News, Press & Reviews

Well, well. One dead body wasn't enough for our friends at the Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum. The protagonists of Dead as a Scone, Nigel Owens and Dr. Felicity "Flick" Adams, executive director and chief curator, respectively, are back for seconds. This time, a body has been discovered under some Assam tea trees in the museum's tea garden. To everyone's surprise, the body belongs to the famous Etienne Makepeace, England's "Tea Sage" who vanished over 40 years ago. And, of course, the body had a gunshot in the head.

Nigel and Flick fend off the media madness at first, but when faced with a question about the possibility of creating an exhibit about Makepeace, they come to different conclusions at first. The conflict resolved, they begin their own investigation into Makepeace's past and discover far more than they ever expected. Accusations of womanizing and plagiarizing are only the beginning. There was far more to Makepeace than anyone in England suspected, and far more to the Tea Museum than its current executives are even aware of.

The dry humor evident in the first book of this series is back for seconds, as well. In fact, everything that made the first book so entertaining is back. Nigel and Flick begin the slow process of deepening their own relationship, as well as revealing just how far they have to grow as Christians. The romance could easily have slid down that seemingly endless slide of "I-can't-tell-him/her-the-truth-so-even-though-I'm-desperately-in-love-I-won't-say-so," but fortunately there's a friend nearby to knock some sense into both of them before it goes too far.

This time around, there are fewer characters to keep track of, which is helpful. The focus has tightened more on the main couple, as it should, only including characters that are essential to the ongoing plot.

Thoroughly entertaining, with more of everything that made the first book good and less of what detracted from it - what more could you ask for in a sequel? Recommended.

Related Authors

• Ron Benrey

• Janet Benrey

Related Books

• Dead As A Scone (Trade Paper)

• Final Crumpet, The (Trade Paper)