Gemma comes back home from Australia and buys a tea room. She employs her good friend Cassie to help her. Fletcher joins the tea room as their chef. The tea room is doing well until an American tourist is found murdered in the garden space behind the tea room. Police shuts it down for a few days to investigates. Head Detective Devlin just happens to be Gemma's ex-college boyfriend which leads to sparks between the two. Since Gemma is frustrated with how slow the police is moving to solve this murder, she gets involved and does investigating on her own. She thinks she knows who the murderer is, but then he turns up dead, also. Gemma has to rethink everything.
Even though it took me a week to read this book, I highly enjoyed it. The book was not at fault, my life has just been full. ( )

Gemma Rose has returned home to Meadowford-on-Smythe on the outskirts of Oxford University to fulfill her dream of opening the Little Stables Tearoom. Not everyone is understanding that Gemma is using her Oxford degree as an entrepreneur rather than continuing her career as an executive in Sydney, Australia. However, Gemma delights in working each day with her friend Cassie and baker Fletcher Wilson. Muesli is the cheeky tabby pictured on the cozy's cover that comes to work every day with Fletcher and is quite an adventurous furry face that doesn't always follow the food and hygiene rules as if rules apply to any cat.

Although the business was closed more than it was open due to the sight of the murder investigation it was a delightful beginning to the series and it was interesting to read of Gemma's sleuthing on the campus of Oxford University.

For all those who love recipes included at the end of the cozy mystery, you will delight in the provision of a little historical background with a "Traditional English Scone Recipe." U.S. baking measurements are kindly provided in parentheses. ( )

Fun ( )

This was just a standard cozy for me. The mystery was okay but the main character wasn’t that likable. For a woman who worked a high level corporate job for 8 years before buying the tearoom she seemed at time exceptionally immature. There were some things that saved it a star in my rating. The first is the old biddies – they were great and way better investigators than the main character and worthy of their own series. The other thing that saved the book was the lead detective was intelligent and called Gemma on her sh** which usually not the norm.

For me though the best part was the narrator, Pearl Hewitt. She really brought the story to life for me. As a Texan, I have no idea if her accent was accurate or not but for me the narration brought the whole Oxforshire location to life and make the book much more enjoyable. I will probably continue with the series as I loved the supporting the characters and Pearl’s narration.
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2 1/2 stars. More cozy than smart which is fine for a book I listened to as I drifted off to sleep. ( )