Read Your Writes Book Reviews: Review ~ THE GRIM STEEPER by Amanda Cooper

The Grim Steeper (Teapot Collector Mystery, #3)

by: Amanda Cooper

Series: Teapot Collector Mystery

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Release Date: February 2, 2016

Source: Publisher ~ Penguin: Berkley Prime Crime

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | BAM | Goodreads

The national bestselling author of Shadow of a Spout invites readers back to the Finger Lakes town of Gracious Grove for more tea and murder...

Mid-October in the charming Finger Lakes town of Gracious Grove means it’s time for the annual Fall Fling Townwide Tea Party. The highlight of the festivities is a roaming tea-tasting, which includes a stop at Auntie Rose’s Victorian Tea House. Sophie Taylor would like to share her enjoyment of the event with her sort-of boyfriend, English teacher Jason Murphy, but Jason’s dean has accused him of falsifying grades to help an athlete at the local college. Steamed and stressed, Jason shows up the night of the party with bags under his eyes.

But the dean shows up under Sophie’s Japanese Maple later that night, murdered, and now Jason is suspected of far worse than fudging grade reports. It’s up to Sophie, her Nana, and their friends the Silver Spouts to pore over the clues to find out who really decided to teach the dean a lesson.

REVIEW

Things have changed for Sophie Taylor since we last saw her in Shadow of a Sprout. She has returned to the restaurant kitchen, working as a sous chef de cuisine at Bartleby’s in the Hamptons. That is, until she gets a call informing her of her grandmother’s heart attack. Sophie rushes back to Finger Lakes, New York and immerses herself in taking care of her grandmother and her grandmother’s tea room, Auntie Rose’s Victoria Tea House. Nana’s recovery is going good but Sophie receives more shocking news. Her sort of boyfriend, Jason has been accused of changing the grade of the most valuable basketball player on Cruickshank College’s team in order to make him eligible to play. As if Jason’s situation couldn’t get worse, Dale Asquith, the dean of Cruickshank College and the person driving to have Jason fired is found dead.

The Grim Steeper is told in third person. However, Amanda Cooper writes the story so that readers know what Sophie, her grandmother Rose, and Rose’s frenemy Thelma Mae Earnshaw are thinking. For me, this series is all about the central and supporting characters. I love them. Well, maybe not Thelma Mae and her granddaughter Cissy. Reading the Teapot Collector Mystery series is like spending time with friends you can’t get enough of. While this is the third book in the series, it is easily a standalone read.

Like a great cup of tea steeped to perfection, The Grim Steeper takes readers on a well planned out adventure to discover and capture a killer. In order to clear Jason’s name and restore his reputation, Sophie will enlist the help of her friends and members of the Silver Spouts teapot collecting group. Just as they are closing in on the killer, they’ll have to act fast. It seems the killer has no problem with leaving bodies in their wake. The story ends with a happy moment and I’m looking forward to returning to Finger Lakes and Auntie Rose’s Victorian Tea House.

**Received a copy from Penguin Berkley Prime Crime for an honest and unbiased opinion.**

Rating: 4