Clue In The Stew

Today we are looking at another wonderful April release, 

A Clue in the Stew. I enjoyed reading and reviewing this story in March. The paper back copy arrived recently and reminded me of how much I enjoyed this book and this series. I also loved how it looked on my table! My friend Lisa K introduced me to this series and you can find this and all Connie Archer's Soup Lovers Mysteries by clicking here.

Soup shop owner Lucky Jamieson stirs up more trouble in the latest mystery from the national bestselling author of "Ladle to the Grave.".. When Lucky Jamieson opens up By the Spoonful to host an event with a famous author, she s not expecting a bunch of nuts to descend on her small-town soup shop. But the author s exasperating entourage from a prickly publicist to a snippy son and his tipsy wife give fresh meaning to the phrase, too many cooks spoil the broth. The evening is more than spoiled, however, when it ends with a homicide. When the manner of the murder as well as another recent unsolved crime echoes the author s fiction, Police Chief Nate Edgerton realizes he has a copycat killer on his hands. And Lucky hopes that one of her regular customers who has mysteriously gone missing isn t involved. Once again, the soup shop owner will need to stir up some clues to find her friend and catch a cunning killer before things really take a tureen for the worse..."

This was my favorite in the series and one I felt so emotionally involved in. In my review last month I shared my reasons why, I hope you find that you are just as emotionally invested in this series as I am!

To learn more about this series please click here. 

To order your own copy of A Clue in the Stew please click here. 
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and another great April released cozy mystery! 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 March 26-April 2nd

It is April! March did come in like a Lion and left here on the west coast like a lamb. What a beautiful week we have been enjoying!. I am equally excited about all the wonderful books that are being released for you all to read this month. I have a had a few of them on my table in the last week and I was so thrilled to be able to share my reviews with you.

I read 13 cozy mysteries in March along with two advanced reading copies of cook books out later this spring, I think that is a new record for me!

Kathi Daley's new first in series based in Hawaii was a night well spent this past week! I enjoyed having it on my table and a "quick trip" to Hawaii if only in my Mind Monday night!

Next Tuesday several of my favorite series have a book released! You are all in for a treat!

Mia and I truly enjoyed March's Advanced Reading Copies!

This is a very busy weekend for me as by the time you read this I will be on my way to my sons year end Hockey Tournament! Not sure I will get even a few minutes to read this new to me series book one by Jeanne Quigley.

Also making it to my table this week Murder& Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction, doesn't the name make you want to pick it up too? This one is by Amy Metz and arrived in the mail Friday afternoon!

Happy World Autism Day! Showing the world we CAN play hockey!
http://www.canucksautism.ca/

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that you find some time to cheer on your favorite people, if  like me and you can not get a few minutes to spare to yourself to read today! 

As with all my posts 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 March 19th-26th

Boy oh boy where has the month gone? What a wild week this has been. Sadly Spring Break for us is ending Tuesday and I shall miss the reprieve. I am counting the days until summer break for sure. I think I am the most excited person when school is done for the year.

This week had it's ups and it's downs. While I have been trying to promote the cozy community in whole and recommending that each person who reads also reviews I thought it might be fun to take a photo with a few of my favorite books piled on my table. My photos had the effect I was looking for and made me so happy. As I was editing the photos for my blog my curious kitten Mia manged to some how knock over a pile on to my candle which I did not sadly notice in time.

  Heart broken but thrilled that I was only 2 feet away, there was one casualty that I am truly heart sick about and it seems to be out of print. It was one of my first cozy mysteries I ever read, I am now looking to replace it.   If you have not read Ellen Byerrum's Crime of Fashion Mysteries they were one of my first series and one of my favorites. This was my favorite of the entire series as I said before so I am a tad sad.

New on my table this week some of April's most amazing series. Duffy Brown's Braking For Bodies (which the review will be up Sunday) was such a wild ride, Ellery Adams Breach of Crust, Connie Archer's A Clue in the Sew, Susan Furlong's Rest In Peach, Amanda Flower's Crime and Poetry and I am currently reading Dawn Eastman's An Unhappy Medium. These books are out April 5th.

Out in June, I finished Sheila Connolly's book as well this week and I think you will enjoy book 7 in this series.

I shall leave you here and thank you for joining me for a week in review, It is a good thing our kitten culprit is cute!  Lifting my Caramel Black Tea cups and toasting you all.

Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery week in review.

High Praise For Connie Archers A Clue In The Sew

Friday night I finished A Clue in The Stew by Connie Archer, out April 5th.  I enjoyed reading A Clue in the Stew, the series is a good one and I love the recipes for soup in the back of each book.
My friend Lisa of Lisa K's books turned me on to this series and I am forever grateful.

"Soup shop owner Lucky Jamieson stirs up more trouble in the latest mystery from the national bestselling author of "Ladle to the Grave.".. When Lucky Jamieson opens up By the Spoonful to host an event with a famous author, she s not expecting a bunch of nuts to descend on her small-town soup shop. But the author s exasperating entourage from a prickly publicist to a snippy son and his tipsy wife give fresh meaning to the phrase, too many cooks spoil the broth. The evening is more than spoiled, however, when it ends with a homicide. When the manner of the murder as well as another recent unsolved crime echoes the author s fiction, Police Chief Nate Edgerton realizes he has a copycat killer on his hands. And Lucky hopes that one of her regular customers who has mysteriously gone missing isn t involved. Once again, the soup shop owner will need to stir up some clues to find her friend and catch a cunning killer before things really take a tureen for the worse..."

There were several reasons I enjoyed this book, one I felt that I could easily identify with Lucky, the main character. The main mystery plot and the sub plot had me guessing until the end but I was truly touched with the way that Connie Archer wrote about the relationships of the characters. I felt that (with out giving anything away) the story was written from a very thoughtful and very positive place. I felt that Connie Archer choose to take a very emotionally charged situation and character's life story and choose the high road for that character, without diminishing the truly remarkable survival story and resiliency of  her characters. I was not expecting to feel the way I did towards the end of the story, I felt that I had been personally invested in Lucky's investigation and felt such relief  with the outcome. I have a lot of respect for Connie Archer and how she choose to tell the story of A Clue in the Stew. 

To order your own copy of A Clue in the Stew please click 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

On My Table and In My Cup March 12-19th

What a week. I am so thankful to be on Spring Break even though we have been doing mostly doctor appointments it has been nice to just not rush. I was proudly wearing my green this week as this is my first true St. Patrick's day knowing my Irish heritage. I was so touched when a friend who lives in Ireland send me a care package shown below and it arrived on St. Patrick's day.

I am so unbelievably lucky with the friends I have made online over the years . They are some of the most giving and kind people that I honored to call friends. Thank you Tracey! I am so very touched!

I wore my new earrings and my necklace with pride and love everything you sent me, especially the little sheep! 

This week I read and reviewed three books. It was such a delight to have Ellery Adams Breach of Crust on my table this week along with Susan Furlongs.

Rest in Peach was a wonderful story and a great second in series.

All three of the books I read this week are out on April 5th. Crime and Poetry is a first in series from Amanda Flower and was so much better then I could have imagined. I am looking forward to another  book in this series and I hope we won't have to wait to long.

I was treated to a paper back copy of Crime and Poetry in the mail box on Friday and I was tickled when Squirrel sat down to join me for tea.

This week I was rather adventurous on the loose leaf tea front and I had three new teas I tried, while I only got the first one up for review I promise to share more on my tea finds in the next few weeks. This lovely Darjeeling, from Happy Earth Tea was a tasty treat!

Another lovely friend brought over a planter she made for me, It was such a wonderful surprise and all the daffodils have now opened, it is quite a nice arrangement. I am also working my way through the April release of Connie Archers book A Clue In The Stew. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I 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

On My Table And In My Cup November 14-21st

Another week has come and gone. The holiday vortex is upon us and days feel as though they are flying by. I have been so lucky to have so many wonderful books on my table this week and wonderful cups of tea.

Sunday I reviewed The Postman Is Late by Vicki Vass, I am still thinking of the Main Character and the story line I hope this one turns into a long series! So many rich characters and such a great read, better then great.

I read Kari Lee Townsend's short story which was such a nice escape and like a visit with old friends. I look forward to reading book 4.

A pleasant surprise to have the mail man deliver two wonderful books this week. I read Spoonful of Murder by Connie Archer and loved it! I can not wait to read more of that series. Thank you to my friend Lisa K for this book! I am currently reading Vicki Delany's Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen.

I can not wait to make more of these cookies, we ate them all this week and I have my cookie party next Saturday and I need to make at least 9 dozen for next week. I should really start now.

Friday I took a trip to the local Sally Anne Thrift Store (Salvation Army) I really lucked out on this trip. I got more then I am sharing here but here are some of the highlights. I recently broke one of my Old Country Roses Creamers and I found this one to replace it for $4.99, I also got the teapot handled measuring cups with a rack for another $4.99! The metal hanging looks great in my living room right now and it was $3.99. I have wanted this Snowbabies book forever and it was such a treat to find it in store and at such a great price $2! It was a very good day to go and I am thrilled with my finds.

In my cups this week as with the parade of Snowbabies, I have tried to vary my selection. I have enjoyed Santa's Secret, Paris Black Tea, Peppermint, Snow Day tea I was thrilled to enjoy Buckingham Place Afternoon tea my friend Karen had sent me. I feel so blessed and so thankful to have you all stop by this week and share a cup of tea with me. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

A Spoonful of Murder by Connie Archer, A Gift From A Friend And A Review To Share

Today's review of A Spoonful of Murder by Connie Archer is all do to my friend Lisa K sending me this special treat. I owe a lot to Lisa K. She has gone out of her way for the last few years to take me under her wing and share with me about the cozy blogger review world. She very kindly sent me this book and she knew I would love it.

I received it a few days ago and Lisa ordered it for me from The Book Depository, the free shipping is a huge bonus especially when you are shipping to a friend internationally!
Lisa has always made wonderful suggestions about authors and series to me and she was right about this one. I loved it.

A this is a book about coming home, rediscovering lost friendships, building a life from the pieces of a shattered dream and tragedy. About character and about community this story was the perfect book at the perfect time. I love to make soup as some of you know and there are some fantastic recipes in the back of this book. This was an unexpected surprise and delight to receive from a friend. I love that it is an established series and I can now order and read more about Lucky, Her Grandfather and all the gang from By the Spoonful.  Thank you Lisa! Your book was a highlight for me this week. It was like having you over for a visit. To order your own copy of A Spoonful of Murder please click here.
Thank you for joining me here for A cup of tea and a cozy mystery. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

A Cozy Short Story By Kari Lee Townsend

I purchased this Sunny Meadows short story on Amazon on the weekend. I loved the series that Kari Lee Townsend wrote The Fortune Tellers Mysteries and when I did not see book 4 come up I had forgotten about the series until I had moved my bookshelves around last week. I tracked down Kari on social media and she kindly shared that there was a short story and book 4 as well.  I ordered the short story which was a fun little mystery and felt like a home coming visit.

I am looking forward to ordering book 4 Perish in the Palms and if you would like to read the 3.5 short story Shenanigans in the Shadows please click here.

 I was so excited when my mail man brought my pre ordered Vicki Delany book Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen and a lovely gift from my friend Lisa K a Connie Archer Mystery called A Spoonful of Murder. 
I feel truly blessed to have these wonderful cozies to escape too, a perfect cup of tea and a cranberry scone to sustain me. Thank you for joining me for A Cup of Tea and a Cozy Mystery. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com