Part of the duties of owning a tea room involves purchasing new tea services when the old ones can no longer be used—a task that Lily Roberts approaches with glee. When she spots a Beatrix Potter-themed children’s tea set at an antiques fair, she can’t resist adding it to her shop’s collection. After all, she serves plenty of children at Tea by the Sea and knows that the little ones will be just as delighted by the adorable cups and plates as she is.

Little does she suspect what a headache this seemingly innocuous purchase will bring her. It begins when a woman barges into the tea room, demanding that the set be returned. A skeptical Lily asks for proof of ownership, forcing Kimberly Smithfield to sheepishly admit that the service was part of a recent inheritance that was accidentally sold off. Lily reluctantly agrees to sell back the set, but Kimberly only seems to be interested in something hidden in the lining of the box the set came in anyway. Kimberly snatches that mysterious something away, telling Lily to keep both the money she paid and the set itself.

Relieved to have weathered this tempest in a teacup, Lily is ready to focus on work when an old acquaintance comes knocking. Rachel Morrison is a highly sought-after restaurant decorator; the two had met when Lily still worked in New York City’s high-end culinary scene. Tragedy brought Rachel to Cape Cod, where Lily now lives. Rachel’s mother passed away recently, but her final will has gone missing. In its absence, Rachel’s half-sister will inherit everything. It’s with a sinking feeling that Lily realizes that this half-sister is the obnoxious Kimberly.

The last thing Lily wants to do is get in the middle of a family feud, especially over something as fraught as an inheritance. But when she finds the corpse of one of the sisters and becomes implicated in the murder herself, she realizes she’ll have to get to the bottom of things before anyone else gets hurt. How quickly will she be able to solve the mystery, though, when an ex-fiancé, a bitter rival, and an arsonist all show up to make her life a misery?

This has definitely been my favorite so far of Vicki Delaney’s Tea by the Sea Mystery series, as Lily has to sort through multiple motives and machinations in order to bring a murderer to justice. The plot was nicely layered, with clues neatly obscured ahead of the a-ha moment. It’s also a continuing delight to see how Lily appreciates her more laid-back life after the pressures of living in the Big Apple, and how both she and her best friend, Bernie, still manage to use their contacts in the city to uncover the truth.

There were three recipes for baked goods included here, and I decided to try out this one:

Lemon Squares

Base Ingredients

2 cups butter, room temperature

½ cup confectioner’s sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp salt

Topping Ingredients

4 eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

⅓ cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp grated lemon zest

1 Tbsp grated lime zest

3 Tbsp lemon juice

Icing sugar for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together butter, confectioner’s sugar, flour, and salt until well blended. The mixture will look like fine breadcrumbs.

Pat into a 9 x 13-inch greased pan. Prick surface with a fork. Bake for twenty minutes, until the pastry is golden.

Beat together eggs, granulated sugar, flour, zests, and juices.

Pour the mixture over the cooked base. Bake for fifteen to twenty minutes until set.

Cut into squares and liberally dust with icing sugar.

I love a good lemon squares recipe (as do my children, one of whom couldn’t resist putting his finger into the pan before I could take a picture), and this is one of the finest I’ve tasted! The lime in the recipe really cuts down on the tartness without sacrificing too much acid, ensuring that the final product is bright without being puckering. The lime also bolsters the sweetness without making it too cloying and is an inspired addition to the usual lemons and sugar used for recipes like this. I also liked how the zest was incorporated into this dessert, making good use of all the edible parts of the fruit.

Next week, we head to the Midwest to make a delightfully easy pie while investigating the death of a celebrity at a county fair. Do join me!

See also: Cooking the Books: Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah