Lily Roberts sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we, the readers, can get to know her better. Are you ready? Lily, take it away!

What is your full name?
Lily Roberts

How old are you?
Early 30s

What is your profession?
Pastry chef and restaurant owner

Do you have a significant other?
I do not.

Do you have any children?
No.

Do you have any siblings?
One half-sister, Christine

Are your parents nearby?
They live in Manhattan. I live on Cape Cod, close to my grandmother, Rose Campbell.

Who is your best friend?
Bernadette Murphy, usually called Bernie. I call her The Warrior Princess.

Do you have any pets?
My labradoodle is named Éclair (after the pastry), and my grandmother’s cat is Robert the Bruce.

What town do you live in?
North Augusta, Massachusetts (on Cape Cod)

Do you live in a small town or a big city?
North Augusta is a small tourist town on Cape Cod Bay.

Type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
I live in a cottage on the grounds of my grandmother’s Victorian-era house she runs as a B&B.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
It has a small porch overlooking Cape Cod Bay, where I like to sit and relax for a precious half hour between making the breakfasts at the B&B and running up to my tearoom, Tea by the Sea, to get to work there.

Favorite meal and dessert?
Afternoon tea, of course.

Do you have any hobbies?
Hobbies? Who has time for hobbies?

What is your favorite vacation spot?
What’s a vacation?

What music do you listen to?
When I’m working I like contemporary rock like Barns Courtney, Gin Wigmore, or Serena Ryder to keep me moving around the kitchen.

Do you have a favorite book?
I try to find time in my day to read, but it’s not easy. Can’t think of a favorite off hand.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
It’s summer in Cape Cod and I work in the restaurant business. Sometimes it seems as though all I do is work. But. . .if I did get a day off, I’d love to drive up the coast with Bernie. We’d go to Provincetown, go for a long walk on the beach, then spread towels out and read and swim. Then a late lunch at a quiet place in town, browse the cute shops for Christmas gifts. Back to North Augusta for drinks on the pier to watch the sun set.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Tea by the Sea. That’s the name of my tearoom, and also what I love to do most in the world.

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m not a sleuth of any sort. I don’t want to be one, and I don’t have time to be one. But sometimes Bernie and Rose just can’t help themselves, and I always seem to get dragged along behind them.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
I get up at quarter to six, and Eclair and I are in the kitchen of my grandmother’s B&B, Victoria-on-Sea, at six. Breakfast service until nine. If I can get away early, I take a cup of coffee and a muffin to relax on my porch for a short while. Then up to Tea by the Sea by ten to start the days baking. The tearoom is open from 11 until 5. I often stay after closing, particularly if we’ve had a busy day, to start the next days’ baking. Then I stagger up the driveway at nine or ten. Microwave dinner, and in bed with my book by eleven. Exciting life, eh? But don’t get me wrong, this is what I’ve chosen to do. This is my first year here, and this summer is all about getting the tearoom going and helping my grandmother keep her B&B financially successful. When the season’s over, I expect to be able to slow down.

What does a typical day look like when you are on a case?
Exactly the same as above, except I keep getting dragged along behind Rose or Bernie, or both, and then I have to stay up even later trying to catch up on the work hours I’ve missed.

Murder in a Teacup, A Tea by the Sea Mystery #2
Genre: Cozy
Release: July 2021
Purchase Link

National bestselling author Vicki Delany’s delightful Tea by the Sea mystery series continues, as Cape Cod tearoom proprietress and part-time sleuth, Lily Roberts, stirs up trouble when she unwittingly serves one of her grandmother’s B&B guests a deadly cup of tea . . .

Lily has her work cut out for her when a visit from her grandmother Rose’s dear friend, Sandra McHenry, turns into an unexpected—and unpleasant—McHenry family reunion. The squabbling boils over and soon Tea by the Sea’s serene afternoon service resembles the proverbial tempest in a teapot. Somehow, Lily and her tearoom survive the storm, and Sandra’s bickering brethren finally retreat to Rose’s B&B. But later that evening, a member of their party—curmudgeonly Ed French—dies from an apparent poisoning and suddenly Tea by the Sea is both scene and suspect in a murder investigation!

Mercifully, none of the other guests fall ill. They all ate the same food, but Ed always insisted on bringing his own special blend of herbal teas. So it seems, amid the whining and dining, someone snuck up to one of Lily’s cherished teapots and fatally spiked Ed’s bespoke brew, but who? Was it Ed’s long-estranged sister-in-law? Did teenage troublemaker Tyler take a prank too far? Or perhaps the family’s feuds have been steeping for longer than anyone realizes? It’s up to Lily, Rose, and their friends to get to the bottom of the poisoned pot and bag the real culprit behind the kettle murder plot.

About the author
Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than forty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane Books, the Catskill Resort mysteries for Penguin Random House, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

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