Be careful where you hide things. This cozy mystery is complicated when the murder victim hides valuables just before they are killed. Book #1 of Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery Series leaves the reader wanting the next book. Fortunately at this time, there are 10 books in the series.
Welcome to Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery series. This is book #1 in cozy mystery that not only has clever mysteries to solve, but also highlights tea and delicious treats. Daisy and her Aunt Iris run a tea garden where the first mystery takes place. This series promises fun with a cup of tea.
Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes by Karen Rose Smith
Cozy Mystery Novel with Recipes
Book Review
Murder Mystery Books🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪
Book Review Outline and Tone:
This is book number one in a cozy mystery series. Several characters are wrapped up in the murder mystery. There is one cautionary tale that was very realistic. That lesson is people should be careful where they hide valuables without telling someone. I won’t spoil this event in the novel, but I will share my experience. I have a dear friend who had a close loved one pass away unexpectedly. While cleaning out this loved one’s refrigerator, a family member came across a Kool-Aid powder container. You read that right, a powder mix container in the fridge. Here is where the family is lucky that I wasn’t given the task to clean the fridge. I would have thought to myself how odd and then thrown it away. Fortunately, the person cleaning the fridge opened the container because inside was more than $2,000.00! What Daisy finds in this cozy mystery is slightly more valuable, but also in an unexpected place.
Each family member and main character have names that are flowers, Daisy, Iris, Jasmin, Violet and more. This makes for feminine, light and happy imagery. But don’t let that fool you, as these characters begin to grow in this novel, the reader realizes they are not delicate flowers but strong women. Daisy owns a tea garden that specializes in using unique tea kettles with blended tea served alongside scones and other treats. Reading the descriptions made me crave tea and cookies.
The author:
Karen Rose Smith writes both mystery novels and romance novels. The tagline on her website is “Romances & Mysteries with heart and emotions.” Smith has been publishing novels since 1992. She has received writing awards from around the country in places such as Colorado, Phoenix, and Washington, just to name a few. Her work has been on USA Today’s and Amazon Romance bestseller lists. Her website reveals to the reader that she has a love for cats as well as tea. She has even given Daisy Swanson (the main character in this novel) her own webpage. Karen Rose Smith can be contacted through her website or follow her on Facebook or X (Twitter) @Karenrosesmith.
What is not to like?:
As with many first in a series novels, the novel spends a good chunk of its pages to introduce you to the characters and their life circumstances. I found the beginning to read slowly as I tried to keep track of everyone. By the end though, I not only had all of the characters memorized, but I have hopes and expectations for each main character.
The verdict:
While I do think this book was slow to start, the characters grew quickly and the ending was the perfect combination of a resolution for the mystery and cliffhanger for the character’s personal lives.
Books to Read 📕📗📘📙
Read It! 3.5/5 Books 📚📚📚📚
Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).
Lemon Tea Cookies Recipe
Assemble the Ingredients
Easy dessert to make: 4/5 on the Easy as Pie scale 🥧🥧🥧🥧
Cream softened butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. With this easy cookie recipe, an electric mixer worked just fine, but if you prefer to use a stand mixer that would work too.
When I use my electric mixer, I always use because of the nonslip coating on the bottom.
Good Grips, no slip when mixing. Each bowl has a spout for easy pouring. Dishwasher safe.
Add lemon zest and mix again.
Add eggs and beat until smooth.
I like to crack eggs into a liquid measuring cup and then it is super easy to pour out one egg at a time when mixing the dough.
Add salt, baking powder, and lemon extract, and mix well with the mixer.
When you add the flour next, do it in ½-cup portions so batter is thoroughly mixed and smooth.
When you are ready to add the last half cup of flour, I recommend mixing it in by had with a sturdy silicone spatula. such as The dough a little stiff at the point.
Drop rounded tablespoons of batter onto a cookie sheet. The recipe says to use a well greased cookie sheet, but I find a silicone baking mat works much better.
Make sure there is space around each cookie because they grow. I baked 6 cookies at a time. I also wasn’t sure how big they would get so I used two different scoops.
The smaller cookies used the small scoop and for the larger cookies, I used the medium scoop.
This set has small, medium, and large scoops. Perfect for even cookies or filling cupcake liners.
Bake at 375 degrees for 11-12 minutes until golden brown around the edges.
When you remove cookies from the oven, sprinkle with granulated sugar. Then quickly remove them from the pan and cool.
Both sizes came out perfectly and didn’t stick to the silicone baking mat.
So delicious 😋😋😋😋
Lemon Tea Cookies from: Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1½ cups granulated sugar (plus 2 tablespoons to garnish the baked cookies)
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- ½ tsp salt
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 3 cups flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cream softened butter and granulated sugar until fluffy.
- Add eggs and beat until smooth.
- Add lemon zest and mix again.
- Add salt, baking powder, and lemon extract, and mix well with the mixer.
- When you add the flour next, do it in ½-cup portions so batter is thoroughly mixed and smooth.
- Drop rounded tablespoons of batter onto a well-greased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat.
- Make sure there is space around each cookie because they grow.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 11-12 minutes until golden brown around the edges.
- When you remove cookies from the oven, sprinkle with granulated sugar. Then quickly remove them from the pan and cool.
What would I do differently next time?
These were wonderful with a subtle taste of lemon. I was worried that a whole teaspoon of lemon extract would make them taste medicine like. That is what always happens on baking shows on TV. I wonder if perhaps tea cookies are meant to have a subtle flavor so they compliment the tea and don’t overpower the taste of the tea. I would have enjoyed a stronger lemon flavor. I polled my lemon flavor loving coworker and she agreed with me that they could have been more lemony. Next time I will add 3 teaspoons of lemon zest. My sister, who lives in Florida claims that a baker does not need to be afraid of lemon extract and that Floridians often add lemon extract, even when using fresh lemons in their baked goods. So, if you really like lemon flavor, add a total of 3 teaspoons of lemon zest and try 1 and a half teaspoons of lemon extract.
Will I make it again?:Yes. These cookies are delicious! 😋😋😋😋
Try some of these yummy cookies too!
Cocoa Snaps from Joanne Fluke’s Strawberry Shortcake Murder
Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies from Joanne Fluke’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
