Tea with Jam & Dread

 Tea By The Sea Mysteries Book 6

Author:    Vicki Delany

Genre:     Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book (Audiobook Available)

ISBN #:    9781496747303

Kensington Cozies

304 Pages

$27.00; $12.99 Amazon

July 29, 2025

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Cape Cod tearoom owner Lily Roberts leaves New England for old England to attend a party for an aristocratic centenarian -- but what goes on there is anything but noble...

Long ago, Lily's grandmother Rose worked as a kitchen maid at Thornecroft Castle, and now Elizabeth, dowager countess of Frockmorton, is celebrating her one hundredth birthday.  Rose still has fond feelings for her onetime employer, so a group trip to Yorkshire is planned.  It's also an opportunity for Lily to visit her boyfriend, who's currently working in England -- and to indulge in some British tea.

Much has changed, however, and the ancestral home is now a hotel, which will be closed for a week to accommodate the big bash, much to the chagrin of Elizabeth's grandson, Julien -- leading Lily to overhear an argument among the younger generation about the fate of the family fortune.  Little do they know that Elizabeth plans to sell the famous Frockmorton Sapphires out of the family for the first time in centuries...

The icing on the cake comes when the jewels suddenly vanish -- and things really go nuts when a party guest dies from an allergic reaction to almonds that someone smuggled into Lily's coronation chicken sandwiches.  Now she'll have to scour the property to find out who would commit murder in such a manor...

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Lily Roberts owns a tearoom on Cape Cod, and her grandmother Rose owns the neighboring B&B, which they have closed down for a week so that Rose can attend a birthday celebration in England for her old employer, Lady Elizabeth Crawford, dowager countess of Frockmorton.  Along with them is Lily's best friend Bernie, who will be visiting her boyfriend Matt Goodwell, a writer who is researching his next novel in England.

At a pub, Bernie and Lily overhear a family argument, and later learn that these are Elizabeth's grandchildren, and all of them (or most) are worried about what Elizabeth is going to do with her fortune.  Even though they have turned the ancestral home into a hotel, they have also closed it for the week for the birthday.

Elizabeth and Rose's reunion is a happy one, as they grew to be friends when Rose was working as a kitchen maid and Elizabeth was the countess.  Despite their opposite statuses, they grew close and are still so to this day.  When Elizabeth arrives at the party wearing the Frockmorton Sapphires, everyone is in awe.  Beautiful, ostentatious, but still overwhelming.  And when Elizabeth wants to show Bernie, Lily, and Rose the sapphires privately, they discover them missing.

But even more disturbing is when one of the party guests collapses at tea, and is later declared dead.  But the worst part is it seems it was the chicken coronation sandwich that they ate -- and was prepared by Lily herself.  Now she's a suspect in the murder, along with a several others.  Calling her boyfriend Simon, who is working nearby but has taken a holiday, he arrives to help her find the person who committed the crime.

Even if the local police ask her to stay away, they seem to know that she won't, having investigated her past and discovering that she's involved herself in other murders.  Yet Lily has an innate curiosity that won't let go, even as she's worried about a killer in hotel, her relationship with Simon, and who stole the sapphires.  Will she discover the truth, or will she be put on ice forever?...

This is the sixth book in the series and I have read them all.  I do try to write reviews without giving away any spoilers, and this one is no different.  Lily is lost in England, mostly by the different driving methods, but still...and she doesn't know how to go about asking questions without it seeming like a true inquiry to the murder.  Yet she wants to clear her name, and it won't be easy as she doesn't know these people, and many of them are related to Elizabeth, whom she herself has grown fond of in the short time she's known her.

But Lily does what she does best, and with the help of others around her, she perseveres until she gets to the truth.  And the truth isn't what anyone would expect, nor want to know in the long run.  Yet sometimes truth is strange, and sometimes killers aren't what you expect them to be.  But in the end, Lily finds out a bit more about herself, and has something to look forward to when she returns to the states.

I urge you not to have a peek at the ending, as you will enjoy this book more if you read it straight through.  The final clue comes and should you find it, you will find the murderer as well.  I loved this book and look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Jam-Dread-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B0DLQMLB1T/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7348701427

More on Vicki Delany's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/vicki-delany/

Puzzled 4 Murder

 A Sophie Kimball Mystery Book 14

Author:    J.C. Eaton

Genre:     Mystery

Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:    9781966322016

Beyond The Page Publishing

216 Pages

$14.99; $5.99 Amazon

February 25, 2025

⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's a blistering hot summer in Sun City West, and members of the retirement community are happy to escape into the air-conditioned bliss of the library to work on a mammoth forty-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.  But things begin heating up inside, too, when members clash with the domineering head of the puzzle committee over which puzzle to solve -- until someone settles the matter by killing her.  Now it's up to Sophie "Phee" Kimball to put all the pieces of the murder plot together and catch the culprit responsible.

Any number of the jigsaw afficionados could have wanted the victim out of the picture for her personality alone, but Phee suspects there was a more sinister motive behind the murder.  Then the chosen puzzle and the library itself are struck by one instance of sabotage after another, and Phee's convinced that someone is sending a menacing message.  But just as she unearths a telling clue and slots it into place, she finds herself in a race against time to finish the puzzle and solve the case -- before the killer goes to pieces and finishes her off too...

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Sophie "Phee" Kimball-Gregory is married to Marshall Gregory, who works for Nate's private investigator agency as one of the investigators.  Phee is their accountant, and unfortunately, her mother Harriet thinks that there are always murderers around the corner.  Also unfortunately, she's usually right, which puts Phee in the position of having to give her 'tasks' to do to keep her out of the murder investigation.

This time out, the Sun City West retirees are taking part in constructing a giant forty-thousand-piece puzzle, and the finished product is going to be in the Senior Living magazine.  But not everyone is happy about this: the puzzle that they're constructing is a last-minute replacement, since the three original choices no one wanted to do (seriously?  A snowstorm?)  This is an innocuous picture of an Arizona street...or is it?

It doesn't help that the body of one of the committee members is discovered in the library and Nate's firm is called in by the police to help investigate.  Or that Nate is contacted by a woman who claims another woman killed her husband twenty years ago and she knows who it is, but not where she is now.  Phee's task is to keep her mother away from both investigations, if possible...and it isn't...

Then when 'accidents' keep occurring at the library around the puzzle, and threatening messages are left, even Phee knows that something is off.  Someone does not want that puzzle completed, but why?  Harriet is determined that she and her friends finish it, because she's not giving up the chance to be in Senior Living.  At least she's not able to bring her Chiweenie Streetman to the library.  That's the best news Phee's heard in a long time.  The 'little prince' causes chaos, and Phee has enough of that right now.

But when a major clue is revealed on air, and something else is discovered, not only does it upend everything, it puts Phee right in the middle of it.  And not only does she not want to be, she wants to be as far away as possible...which isn't going to happen...

This is the fourteenth book in the series, and I have read them all.  I have also loved them all.  The author(s) have done a wonderful job in the character department.  Harriet and her friends are a riot, especially Herb and her loony Aunt Ina.  Poor Phee is the voice of reason -- that none of them listen to anyway.  

Things get going right from the beginning, and it seems there are two murders to solve, both of which get Phee drawn into.  In this book, I figured out most of it before the middle, but I love reading about Harriet and her antics, and Phee's attempts to rein her in, which make the book the most fun ever.

Reading this series makes you want to sit back and watch the action, because you know you don't want to be anywhere near the scary seniors, who think they're actual sleuths (they're not).  There's always something going on, and it is a great enjoyment to read.  The ending comes and it's way too soon; when we find the murderer the motives are given, and as old as time (as they all are everywhere).  It's a funny climax and I couldn't ask for more.  I look forward to the next in the series.  Recommended.

I was given an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

https://www.amazon.com/Puzzled-Murder-J-C-Eaton-ebook/dp/B0DW13VXZQ/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7333614691

More on J.C. Eaton's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/j-c-eaton/

Mervyn LeRoy Comes To Town

 Author:    Murray Pomerance/R. Barton Palmer

Genre:     Biography/Entertainment

Hardcover; Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:    9781978838383; 9781978838376

Rutgers University Press

276 Pages

$120.00; $39.95; $39.95 Amazon

May 13, 2025

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mervyn LeRoy Comes To Town is the first book devoted to the career of one of the director/producers who in the early years of sound cinema was instrumental in establishing the Hollywood model of production that would endure for more than half a century.  As a director and producer, LeRoy was responsible for turning out more than sixty feature films in a career that spanned five decades; as a studio executive, he contributed substantially to the success of the industry during the challenging period of the Depression and also in the period of realignment and readjustment that followed the end of World War II.  This book offers chapters devoted to individual films such as Little Caesar, Waterloo Bridge, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, Gypsy, and Quo Vadis.

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First off, I will tell you that I love classic films.  I own thousands of them, and don't even watch today's movies.  It was the old Hollywood that turned out true actors and actresses, producers and directors.  The studios were the main crux of it all, and they wielded their power.  It was then that movies defined what Hollywood was, and my fascination with it has never waned.

Saying that, I was excited to read this book.  Since I already own Mervyn LeRoy's biography, I wanted to see what the author(s) could contribute to this wonderful director.  They do not parse all of his films; they choose carefully the best of them, and proceed to examine each part, showing us what LeRoy filmed.  Like all people, we watch films for entertainment, and never even think of what is behind each scene or actor's motions.

I, however, love to watch the actors as their face shows what is going on behind it.  In most cases, you can see the change in emotion as they go through different situations, and no one is more powerful at this than the late actor Paul Muni.  He has a face that shows what he is thinking, and you will find this in LeRoy's film I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.  This film was controversial when it was made (1932); but the authors are able to examine the film from all angles, and dissect it for the layperson who wishes to know more of LeRoy's intentions.  It was definitely interesting to see the film from a different perspective, and I will watch it again with this in mind.

The reason I chose this film is the fact that it is the picture on the cover of this book, with Mr. Muni front and center.  He was a wonderful actor, but made too few films, in my opinion.  However, back to Mr. LeRoy: he was a wonderful director, and began as an actor, but fortunately, his career went in a different direction.  He started out like gangbusters (a trite phrase, I know, but appropriate), and made films that today people may not have seen, but should.  One, Playing Around, is one of my favorites.  I don't know if it was deliberate, but the last scene is actually my favorite.  Chester Morris is superb in his role, and LeRoy made a great film.  Unfortunately, it is not one of the ones that is featured, but when you read the book, I do hope that you make the effort to see LeRoy's films.

If you start with one, make it Little Caesar with the great Edward G. Robinson.  Given the material and LeRoy's directing skills, the two make a magnificent film.  The authors break the film down for you, and in the end, you want to watch the film again.  

Since reading this book, I myself have checked the airwaves to see if any are airing, and have recently pulled up one from my own catalog.  Seeing LeRoy through new eyes was definitely a huge plus for me.  All in all, I think that anyone interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood would be interested in this book.

To add, the only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because I must tell you that there are spoilers in the book.  While they do a very nice job of making us see things through LeRoy's eyes, they also give away the ending of each movie they write about.  I caution you this so that you can see the movie before reading the book; and please, do yourself a favor and do both.  Recommended.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Edelweiss, but this in no way influenced my review.

https://www.amazon.com/Mervyn-LeRoy-Comes-Murray-Pomerance/dp/1978838387/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7309267296

More on The Authors:    https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33501.Murray_Pomerance

                                        https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/28118.R_Barton_Palmer