing until the end! I cannot wait to follow Lily and friends in their next adventure! I will also be trying numerous of the recipes provided at the end of the book.

A great addition to an incredible series! Wonderful characters in an incredible setting. This book will keep you guessing until the end.

This is book 5 in the Tea by the Sea Mysteries. I absolutely love this series! The characters are great and their decisions are logical, which is very important for me

Lily Roberts owns Tea by the Sea which is located next to her grandmother’s Bed & Breakfast Inn in Cape Cod.

The Reynolds and Hill families are celebrating a wedding and staying at the B&B. Lily is hosting the bridal shower at Tea by the Sea. All is well until the bride opens her last gift. It's a beheaded Raggedy Ann doll and sends the bride running to the B&B, screaming in terror.

The next morning the father of the groom is found dead in his room at the B&B.

Whether the 2 events are related or not, the wedding must be postponed. Lily and her friends are ready to solve another mystery.

#TroubleIsBrewing

Trouble is Brewing by Vicki Delany is a Bakeshop Story featuring Lily and her crew at the tea shop and her grandmother, Rose, who runs the B & B up the drive. Also included are Simon, the gardener and so much more, and Bernie, Lily’s best friend who is “writing a book.” The current guests at the B & B are made up of a group of four on a Bridge retreat and a groom’s family in town for the wedding. The bridal shower had been held at the tea shop and it ended oddly with a bizarre gift: A Raggedly Anne doll with its head severed. It kind of put a pall over the party. Then the next night, the groom’s father was mysteriously dead. A natural death or a murder? Bernie and Lily swore to do only Internet research and there seemed a dearth of that. Suspicion fell on the bride’s mother, cruelly suggested by the groom’s mother. Seems the bride’s mother had been engaged to her husband years earlier and she couldn’t put it behind her. Also she was not a very nice person. Things came to a head when Rose got involved

This is a fun series. It is nice to see Lily and Simon finally connect, although he will be returning to England soon. Bernie is making no progress on her book as she changes characters, settings, and plots almost daily. The tea room and B & B are making a profit except for the whisper that it has been a murder scene once too often. Detective Redmond seems to be heading the team now, rather than the lazy Detective Williams, so that makes things easier. These are a close-knit group of central characters and they are what makes the teashop and B & B work as well as making the story work. It is always a good time, returning too Cape Cod and North Augusta. It is all set on the sea and it is so good to hear that sound as one is falling asleep. A terrific series by Vicki Delany, who is a master.

I was invited to read Trouble is Brewing by Kensington Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #KensingtonPublishing #VickiDelany #TroubleIsBrewing

Business is good at the Tea by the Sea tearoom in North Augusta, Massachusetts. Owner and chef Lily Roberts is enjoying a busy summer, and is especially pleased to be able to cater a wedding shower for a young couple who are clearly deeply in love.

Alas that their families seem less than thrilled by their impending union. While bride-to-be Hannah Hill and her mom Jenny seem like fairly well-adjusted people, the family of Hannah’s intended, Greg Reynolds, is rife with drama. They’re all keeping up an appropriate front, however, at least until the very last wedding shower gift is opened to reveal a decapitated doll. Hannah is distraught and the shower ends abruptly, with the guests dispersing quickly after.

Fortunately or otherwise, the Reynolds family doesn’t have very far to go, given that the whole clan is staying at the tearoom-adjacent Victoria-on-Sea B&B run by Lily’s grandmother Rose. Thus Lily, who also lives on the grounds and provides the breakfasts for the inn, gets an unwitting front row seat to the family’s dysfunction. Perhaps the most scandalous interaction occurs when she accidentally overhears Greg’s father Ralph offering him a hundred thousand dollars to call off the wedding. Greg angrily refuses, walking away as quickly as Lily does, but not before the latter notices another shadowy figure leaving the scene.

The next morning, Ralph doesn’t come down for breakfast. His wife Sophia insists that Rose use her master key to enter his room and rouse him. Lily goes to check in on him for her grandmother, with Sophia and Ralph’s own mother Regina hot on her heels. To their horror, they find Ralph upright in bed, fully clothed except for his shoes, clearly dead. Though it looks like he had a heart attack, Regina wastes little time in accusing Sophia of his murder.

When the medical examiner confirms that Ralph was poisoned, Lily, Rose and their friends are thrust into yet another murder investigation. There are plenty of people who wanted Ralph dead but who would be so callous – or desperate – as to kill him so soon before his son’s wedding? Our investigators will be pushed to the limits of their deductive powers to find the elusive killer.

This was another fulfilling installment of the Tea By The Sea mystery series, as Lily gets dragged reluctantly once more into identifying and stopping a murderer. The reckless Rose and equally foolhardy Bernie, Lily’s best friend, make excellent foils for our more level headed main character. I was also very excited by the promise of where the next book in the series will take us. I’m only hoping that Bernie can find an excuse to go, too!

There were three recipes included of delicious-sounding dishes served at Lily’s tearoom. I really wanted to try the egg salad sandwich recipe, but baking sweet treats together has been a highlight of this summer vacation for me and my kids, so we decided to make this instead:

QUOTE
Maple Pecan Squares

Shortbread base:
1 cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup coarsely chopped pecans
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
⅓ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Topping:
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
⅓ cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp fine salt
1 large egg
1 ¾ cups coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper so that it hangs over the sides.

For base, pulse flour, brown sugar, pecans, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a food processor to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture is crumbly. Press mixture into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, until it just browns around the edges. Cool.

For topping, whisk melted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, and egg until smooth. Stir in chopped pecans and pour over shortbread base. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until bubbling around the edges. Cool completely before slicing.
END QUOTE

I don’t usually care for nuts in my desserts, but pecans are the one consistent exception to my aversion. These squares tasted wonderful, like buttery handheld helpings of pecan pie, only over a shortbread base instead of on a graham cracker crust. I especially loved how easy it was to whip up the base in the food processor. My kids enjoyed this too, though this dessert is, perhaps, a little more sophisticated than their palates are used to, as it actually lasted long enough for me to set aside servings to give to friends.

Next week, we travel south and east to another tea establishment to cook up a savory main dish while investigating a grisly murder that might very well be a case of mistaken identity. Do join me!

Business is booming at both Lily Roberts’ Cape Cod Tearoom and her grandmother’s Bed and Breakfast and a wedding shower held at the Tearoom and some of the guests staying at the Bed and Breakfast is helping their profits. But things do not go smoothly at the shower – first a gift upsets the bride and then a guest is murdered at the Bed and Breakfast. Lily has vowed to not get involved in solving this mystery but she soon finds herself investigating anyway. Can she find the killer before the wrong person is charged with murder?

Trouble Is Brewing is the nicely done fifth book in Vicki Delany’s Tea by the Sea cozy mystery series. This is a fun series to read – starting with the Cape Cod setting, the Tea Room, and the Bed and Breakfast. The characters are also fun, especially Lily and her grandmother (who is not above acting like a frail little old lady if necessary), hunky gardener Simon, Lily’s best friend Bernie who is forever writing her first novel, and more. The mystery is well done – featuring two feuding families which provides plenty of suspects. Truthfully, I figured out who the killer was fairly early on in the book but not the reason why which left me surprised and a bit sad. The book wraps up quite nicely and includes recipes – one of which I may actually try! All in all I really enjoyed this book.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

What’s even worse than a bridezilla? A groom’s Momzilla, that’s what and Sophia filled that role like a champ. I didn’t care for her at all but her own mother-in-law Regina who was pretty insufferable as it was stood up to Sophia’s insults and petty comments about her. I agreed with Bernie, I kinda liked the old lady! Such is the life of B&B and tearoom owners Rose and Lily.

I’m pretty sure I’d never have the patience for doing their jobs but they were awfully good at it. And wouldn’t life be boring without a bestie like Bernie? She always cracks me up but somehow she and her total opposite Lily work out great as besties and bring out the best in each other.

I’d actually guessed the killer but not any of the reasons behind it and loved how Rose helped get a somewhat confession from the person. Nice and safe and working with Detective Amy too. I loved that Amy was taking the lead on this case since especially in the first book or two, Det. Williams was just jerk who wanted to solve a case fast and close it out. Maybe he was afraid of Amy, lol. He’s actually acting pretty decent in this book, but it was using Amy’s ideas that closed this case out.

The end brought a fun thing coming up for Rose, Simon and Lily so it’ll be interesting to see if the next book tells all about that. It’s sure got some possibilities but I won’t spoil what’s happening.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Kensington Cozies via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

Lily is hosting a bridal party tea for a wealthy family from near Boston. The Reynolds family is staying at her grandmother's B&B. The bride is lovely but the groom's family are less easy to like as they are entitled and dismissive. The groom's father is found dead a day later.
Lily doesn't think there is any reason for her to get involved, but as with any good cozy mystery the amateur sleuth must take part. Lily, Bernie and Rose try to keep their inquiries in cyber space, but to solve this riddle will require a bit more of a hand's on approach.
I enjoyed reading Trouble Is Brewing and recommend you give the Tea by the Sea Mysteries a try.
Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for the opportunity to read this book.

Trouble Is Brewing is tea slinger Lily’s latest cozy mystery. Her cafe, Tea by the Sea, is closed for a bridal shower. Though the couple seem blissfully happy, their parents are less enchanted with each other. When the groom’s father is murdered, Lily must investigate to clear her tea house as well as her grandmother’s B&B from a hit to their reputations. With so many suspects, Lily will have her work cut out for her. Good thing she can count on her best girl friend, Bernie, and new boyfriend, Simon, to help.

I love everything that this author writes and Trouble Is Brewing is no exception. It has everything that I want in a cozy mystery: plenty of suspects, many clues interspersed with some red herrings, a bit of romance, and fully fleshed out characters that I want to spend time with. 5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Cozies for providing me with an advance review copy.

This is a great series for everyone, fun characters and a murder mystery that keeps the readers guessing till the end. Lily Roberts and the Tea room are hosting a wedding shower for couple with feuding relatives and lots of secrets and red herrings to keep Lily and all her friends on their toes till the reveal. Loved it.

Vicki Delany always manages to create a wonderful story about delicious tea and murder! The books in this series have my stomach growling and wishing I had some of the goodies she serves at Tea by the Sea or breakfast at her grandmother’s Victorian B&B in Cape Cod. The characters are well developed and I am loving the fact that Lilly and Simon are developing a relationship. Not syrupy sweet, but just a fun and entertaining romance. The murder mystery has lots of twists and turns so that you are guessing until the very end. I love that the characters have such unique personalities and yet they meld together to make a wonderful community of friends. This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series and I look forward to another adventure with Lilly, Simon, Rose, and Bernie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Cozies for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

For more reviews, please visit my blog at: https://www.msladybugsbookreviews.com/. Over 1000 reviews posted!

This is the Fifth in series for the charming "Tea By The Sea" series. Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity for review. This is a tea shop based series set in a Cape Cod location.

In this next in series the tearoom is full of drama over a bridal shower gone wrong. A disgruntled soon to be Father in law , a frightenting gift to the bride and a mysterious set of circumstances occur. Lily is soon on the case of another murder she is determined to solve before the wedding is called off.

I enjoy this series for the atmospheric setting, the savvy smart protagnist and the well crafted sleuth. A enjoyable addtion to the series I highly recommend.

Book 5 in this series did not disappoint! I have really come to love this series more and more with each book. Each of the characters has their own unique personalities and Vicki Delaney is doing amazing job at the building of their history as each book comes along.
If you’re not familiar with this series a big city girl reunites with her grandmother on a coastal town. Grandma open a B&B and granddaughter opens a tea shop. Apparently that’s an invitation for murders to happen there 🤷🏻‍♀️

FYI
This book does end with a teaser which I’m really excited for.

Trouble is Brewing by Vicki Delany is the fifth A Tea by the Sea Mystery. It can be read as a standalone as the author provides the needed background information for new readers. I enjoyed the beautiful descriptions of the area, the tea shop, the bed and breakfast, and the food. I was disappointed that there was more telling than showing in the story. The mystery is simple. The father of the groom is murdered after the bridal shower. Lily shows little interest in solving the whodunit until an innocent party becomes the prime suspect (of course). I wanted more sleuthing with less baking and romance. I could have done with a lot less of Bernie’s antics (I wanted to shove her off a cliff). The same details are repeated over and over. There were many missed opportunities. Lily would walk away too soon, or the scene ends early. The guilty party stands out (there might as well be a giant neon arrow pointing at the killer). I had an idea as to why this person committed the crime, but I had to wait for the reveal to be sure. The reveal felt anticlimactic. While Trouble is Brewing is a pleasant, lighthearted story, I found it lacking. I am hoping the next A Tea by the Sea Mystery will have more mystery to go with the cozy elements.