"There's a Murder Afoot" by Vicki Delany

"One of the things I most want to do in London is have afternoon tea. Where do you think's the best place for the whole experience?"

"They do a marvelous tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace. You could tell everyone at home you had tea in Kensington Palace without adding that you had to pay an exorbitant amount for it and no one from the royal family joined you."

— There's a Murder Afoot by Vicki Delany

If you're like me, you'll be using some of this unexpected time at home to catch up on your reading list. Yesterday (yes, yesterday), I read a new cozy mystery, the latest Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery by Vicki Delany, There's a Murder Afoot. This series features Gemma Doyle, who owns the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium as well as a bakery, Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room, in West London, Massachusetts. Gemma is originally from the UK, and this book has her flying back home to attend a Sherlock Holmes conference and visit her parents. Those joining her on the trip include her police detective boyfriend, Ryan, and her friend Jayne, who is the restaurant manager for the tearoom.

It's always fun when a cozy series sends the main character out of the country, and this time, it's particularly enjoyable to see the sights through the eyes of some first-time visitors to London. And if you're not a Sherlock Holmes fan, never fear. There's just enough of a Sherlock Holmes thread to intrigue Holmes fans, yet those who aren't fans will still be able to follow the plot just fine.

A big reveal happens early in the book when Gemma meets a black sheep family member she'd never even known existed. Soon, this relative is found dead at the conference, and someone close to Gemma is accused of murder, greatly complicating the trip for everyone.

For tea lovers, there are so many cups and pots of tea in this book that you'll be grinning at how tea seems to be the cure for every British ill. And at a time when so many in the world are literally ill, and that's on everyone's minds, how delightful it is to spend a few pleasant hours across the pond with Vicki Delany's charming cozy mystery.