It’s never good when your food is connected to a death, especially when you are in the food service business. This is the unhappy position that Daisy unfortunately finds herself in, as she struggles to clear her name and save the reputation of her tea shop. The mystery is quite good, and the family drama as Daisy’s adopted daughter attempts to get to know her birth mother is equally entertaining. Well written with interesting characters, this series is a hit. ( )

Derek Schumaker, a food critic who gained fame hosting a television program, visits Daisy's Tea Garden, but before his blog post appears, he dies. The last thing he ate was a cucumber sandwich from Daisy's. Daisy begins investigating to clear her restaurant's reputation. People know what he ate and assume a case of poison when investigators don't release the actual cause. Daisy's employee Foster is hiding something and not being forthcoming in his answers. Her adopted daughter Jazzi needs support when her newly-found birth mother doesn't embrace her as openly as she wishes. Lots of things going on in the installment--perhaps more than needed. The mystery seems lost to the rest of the story, and the solution will likely surprise most readers simply because the mystery's development is lacking. ( )

Daisy's Tea Garden is expecting a visit from TV Chef turned food critic Derek Schumaker. Daisy isn't sure she should have agreed to his coming since his recent reviews of other eating establishments have not been glowing, in fact they have been down right harsh. Many people aren't happy with Derek but Daisy's Tea garden puts on a smiling face and serves their best to Derek. When leaving he asks for a take-out order of Cucumber Sandwiches, is this a good sign?

When Derek is found dead later and the police believe he has been poisoned, word gets out that it was Daisy's Cucumber Sandwiches which did it. Detective Rappaport tells Daisy that there were foreign ingredients (drugs) in the sandwiches and that he doesn't believe that she put them there but he doesn't want to let that information out. Needless to say, Daisy's business starts to disappear as people fear to be poisoned. Daisy has no choice but to try to figure out who killed the critic before her business is killed too.

Not only does Daisy have to worry about the decline in business but her employee Foster (who's dating her daughter) is acting a bit strange and her boyfriend Jonas is extremely disappointed when Daisy cancels a weekend getaway to stay home to talk with her daughter who asks for time.

All the action, searching for the murderer, family issues and boyfriend troubles keep Daisy hopping throughout.

Love the way that the business and characters are woven together as well as the family life.
Looking forward to future visits to Daisy's Tea Garden. ( )

Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches is the third book in A Daisy's Tea Garden Mystery series. I recommend reading the series in order to avoid confusion (there are a number of characters and ongoing personal situations). Karen Rose Smith has a relaxed writing style which makes for an easy to read story. I like the various characters that include the kindly Aunt Iris, the kitchen manager Tessa Miller, Foster Cranshaw, Jazzi, Violet, Daisy’s Amish best friend Rachel and various townspeople. While Daisy is busy looking into Derek’s death, she is also dealing with personal drama at home and at work. Foster Cranshaw, an employee & her social media expert, is acting unlike himself and needing extra time off. He refuses to tell Daisy what is bothering him. Jazzi, Daisy’s teenage daughter, wants to have a close relationship with her biological mother, Portia. First, though, Portia needs to come clean to her husband about Jazzi. Sean, Daisy’s father, has concerns and needs some helpful advice. Jonas Croft, Daisy’s boyfriend, is not happy when Daisy cancels plans with him for Violet (Daisy’s eldest daughter). Daisy wonders if Jonas is the right man for her. Violet has some important news to share with Daisy and it is going to change all of their lives. There is a regular customer interested in dating Iris, but first he needs to work up the nerve to ask her out. Murder with Cucumbers Sandwiches is heavy personal drama and light on mystery. There are multiple suspects for Daisy to question in her attempt to identify Derek’s killer. Detective Rappaport wants to keep her nose out of the investigation (as he tells her several times). I do wish the author had put more work into the mystery and had made it the focus of the story. My favorite quote from Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches is “children give us hope that a new generation will treat the world more kindly than we did”. Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches is a light cozy mystery with an unpleasant food critic, a jittery employee, a tearful teen, a hopeful beau, delectable delights, two affectionate felines, tasty tea, and a worried mom with a penchant for sleuthing. ( )

Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches by Karen Rose Smith is a 2019 Kensington publication.

Buckle up folks, there is a lot going on in this third installment of the Daisy Tea Garden Series.

For starters, famed food critic Derek Schumaker is all set to write a review of Daisy’s Tea Garden, but before he can post his critique on his popular blog, he is murdered. Not only that, Foster, who happens to be dating Violet, Daisy’s oldest daughter, has refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Worried that the suspicions about the timing of the murder and the role her cucumber sandwiches, played in Derek’s demise, will hurt her business, Daisy is determined to help solve the mystery, despite the clear warnings from our not so favorite detective to stay out of the way.

Meanwhile, Jazzi may be setting herself up for disappointment after her birth mother promises to finally tell her husband, she has a daughter she never told him about. But, that’s not all- just as Jonas and Daisy’s relationship begins to solidify a little more, a sudden, shocking turn of events sends Daisy and her entire family into a tailspin.

Whew!! There was never a dull moment in this book, that’s for sure. This mystery is very intriguing, with many suspects to choose from. It would seem Derek’s harsh reviews made him a few enemies along the way.

There is no way I could have possibly guessed who the murderer was! In fact, this was one of the most puzzling cases I’ve encountered in a cozy mystery in a long time.

Yet one of the things that makes this series so solid is the family drama which gets equal billing in the book. Daisy’s personal life is more complicated than ever before, as nearly every person she cares about is encountering a crisis of some sort. While she tries to save the tea garden’s reputation, she is also coping with heavy personal problems, and her ability to remain calm and balance everything on her plate quickly becomes tenuous.

I read this book in one sitting! I couldn’t put it down without finding out what was going to happen next.

I’ve been neglecting my cozy series for a while now, not consciously, though. This book has reminded me of just how much I enjoy reading them! This series is really starting to gel, as the characters develop, and I find myself starting to care for them. Karen Rose Smith has become one my ‘go to’ cozy mystery writers in the past few years. While she writes contemporary romance novels as well, I think she’s really found her niche in this genre! ( )