Tarts, Tea Leaves, and Treachery

The bunting is barely down and the tea still warm when trouble returns to Featherstone.The village's much-anticipated Heritage Tea Festival should have been a gentle celebration of tradition — fine blends, delicate tarts, and polite applause beneath striped marquees. Instead, a visiting tea importer collapses during a ceremonial tasting, and the atmosphere turns from festive to brittle in a matter of minutes.Flora Wren, owner of Featherstone Bakeshop, has no desire to step into village drama. She prefers measured ingredients, steady ovens, and the quiet certainty that comes from getting things right. But with speculation swirling through the High Street and decisions being made behind conservatory doors, Flora begins to notice small inconsistencies that others overlook: a misplaced tin, a ledger that doesn't balance, a story that shifts ever so slightly depending on who tells it.At her side is Dotty, her devoted Pekingese, whose show-stealing charm has a way of loosening tongues and softening guarded expressions. Between fruit tarts and fragrant tea leaves, Flora finds herself untangling motives rooted not in malice alone, but in pride, profit, and the delicate politics of a village determined to appear unruffled.In a community where reputation is everything and tradition runs deep, the truth must be handled as carefully as porcelain.Tarts, Tea Leaves, and Treachery is a warm and witty British cosy mystery filled with baking, village intrigue, and a clever amateur sleuth who knows that sometimes the smallest detail makes all the difference.Perfect for readers who love culinary mysteries, charming English settings, and gentle puzzles served with a side of dog-loving delight.