"To a Tea" by Vera Dodge

In a lovely bit of serendipity, tea friend Suzette in South Carolina sent me a birthday gift without knowing she was sending me a birthday gift! Her lovely package just happened to land in my mailbox just in time for my birthday, and I was absolutely thrilled to receive one of these Tearoom Mysteries from Guideposts. I'd been wanting to check out the series and had them on my radar but hadn't ordered one yet. To a Tea by Vera Dodge is the third book in the series, and it can easily be read as a standalone novel.

Cousins Elaine and Jan have a booming business at their Tea for Two tearoom in Maine, and they cautiously agree to allow a bride to use the tearoom as her wedding venue. This first wedding hits a major snag, however, when the groom suddenly disappears, leaving the anxious bride imagining all sorts of terrible things that might have happened to her fiancé.

The town gets some further excitement in the form of a bank robbery, and with this news comes the unsettling realization that the robbery and the groom's disappearance might be related. As if all that weren't enough to keep this cozy mystery plenty busy, there's also the matter of hiring more help for the growing tearoom business—and there's a new romance for one of the cousins as well.

This inspirational story was an absolutely delight to read, with characters I enjoyed getting to know, and now I'm going to be on a mission to read the rest of the series. I know many of you will enjoy it too!