Booked for Revenge

by Karen Rose Smith

Belltower Landing is the setting for this cozy mystery which gives the characters an opportunity for outdoor activities like hiking, paddle boarding, and boating. It is also perfect for having a tourist season. Jazzi and her friend Dawn have combined resources to create a combination tea shop and bookstore. The young ladies also conserve financial resources by living together in an apartment above the shop. In a thread of personal conflict, Dawn’s parents live in the same town and are not happy with this business venture or with the girls’ common interest in finding their birth parents.

The main focus of this book, however, is “The Gentlemen’s Bake-Off.” Tomes and Tea is involved because, as one of many creative promotional ideas, the duo will advertise and sell books written by the judges. They also host a book signing. When there is a murder, Jazzi slowly starts investigating. She has kept her relationship to her mother Daisy quiet to avoid getting drawn into just this type of situation. In her hometown, Daisy has a reputation for solving crimes.

There are many suspects—judges, other competitors, or even someone completely unrelated to the baking competition. I didn’t guess the murderer until the end of the book when the identity becomes quite evident. There are other threads that muddle the investigation, including a hidden camera, loud disputes, and missing evidence. 

A little romance comes into play as Jazzi’s friend Parker, an IT specialist, shows signs of interest in Jazzi as more than a friend. Oliver, with an Australian accent, owns The Wild Kangaroo pub, and often shows up when Jazzi needs support. Dawn is drawn to Abe, an EMT/firefighter who is frequently on the scene with medical help.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery for the whodunit puzzle, the interesting characters, and the budding romances. There are a pair of kittens that are fun too. The bookstore setting is a magnet for me, and I am glad to see the young ladies making a success of their enterprise.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Mystery

Notes: 1. #2 in the Tomes & Tea Mysteries series, but could be read as a standalone.

    2. This series is a spinoff from the Daisy’s Tea Garden Mysteries series. There are references to characters in that series, but the author always provides background information to  the relationship so there is no confusion. Jazzi, the protagonist in this series is the now-grownup daughter of the protagonist in Daisy’s Tea Garden books.

    3. Clean

Publication:  April 29, 2025—Kensington

Memorable Lines:

Tomes and Tea’s book club was a little different than most. They didn’t discuss one novel at a session. Readers brought in whatever their latest read was to talk about. This way tourists could drop in and join in too.

“Through the years, I’ve found it’s just as easy to be friendly as impatient. And the interchange can brighten a fan’s day as well as mine.”