Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches (Daisy's Tea Garden Mystery #3) by Karen Rose Smith

Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches

(Daisy's Tea Garden Mystery #3)

by Karen Rose Smith

Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages

Expected publication: May 28th 2019 by Kensington

Amazon synopsis:

Daisy’s Tea Garden in Pennsylvania’s Amish country is known for its elegant  finger foods—but now owner Daisy Swanson has to finger a killer . . .

Restaurant critic Derek Schumaker, notorious for his bitter reviews, is about to visit Daisy’s Tea Garden, and Daisy and Aunt Iris are simmering with anxiety. A bad word from the culinary curmudgeon could really hurt their business, but Daisy tries to stay confident. After all, how can he resist her cucumber sandwiches with pimento spread—not to mention the cheesy cauliflower soup and strawberry walnut salad?

Schumaker takes a to-go order when the afternoon tea service is done, which Daisy hopes is a good sign. But when he perishes from a seizure, it looks like his food was dosed with something deadly. Considering a threat that recently appeared on his blog—and whispers of scandal in his past—Daisy has quite an assortment of suspects to sift through .

***

3.5 Stars

Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches is the third book in the Daisy’s Tea Garden Mysteries.

Since this is my first foray into the world of Daisy and her Tea Garden I found it a bit difficult to catch up on all the basic who’s who info. I did a lot of re-reading in order to make sure I had it all down. I had a tendency to zone out in the first half of the book.

Basic premise: restaurant critic comes to the tea room, eats Daisy’s cucumber sandwiches, loves them, orders some to go and ends up dead after eating the to-go cucumber sandwiches.

The plot itself was pretty intricate. Kudos for that. I had no idea who the culprit could be the entire time I was reading it. Too many viable suspects. And since I did not know who was more of  a mainstay character in the series, everyone seemed a viable option.

I thought it was a bit odd that the detective just showed up and questioned everyone. Yes, I know this is probably how it happens in the real world. But in books we usually get a heads up that the crime of murder has been detected. We get to see that person’s last moments so we know what the main character is being questioned for.

There are a lot of characters in this book. That was another reason why I was re-reading. I had to get them all in my brain so I could try and figure out whodunit. You are probably going to need a score card to keep up.

All in all, great complex mystery but the whole book didn’t quite catch me. I did not care if the suspect was caught. I did not root for Daisy and her shop. And I like when writers make me really care for their book folks. I wish she had made me care more. I probably would have liked this more.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.