Tea Cups and Carnage by Lynn Cahoon - #review #giveaway

The kettle’s about to boil over . . .

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.

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MY REVIEW

Goodness gracious, if I owned a combined book and coffee store ... I'd probably be buzzing around all day jazzed on caffeine and reading book after book after book!

I have to give Jill props for her sense of fair play.  The owner of the new tea shop across the road, and a Texas transplant) Kathi has all the men in town absolutely gaga.  The opening scene of the festival comittee meeting is a study in how many ways can men trip over themselves fawning over the beautiful newcomer.  Really, a it would make a saint start gagging!  But Jill welcomes Kathi to the town and instead of being concerned about a possible rival business to hers, they work out a deal where Jill will carry specialty teas from Kathi's store to serve to her customers, with a reciprocal deal for Jill in Kathi's store.

And it's a good thing that Jill got an inheritance, because a $3000 check from the town council to the festival goes missing, and the most likely candidates are two of Jill's employees.  That is what the bosses get big bucks for...broaching conversations like that!  Of course there are bosses and then there are bosses.  Some would just say, "You're fired!" (And yes, that is a reference.)  Jill, on the other hand, wanted to have faith in her employees, which is one thing that made her a great boss.

If people knew beforehand where that motorcycle was going to go on the 'fateful' day, they should have played tug-of-war with a thick rope about chest high right across the street from one side to the other...and that's all I'm going to say about that!  ;)

And Kathi got more and more sympathy from me the farther into the book I got.  It was plainly evident why she moved from Texas to California.  Members of her family have a lot of issues.  I would have moved too.

There's a lot to love about South Cove, CA, - the nearby ocean, the people and the vigorous festival schedule.  If it were a real place, I could totally see myself there on vacation someday.

If Tea Cups and Carnage were a guitar, the first part of the book would be an easy-going folk song, the kind families sing on car trips.  The ending was a blistering guitar solo...very tense and thrilling and balanced the story perfectly.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

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New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon is an Idaho native. If you’d visit the town where she grew up, you’d understand why her mysteries and romance novels focus around the depth and experience of small town life. Currently, she’s living in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. She lives with her husband and two fur babies.

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GIVEAWAY!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.  This post contains affiliate links.)