MR. TEA AND THE TRAVELING TEACUP (Leslie Matthews Stansfield)

Two thumbs up to author Leslie!  I understand that Leslie has a deal for at least a couple of more of these Madeline's Tea House mysteries, and I am looking forward to the next installment.  This is her first foray into mysteries (her last published work, I believe, was an Images of America book on Windsor Locks, where we both live), and while I could suggest a couple of small refinements (fewer references to flatulence, perhaps!), I thought that overall the novel was well worth reading, the characters appealing, and the story well thought out.

The Sutter sisters, Terry, a forty-year-old single art teacher, and Karen, a recently divorced accountant, have moved back to their childhood home in Maine after the death of their mother, Madeline.  Mom's sister Rose, and her husband, Uncle Henry, are energetic, nurturing septuagenarians who happen to live next door, as do the Dindles, a mother and daughter who are old friends of the Sutter family.  The sisters have transformed the house into a charming tea room that has become very popular in the community.  The mystery here revolves not around a recent murder, but rather mysterious poltergeist-like occurrences in the tea room that might be connected to the years-ago shooting death of the dysfunctional son of a prominent family, the mysterious disappearance of two elderly sisters, or a series of unsolved bank robberies in Connecticut.  When tea cups start flying off the shelf in the middle of the night, Terry and Karen are, to say the least, freaked out.  With the help of friends (especially police officer Greg, Terry's high school crush), the sisters try to get to the bottom of what is happening in their tea house.  Along the way they acquire an intriguingly perceptive macaw named Mr. Tea, who is reputed to be psychic.  I have to admit that I was not looking forward to the macaw when I first came across this book, but Mr. Tea turned out to be a wonderful and entertaining addition to the cast of characters.  The ending was, perhaps, a bit too easy, but overall I really enjoyed Mr. Tea and the Traveling Teacup and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, light mystery.  When the characters stay with you after you have read the last page and you want to know more about what happens to them, you know that it was a book worth reading.  I can't wait for the further adventures of Terry, Karen, and Mr. Tea!