Steeped in Secrets
Flat-broke and divorced, intuitive gemologist Shay Myers has changed since leaving her artsy hometown of coastal Bray Harbor sixteen years ago. But when she moves back under strange circumstances, old instincts may be the only key to spilling the tea on a deadly mystery.
Even with her life in ruins in New Mexico, Shay feels uneasy about settling into the small seaside town where she grew up on California’s Monterey Peninsula and taking over an estate bequeathed to her by Bridget Early, a woman she had barely known. Her heightened senses, an empathic gift she’s had since childhood, go into overdrive upon touring Crystals & CuriosiTEAS, Bridget’s eclectic tea and psychic shop brimming with Irish lore and Celtic symbols. They reach a boiling point when Shay looks up to discover a stranger’s body sprawled across the shop’s greenhouse roof.
With her new business a crime scene and questions brewing over Bridget’s so-called accidental death, Shay fears she’s also inherited the attention of a killer. The terrifying realization sets her on an impractical investigation for answers aided by her sister, an elusive pure-white German Shepherd, a strikingly handsome pub owner who speaks in a gentle brogue, and a misunderstood young woman with perceptive talents of her own. As Shay struggles to figure out her true purpose in Bray Harbor and the powerful connection she has with the tea shop, she must trust her judgment above all else to identify a ruthless murderer and save herself from becoming victim number three.
The Details
Series: A Magical Mystery – Book #1
Author: Lauren Elliott
Genre/Category: Cozy – Paranormal/Tea Shop
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 149673520X
Page Count: 304
Rating: 
The Review
I really enjoyed Steeped in Secrets, and as the first book in the new “A Magical Mystery” series, I thought it was a well-thought-out story with characters that didn’t feel new. I loved CuriosiTEAS, and I think I would have been enamored with Bridget Early if she had been my neighbor or someone in my town. Even though she was dead from the beginning of the book, it felt as though she was another character that interacted with Shay, just like everyone else.
The setting in this story is delightful. Bridget’s old shop CuriosiTEAS makes you want to have a good cup of black currant and have your fortune told. The psychic tea shop warms my heart, even with the changes Shay is making. The other characters are unique and add dimension to the plot. The suspects in the murder of a stranger are interesting, and the solution to the murder keeps readers engaged. Finding the killer takes some time and will have you second-guessing yourself. But in the end, everything will come together to reveal the killer. The secondary story of Shay’s former husband will have readers outraged and ready to jump to her defense. There needs to be some revenge taken on that man, and I hope we will get the satisfaction of seeing his downfall in another book.
The ending of Steeped in Secrets leaves plenty of room for the growth of characters and of CuriosiTEAS. Bridget will never be far away, and readers will continue to feel her presence throughout this series. I hope Shay continues to grow her psychic gift and that she will be grateful for what Bridget gave her. I hope the romance angle of this series doesn’t overwhelm it or grow too quickly, as all too often, the main character jumps into a relationship almost immediately, and it takes something away from the series. This first book is a wonderful start to what I hope will be a long-running series. I can’t wait to read the next one and visit Shay and CuriosiTEAS again soon!
The Author
Lauren Elliott grew up devouring the entire Nancy Drew series and then graduated to Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie, Barbara Erskine, Lynn Kurland, and Michael Crichton, to name a few of her favorite authors. When it came time for post-secondary education, journalism seemed logical, as she had written for as long as she could remember. Soon after graduation, while working for a small publication, she discovered that reporting wasn’t what fueled her writing passions. As someone with an additional strong background in professional theatre who loved storytelling and captivating and holding an audience, her fiction-writing career began to take center stage.
Lauren’s imagination is boundless. All of her books whether they explore different aspects of the paranormal with a dab of romance, fantasy, or a suspense-filled cozy murder mystery. Her writing never fails to take her readers on a gripping, page-turning adventure.
Another series and book readers will enjoy from this author is A Margin For Murder from the “A Beyond The Page Bookstore Mystery” or Murder in the First Edition.
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