Steeped in Malice by Vicki Delany

Item: Steeped in Malice
Rating: 5
Author: karenbaron

Posted July 20, 2023 by karenbaron in #BookishRecipe, #SummerReadsWithTheBaroness, Mystery, Review, Series / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Steeped in Malice

by Vicki Delany

Series: Tea by the Sea Mysteries #4
Series Rating:

Published by Kensington on July 25, 2023
Setting: Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Genres: Cozy Culinary Mystery
Pages: 272
Format: ebook, Hardcover, Kindle
Source: NetGalley
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Nook
Also in this series: Tea & Treachery , Murder in a Teacup, Murder Spills the Tea

Afternoon tea isn’t just about flavorful brews and delicious treats. It’s also about presentation—fine china teacups (never mugs!), with carefully coordinated saucers and plates. With her fragile stock running low, Lily has an excuse to indulge in one of her favorite hobbies: visiting an antiques fair for replacements.

Among other finds, Lily snaps up a charming Peter Rabbit-themed tea set in a wicker basket, perfect for children’s events. But a few days later, a woman named Kimberly marches into the tearoom, rudely demanding to buy it back—then later returns and removes an envelope hidden in the basket’s lining.

An acquaintance of Lily’s named Rachel is on the trail of the tea set too. Apparently, she and Kimberly are half-sisters, searching for their mother’s final will. To her annoyance, Lily is dunked into the middle of this mess—especially when her ex-boyfriend turns out to be involved. But it’s more than a storm in a teacup when one of the sisters is found dead on the grounds of the B&B owned by Lily’s grandmother, Rose.

Is this a simple case of greed boiling over, or are there other suspects in the blend? It’ll take some savvy sleuthing from Lily, Rose, and their allies to find the answers before a killer shatters more lives . . .

Steeped in Malice by Vicki Delany lets us see what Lily’s life was like in New York City before moving. It isn’t pretty!

With Lily’s past coming to Victoria-On-Sea, can Lily, Rose, and Bernie uncover the real killer?

Lily, Rose, and Bernie

Lily is supposedly our sleuth, but we have three. Rose and Bernie always talk Lily into going along on their snooping around once a murder happens. Except this time, Lily is the one who wants to get involved more than Rose and Bernie. Lily wants to get involved because a child’s tea set she bought brings so much drama to her tea shop. Of course, it doesn’t help that someone blamed for the death onto Lily.

Lily takes the reins of this investigation and is gung-ho on finding out what happened while running her tearoom. Rose, of course, is curious and wants to see what happens while Lily is investigating. Somehow, Bernie gets invited by either Lily or Rose; sometimes, though, Bernie invites either Rose or Lily to do the sleuthing. Of course, Bernie is still working on her book while trying to keep her focus on what she has already written. Except that doesn’t always work out.

I love these three so much as they are such a hoot when they are solving a mystery or trying to gain clues while not trying to throw suspicion.

The Mystery

Lily buys a cute vintage children’s tea set with adorable scenes and characters from Beatrice Potter’s Peter Rabbit on the tea cups and saucers. After she’s done that, a character named Kimberly Smithfield comes barging into her tea shop and demands Lily to hand it over during the middle of a very booked day for the tea shop. Lily tells her no and to come back later, which she does, and takes what she wants. The next day, an acquaintance of Lily’s from her time in New York City shows up, named Rachel, who also wants the tea set. Lily tells her that someone else has already taken something from it, which is what Rachel wanted.

Lily, thinking that was it, was happy to see her gone. Of course, that isn’t the case, and one of the two sisters gets killed over the will that they were both looking for. While the police are investigating, someone throws Lily under the bus, making her want to solve the case to clear her name. I had my suspicions over the killer, and I was right with my suspicions! Just not the reason why.

Five Stars

Steeped in Malice by Vicki Delany is another fantastic book to read. I have to say, though, that Lily, Rose, and Bernie are solving a lot of cases in one summer. Ms. Delany does a wonderful job laying out all the clues and the red herrings. I did almost fall for a red herring, but then I was like, that person doesn’t make sense to be it.

Don’t forget to look in the back for Ms. Delany’s recipes! I always love being able to see them, and I contemplate making them one of these days. They are Gluten-Free Pancakes, Blueberry Muffins, and Lemon Squares.

Tea by the Sea Mysteries

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Steeped in Malice by Vicki Delany.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

About Vicki Delany

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than thirty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Tea By The Sea mysteries, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas mysteries and, as Eva Gates, the Lighthouse Library series.