MURDER WITH DARJEELING TEA

A trip to buy a birthday present embroils a Pennsylvania tea shop owner in yet another puzzling mystery.

Daisy Swanson wants nothing more than to support her family financially and emotionally, serve great food, and continue to develop her romantic relationship. So far, so good: Her shop in Willow Creek—part of Pennsylvania's Amish Country—is doing fine, her daughter and son-in-law’s unplanned pregnancy has worked out well, her other daughter will soon be off to college, and her romance with former cop–turned-woodworker Jonas Groft is progressing nicely. When she visits the shop of oddly reclusive dog lover Wilhelm Rumple in search of a concrete dog statue for Jonas’ birthday, she overhears an argument between Rumple and wealthy Stanley King over money. Jonas and Rumple both volunteer at Four Paws Animal Shelter, which is run by a brother-sister team, and when Rumple is murdered in a dog run there, Daisy, who’s no stranger to investigations, feels compelled to see what she can discover. Although she turns everything she learns over to the police, who are struggling to pin down a motive, she still becomes a target for a killer who fears she knows too much.

The deepest joys in this cozy are the relationships between people you actually care about.