Sleuth Callie Aspen wants to light up the Fourth of July tea party by solving a celebrity’s decades-old disappearance—but her digging results in more fireworks than she expects
Last Christmas, Callie Aspen left her tour guide job and settled in Heart's Harbor, Maine. Now, she helps out at Book Tea, her great aunt’s vintage tearoom, where each treat has a bookish clue. Though she’s excited to start her new life, Callie worries she may regret having burned her bridges behind her. Fortunately, she finds immediate distraction in the preparations for a spectacular Fourth of July tea party, which will recreate key moments from the town's rich history.
Intrigued to learn that 1980s TV star Monica Walker was last seen in Heart's Harbor before she vanished—allegedly to elope—Callie probes the townsfolk for information. She’s stunned when several locals share contradictory stories about the last day before Monica's disappearance. Did she intend to leave her hit TV series? Was she being stalked by her ex? And why is the newspaper editor who investigated the story at the time so anxious about the cold case heating up?
When one of the talkative townspeople turns up dead, Callie aims to catch the killer. But it’s no picnic: Deputy Falk doesn’t want her meddling, and the locals suddenly know more about the past than they’d been at liberty to admit. If Callie and the Book Tea crew can’t crack the case, they’ll pay a very steep price in Joy Avon's explosive second Tea and a Read mystery.
1989: A famous TV star visits the tiny Maine town Heart's Harbor and disappears. Did she really want to escape to a new life or did something more sinister happen? 30 years pass and Callie is looking through newspaper archives with Quinn, a new friend, when he shows her newspaper clippings of the disappearance. Callie takes up the mystery, visiting the local newspaper editor who later turns up dead. With two cases to investigate, Cassie once again teams up with Falk to solve the mysteries.
This is a cute, fun series and I enjoyed the intriguing mystery of the missing TV star. There wasn't much investigation, per se (how much can you investigate a 30 year old mystery?) so it was mostly Callie's uncovering what she could and putting the pieces together. Lots of surprising twists and turns kept it interesting, and the exciting ending capped it all off with a bang. A great addition to this series and I look forward to more.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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15 January, 2020:
Finished reading
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15 January, 2020:
Reviewed