About the book

 Cornish clifftop, a sunny afternoon, a quaint little teashop… but wait a minute. Is that jam, or blood? Maddie Penrose is determined to find out!

Maddie Penrose is staying with her beloved grandmother, Nor, at her gorgeously idyllic Cornish farm. She’s looking forward to days helping out in Nor’s little teashop and evenings wandering down the cliff path to watch the sunset. But before Maddie has even finished serving up scones on her first morning, a man bursts through the door: Nor’s neighbour Clive has found a body in the field behind the teashop…

Maddie is straight to the scene, fancying herself as a bit of an Agatha Christie. But solving this mystery is far from a piece of cake. Her list of suspects is jam-packed with locals, with some a little too close to home: the newcomer renting out one of Nor’s barns is acting suspiciously, the victim’s boyfriend has disappeared without trace, and Clive isn’t really Maddie’s cup of tea either…

But the proof is in the pudding when there’s another murder – her prime suspect is dead. And when Maddie finds a backpack belonging to the first murder victim, her diligent notetaking and quick thinking leads her to discover that the killer will act again, and soon. Maddie is horrified to discover that it looks like she is their next target…

Can Maddie and Nor work as a team to piece together the puzzle? Or will murdering Maddie be the icing on the cake for the killer?

A totally addictive, witty and warm cozy mystery that will keep you reading late into the night, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright.

My thoughts

Oh, this was lovely. I adore Cornwall and it has been some time since we visited and so it was wonderful to go there again, even if only in the pages of a book. A majority of the ‘cosy crime’ novels that I escape into, are historical and so it was a refreshing change to stay firmly in the 21st Century for this one.

Murder in a Cornish Teashop is the first in a new series by seasoned author, Fliss Chester. Maddie is a highly likeable protaganist and I warmed to her very quickly – as I did to her gran, Nor. The combination of generations gave a wonderful balance to the story and I do hope that fabulous Nor has plenty of life left in her yet for future adventures. Maddie is staying with her Gran to recover from burnout from a high pressured chefs job at a fancy London restaurant. Nor, now in her 80s, is struggling to continue to run both farm and teashop. Trouble seems to be landing squarely at her door and she isn’t as fit as she used to be. Both women are therefore a support to the other.

We join Maddie as she begins to help with the tea shop, hoping to help it survive. Yet a man suddenly appears, shot gun in hand and covered in blood. Someone has been murdered and before long Maddie has to use all her skills to try and get to the bottom of the mystery. Putting together clues as she would ingredients for a recipe she soon builds up a picture of what happended but will her amateur sleuthing put her in enough hot water that means grave danger for both here and her gran?

A cosy crime story that is as enticing as a freshly baked scone, warm from the oven with a generous helping of jam and cream.

Thank you to the lovely Sarah at Bookouture for inviting me to take part in this blog tour and for sending me a review copy via Netgalley.

About the author

Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.

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Happy reading!