Fun, well written cosy mysteries surrounding a tea room in Santa Fe. I'm already biased in favour due to the care taken in the brewing of the tea. But even without that it's a nice set of stories, featuring interesting characters based around cooking, families and the arts with a little bit of a ghostly background to add depth and more mystery. The ghost is perhaps the weakest point.

AFter the death of her parent Ellen Rosings is at a loss with what to do with her life. Her aunt persuades her to create a delicate Victorian style tearoom inspired by memories of trip to England (where such things are in reality extremely hard to find). The opening night is a small party with the various friends and people who'd helped her get set up. Just as they're all leaving Ellen is dismayed to find the body of one of them in the dining room. The attending detective get nick-named Mr Arrogant, but is dashingly handsome anyway. The police don't seem to be getting anywhere and Ellen becomes concerned when they haul off one of her staff whom she's sure is completely innocent. Instead she's heard a lot of gossip surrounding the victim and wonders if greed is the motive that she can investigate herself..

The second book features the death of a beloved mexican grandmother from botulism, giving the tea room staff a few moments of panic before it becomes clear that it was an infected wound. Meanwhile the spate of deaths have incited all sorts of interest in the tearooms and their supposed ghost.

By the third book the ghost is much more active although still benign. Ellen is invited out to the Opera, although Detective Arrogant hasn't had much experience of the Arts he's persuaded to go. Which is convenient as the lead singer is found murdered in a backstage room. Ellen's gossip again plays a critical part.

All the stories feature a lot of the details of running the tearoom - making cakes, and daily life of Ellen set against the backdrop of the various crimes she happens to end up being involved with. It's already far beyond believable that she'd find three bodies, even if they aren't all in her tearoom. But it's remains fun. The details are kind cosy descriptions of flowers, recipes and the like. Fabrics to decorate the rooms, and little moments of staff interaction. Again the staff are all unbelievably good, despite being chance hires from the first book. But we come to value them.

Well written cosy mysteries. Not too much action, in a lovely setting. The hard part will be to keep the details fresh and vivid without becoming extravagant, and not letting the ghost steal the show. ( )