In Hot Water by Kate Kingsbury (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

 Title: In Hot Water

Author: Kate Kingsbury
Publication: 12 October 2021
Format: eARC provided by Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley

Amazon Description: 

In bestselling author Kate Kingsbury's Misty Bay Tea Room series debut, the proprietress of a British-style tea shop must draw on her love for mystery novels to sleuth a murder.

Vivian Wainwright is living her dream. The middle-aged widow owns the Misty Bay Tearoom, a quaint, English-accented shop on the Oregon coast. But on the eve of the tearoom's second anniversary, the dream turns nightmarish when a man falls to his death from a hotel balcony.

The body belongs to Dean Ramsey, ex-husband of Vivian's assistant, Jenna. Detective Tony Messina quickly zeroes in on Jenna as prime suspect, since she was seen leaving the hotel shortly before the body was found.

Vivian and her other assistant, Gracie, set out to help clear Jenna's name, using their wit and a bit of criminology know-how Vivian picked up from her late attorney husband. Detective Messina is on board, but he's starting to develop feelings for his number one suspect. Puzzling questions persist--chief among them, whose clothes was Dean wearing when he landed on the rocky shore?

To complicate matters, Vivian's friend, pet shop owner Hal Douglass, seems to know some secrets about the hotel that could add a long list of names to the suspect list...including Hal's own. Vivian must work quickly because if she can't, Jenna faces a murder rap...or worse.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

I was going to continue with my Ellery Adams love-fest but decided that I need to wait until I have the next installment in hardcover (some series are like that), so I popped onto my NetGalley and it reminded me that I have a whole bunch of unread goodies and thanks to the wonderful world eeny-meeny-minie-moe, I chose the first in Kate Kingsbury's newest series. 

I am horribly, miserably, acutely ashamed that this is only the second Kingsbury that I have read -- the first being the first in her Pennyfoot Hotel series. I loved it. I really did. I have others in the series sitting in my cloud and I'm determined to get to them .... eventually. But, you know, distractions happen like life and shiny things and squirrels.

So, In Hot Water -- the first in the Misty Bay Tea Room series. I was drawn to it on NetGalley because of the little bit of prior Kingsbury and the whole tea room aspect. I'm actually much more of a coffee addict, but since I'm a ginormous fan of Gail Carriger I must, therefore, also be a fan of all things tea.

It was a fast and easy read. I more or less knocked it out in just over a single work shift during one of the busiest weeks of the season. Unfortunately, this may have been a negative. I would have gladly taken a longer read in exchange for certain plot points being completely ignored or rushed through. So many questions still linger in my head that I doubt will ever be resolved. I would also have taken a lot more of Tony Messina ... and a lot more of the ins and outs of the tea room. There wasn't enough of either for me so I'll probably grab the next one in the series just to get more .... and to see if someone ever mentions the pink negligee again.

As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.