In Hot Water
A Misty Bay Tea Room Mystery
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This solid series launch from Kingsbury (the Pennyfoot Hotel mysteries) opens with Det. Lt. Tony Messina gazing on the pink negligee-clad body of Dean Ramsey, a candy store maintenance worker, who fell to the rocks from the top-floor balcony of the Blue Surf Hotel in Misty Bay, Ore. Signs of a struggle suggest Dean was pushed to his death. Dean's former wife, Jenna Ramsey, an assistant at the Willow Pattern Tearoom, becomes the prime suspect, but her friend and employer, Vivian Wainwright, the tearoom's proprietor, is determined to prove Jenna's innocence. Aided and abetted by Gracie Jackson, Vivian's other assistant, and pet shop owner Hal Douglass, and drawing on a little knowledge of criminology from Vivian's late attorney husband, the friends follow one clue after another as they seek a killer and a motive—and the reason for the victim's unusual dress. Despite some reckless sleuthing, Vanessa and her cohorts stumble their way to a surprising resolution. Lively characters and a simmering romance between Jenna and Tony will leave readers looking forward to the sequel.
