Review: Tempest in a Teapot by Amanda Cooper

‘Tucked away in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York is the charming town of Gracious Grove, where time moves slowly, gossip spreads quickly and the scones are to die for…

When her fashionable Manhattan restaurant goes under, Sophie Taylor retreats to her grandmother’s cozy shop, Auntie Rose’s Victorian Tea House, where serenity is steeped to perfection in one of her many antique teapots. The last thing Sophie expects is a bustling calendar of tearoom events, like her old friend Cissy Peterson’s upcoming bridal shower.

Not everyone is pleased with the bride-to-be’s choice of venue–like Cissy’s grandmother, who owns a competing establishment, La Belle Epoque, and has held a long-simmering grudge against Rose for stealing her beau sixty years ago. Tensions reach a boiling point when Cissy’s fiance’s mother dies while sampling scones at La Belle Epoque. Now, to help her friend, Sophie will have to bag a killer before more of the guest list becomes a hit list…’

Typically, when a new series is released, I tend to read them and then either love or hate them. Nothing really in between. For some reason, I have the worst luck when it comes to the first book in debut series. I usually tend to hate them and then really get into the series by reading the books that are later released. This one was different. I love it from the very first page. The main character, Sophie, has a great head on her shoulders. She’s not like some other sleuths who make horrible decisions. She seems very educated, very smart and quick on her feet. I love her background and what she brings to the cozy mystery genre. 

Sophie returns to Gracious Grove, New York, the place where she spent her summer vacations while growing up to assist her grandmother with Auntie Rose’s Victoria Tea House. Sophie had an upscale restaurant in Manhattan that unfortunately was a flop. Nursing her hurts, she returns to Gracious Grove anxious to move on with her life and to plan how to exactly move forward. Well, that was her plan, until someone ends up dead at the rival tea house in town. Sophie uses her old friends and her new connections to help her solve this perplexing crime. Who wanted the victim dead and why? She doesn’t have much faith in the local law enforcement and she realizes that it is up to her to solve the crime before someone else gets hurt or worse.

I liked this one because it has something a little different. I would have never thought that I would enjoy reading about tea shops and teapots, but this one was delightful. It was a leap of faith to try something new and I am very glad that I did. I most definitely will be following this series as the author does a fantastic job of keeping her readers engaged and perplexed. This series shows a lot of promise and intrigue in the future and I cannot wait to see what is in store for the characters and the townspeople of Gracious Grove, New York.