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A SPIRITED BLEND by Lauren Elliott Kensington Publishing, March 2025 288 pages $27.00 ISBN: 1496735226

A SPIRITED BLEND, the latest in Lauren Elliott's Crystals & CuriosiTEAS mysteries, continues to provide all the elements readers of the series have come to expect while offering some nice—and not-so-nice (it is a murder mystery, after all)—surprises along the way.

Tea-shop owner and budding seer Shay Myers is preparing for a Halloween festival and struggling with affairs of her heart and the arrival of her ex-husband and his new wife, as well as with some professional jealousy, when she reads tea leaves for the mayor's wife Cora. But the reading doesn't go the way either Shay or Cora would like, and Cora transfers her allegiance to Shay's rival and all-around shady character Madame Malvina, leaving Shay uneasy about the ominous signs she saw yet unsure of her abilities as a seer. But when Cora is found murdered and the surrounding evidence seems to point to magic rituals, Shay is determined to prove that Madame Malvina is the killer. As she hunts for evidence, Shay uncovers a multitude of nefarious activities, including some involving her ex-husband, some that prove that Shay and those she cares about are still in a great deal of danger, and all of which reveal secrets about the past—both Shay's and others'—which might be better kept hidden.

A SPIRITED BLEND can certainly be read as a standalone novel, but readers who are familiar with the series are the most likely to get the most enjoyment out of it because it adds depth to characters who have appeared in earlier novels, offers some explanations about questions in Shay's past, and furthers the story of Shay's and Liam's romance. When it comes to solving the mystery, it's likely the reader will guess part of the outcome before the dramatic reveal scene, but even so, the journey is worth taking as Shay navigates the twists and turns of a fairly convoluted plot. And while the novel is definitely plot-driven, the characters are fun to follow, magic delivers an interesting bit of the unexpected, and the will-they-won't-they romance between Shay and Liam adds a nice spark.

§ Meredith Frazier, a writer with a background in English literature, lives in Dallas, Texas

Reviewed by Meredith Frazier, January 2025

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