On My Table and In My Cup February 3rd-10th

Greetings of peace from my table here on the West Coast of Canada, my salute to the Olympics with my morning tea. I watched the opening ceremonies last night and was very impressed. I cannot help but feel pride and excitement as I look upon the faces of each and every athlete that entered the stadium and think of all that must first happen to get them to that moment. I find it moving to see. I prefer the Winter Olympic sports to watch and cannot wait to see what happens next.

Upon my table this week Hummus and Homicide by Tana Kashian. Just started this one.

I will be sharing my review for Rhys Bowen's The Tuscan Child tomorrow. I could not put this down and I have one heck of a book hangover from this one.
Outstanding read.

Also a great read was Clairvoyant and Present Danger by Lena Gregory. I found this my most favorite of the series and the characters are so great in this one. I hope that there will be a book 4!

Miranda James Claws for Concern was one of those reads that you just have a special place in your heart for. This series has surpassed my expectations and this one was incredibly well written, with so much heart and a great mystery too!

Pawprints & Predicaments by Bethany Blake was a lovely cozy read and one that I know you will read. A great post Christmas based mystery story with lots of great animals and friends too!

Rescue cups on my table this week were a guilty pleasure for me this week, this one was a $3.99 rescue.

This Paragon rescue is a lovely light blue and it has the biggest flowers on it, I love the look and feel of it, right down to the delicate handle. This one was a bit more at $14.99 but I fell in love with it.

This $4 rescue has quite a good story which I will share next week...
In my cup this week I have had Murchie's new Sweet Heart blend of black and green tea, with fruit and delicate spices. A lovely light holiday tea. I have also been enjoying the Plumb Deluxe Readers Nook Tea, A Laura Secord Green tea, A Orange, Honeybush tea from Twinings Honeybush & Mandarin Orange tea,   and A Celestial Seasonings Chamomile & Lavender tea. I have of course started most of my days off with the Murchies Black Vanilla that is my long standing favorite!
Thank you for taking time today to join me for a cup of tea and a look back at what has been on my table and in my cup this week. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Pawprints & Predicaments by Bethany Blake

I just finished Pawprints & Predicaments by Bethany Blake. This is a series I really like because the main character is one of the most unique and oddly optimistic characters I  have ever encountered. She is relatable, not predictable and quite unassuming. She has wonderful instincts that are important in any great cozy but there is just something about her I cannot quite put my finger on that I just really like. This story was a great one and I love all the animal characters as much as the human ones. The mystery was a good one, even though I figured out who the murder was quite off handedly just before the big reveal and I was thrilled by the revelation. A great deal of effort and thought clearly went into this one and I feel like were are just getting to know Daphne a little bit better with each book. A great winter read. I loved it. This one is a Kensington release  and it is out Feb 27th. Don't you just love the cover? 

The Tail Waggin’ Winterfest is the highlight of the season in the famously pet-friendly Pocono Mountains town of Sylvan Creek. But despite attractions like an ice sculpture display, a dogsled race, and gourmet hot chocolate, Daphne Templeton finds herself annoyed by TV producer Lauren Savidge, who’s filming the festivities. She’s critical, controlling, and as chilly as the January air. Daphne would like to tell her to go jump in a lake—and as a matter of fact, that’s exactly what they’re both going to do . . . It’s the first-ever polar bear plunge in Lake Wallapawakee, and Daphne and Lauren are among the eighty or so people who charge into the frigid water to raise funds for animals in need. Daphne makes it back to shore—with the help of a mysterious St. Bernard—but Lauren is dragged out stone cold dead. Now, with her trusty basset hound Socrates at her side, Daphne intends to assist Detective Jonathan Black in his investigation—whether he wants her to or not . . .

You can find Pawprints & Predicaments on Amazon by clicking here. 
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery review I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Dial Meow For Murder by Bethany Blake

I read Dial Meow for Murder over the long weekend and I loved it. Bethany Blake has a strong second in series with Dial Meow for Murder. I really like that the main character Daphne is a free uncomplicated spirit with a knack for working with animals and a soft spot for solving the murders of the dead bodies she finds. She is purposeful in her investigations and clumsy, she is overly carrying and wears her heart on her sleeve. She is kind and curious to a fault and all of this makes for a great main character. I loved the mystery and how Daphney interpreted all the clues for not only the murder mystery but the mystery of what to do with her life as well.
This one is well written, thoughtful and a cozy great read. This one is out September 26th!

Even an experienced pet sitter like Daphne Templeton can be fooled by animal behavior: how can an adorably tiny fuzz ball named Tinkleston be capable of sudden flying leaps with cat claws bared? But human behavior remains even more mysterious, especially when Tinkleston’s owner is murdered on the night of a gala fundraiser for Fur-ever Friends Pet Rescue. Accompanied by her unflappable basset hound, Socrates, Daphne plans to take charge of Tinks the Terror and leave the crime-solving to handsome detective Jonathan Black. But while luring the prickly Persian out of hiding, she uncovers clues that might take suspicion off her own mother. Maeve Templeton already has a reputation as a killer—in real estate. How far would she go to bag Sylvan Creek’s most coveted property, the Flynt Mansion? To expose the truth, Daphne finds herself donning a deranged clown costume on an autumnal adventure that might just be crazy enough to work—if it doesn’t get her killed.

You can find Dial Meo for Murder from Kensington Publishing on Amazon by clicking here 

Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery review. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmial.com

On My Table and In My Cup September 2nd-9th

On my table this week I have had quite a lot. Not just books and tea, but calenders, school forms and homework. This week was back to school week one for us and the chaos has begun. In my blessed chaos I do realize and am thankful to for the small issues this has caused in my own world, I only have to turn on the news, or Facebook to see the devastation first hand, fires, floods, storms, earthquakes, accidents and threats of war world wide. I try so hard to focus on the good. Not always easy and something easy to forget. In times of chaos, there are always helpers, the good in people does shine through even in the darkest of times.

 It was a lovely surprise to have a copy of MK Graff's book Golden Hour arrive in my mailbox this week. I am looking forward to reading it.

I am reading this book so slowly not on purpose but due to the events and amount of work I have been doing this week, the last two days I am starting to feel more like myself, just still really tired.
So this one may take me a bit to get to the review.

I did read and enjoy Leigh Perry's The Skeleton Paints a Picture this week, it is a great book and series and this review will be up soon to share!

I got to review a new Witchcraft book this Wednesday that will be out in October and would make a great holiday gift too!

Dial Meow for Murder was on my table this week and a great read as well! I love an uncomplicated character in a complicated mystery!

What a treat to be able to read Yuletide Homicide, this one I will say I cheered at in the end. I love this series so much.

Monday morning before all the chaos, I did go to the beach with my husband while he walked I sat and sipped my tea it was a lovely sunrise and matched my teacup perfectly I tote my teacup and saucer, as well as my Murchie's Vanilla Black Tea in a thermos and sit with the birds, harbor seals, seagulls and Canadian Geese. As I get stronger I will hopefully be able to keep up with him as he walks. 

I ordered and got new glasses this week as well, I am so pleased with how comfortable they are and how well I feel I see in them.

We started our new Fall Series this week and I hope you got to check it out! Be sure to check in on Monday to see what Karen K and I have for you!

I hope you have enjoyed this quick look back at the week and what has been on my table and in my cup!  Thank you for joining me here for a cup of tea and a week in review. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com 

On My Table and In My Cup January 14th-21st

I would like to thank you for stopping by today for another week in review. My table has been very full this week and I actually made my first batch of scones since moving into the new house yesterday. It was long overdue and actually made it feel just like home. I am actually feeling more settled this week and even found the Christmas Cards I wrote and accidentally packed, with out sending, as I opened the last box in the living room on Thursday! I have only a few boxes left to open and things are really falling into place.

Earlier this week a good friend of mine returned from visiting her mother in Iran, she brought with her a beautiful teapot for me and some absolutely delicious herbal teas that I have been enjoying all week. My friend is one of the most thoughtful, caring and strong people I know, she has been to hell and back more then once and she is an inspiration.  It is an honor to count her among my friends.

This week I read 7 books, I have had to say I was so very pleasantly surprised by Smugglers & Scones a new first in series by Morgan C. Talbot and if you missed my review earlier this week, this one is going to be the cozy I hold all other first in series against and the gold standard for 2017. Loved it that much!

I also loved CeeCee James The Honeyed Taste of Deception which is not yet out, I will share my review in the next week it was lots of fun!

Also on my tablet his week were A Cast of Vultures and Death by Chocolate Lab

I will have a review of the book I read last night for you on Sunday, Snowed in With Murder by Auralee Wallace

Thank you so much for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery week in review. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Death By Chocolate Lab

I read Death by Chocolate Lab, A Lucky Paws Pet-sitting Mystery by Bethany Blake yesterday. This is a first in series about an unlikely armature sleuth and over qualified pet sitter that dog lovers are sure to enjoy. I will be absolutely honest it took me a really long time to get into this book, though the first half is very slow moving I did enjoy the second half. I did not find the mystery in the book plausible but I did appreciate the back story for the detective. This book is out February 28th and you can find out more about it by clicking here.

Pet sitter Daphne Templeton has a soft spot for every stray and misfit who wanders into the quaint, lakeside village of Sylvan Creek. But even Daphne doesn’t like arrogant, womanizing Steve Beamus, the controversial owner of Blue Ribbon K-9 Academy. When Steve turns up dead during a dog agility trial, Daphne can think of a long list of people with motives for homicide, and so can the police. Unfortunately, at the top of the list is Daphne’s sister, Piper—Steve’s latest wronged girlfriend.Certain that Piper is innocent, in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary, Daphne sets out to clear her sister’s name—and find Axis, Steve’s prize-winning chocolate Labrador, who went missing the night of Steve’s death. Aided by Socrates, her taciturn basset hound, and a hyperactive one-eared Chihuahua named Artie, Daphne quickly runs afoul of Detective Jonathan Black, a handsome and enigmatic newcomer to town, who has no appreciation for Daphne’s unorthodox sleuthing.Can a free-spirited pet sitter, armed only with a Ph.D. in Philosophy and her two incompatible dogs, find the real killer before she becomes the next victim?
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery review. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com