I liked the book, in fact, I read it twice - and have started a review at least a half dozen times. (Life intervened.) For a first-in-a series, it was good, but it took awhile to get into the book as, initially, the characters didn't seem to feel the impact of the murder at the very first public event of the new tearoom.

The descriptions of places are very good. I have visited Santa Fe a couple of times and pictured the tearoom very well, in and among other places mentioned. I like the idea of a Victorian tearoom in "Frontier" Santa Fe. I could easily picture the apartment and office on the second floor. (The exact layout, in my mind, was a bit more hazy. (Perhaps a diagram of the first floor would have helped my imagination alond.) The characters are believable - especially Ellen and Aunt Nat.. One very frustrating thing for me, as a reader, was the fact that the character of Sylvia Carruthers was not drawn well enough before (or in retrospect, very much, after) she died. I think the book would have been stronger if we understood more of what she was like in life and what might have led to her untimely demise. Also, I had no idea what a heishi necklace is and I believe that the story would have made more sense to me if that had somehow been explained better and not so close to the end.

I did not identify the murderer in my mind until he was revealed - one of my criteria for a good plot. I look forward to seeing the story continued, in future books, and some of the show more characters we have met further developed. It is sometimes a treat to read something that has a good plot and characters that is not "scarry." show less