Review of "Murder Marks the Page: A Tomes & Tea Mystery" by Karen Rose Smith

This novel is a spinoff from 'Daisy's Tea Garden Mysteries.' In this first book in the 'Tomes & Tea Mysteries', Jazzi Swanson - who saw her amateur sleuth mom solve many murders - shows she's a chip off the old block.

Twenty-five year old Jazzi Swanson.....



......met Dawn Fernsby at college, in a group for adoptees.



The women became friends, and after graduation they opened 'Tomes & Tea', a combination bookstore/teashop.



The store is located in Belltower Landing, a lakeside resort town in upstate New York. Jazzi and Dawn share an apartment above Tomes & Tea, and their place is nicely decorated and convenient for work.

Tomes & Tea is currently struggling financially, and Jazzi and Dawn are pondering ways to increase business. The women workshop ideas with the members of their book club.....



......and get suggestions like: have a virtual reality event; get a visiting country star to stop by the bookstore; encourage people to take selfies in the shop and put them online; organize a book signing for a model who wrote about her runway experiences; and more.



With the help of friends, all this happens, and customers come in to buy books, and enjoy tea and pastries.



Everyone knows Jazzi is an adoptee who met her birth mom, so a book club member called Delaney Fabron asks Jazzi to speak with her friend Brie Frazier. Brie is thinking about meeting her birth dad, and needs advice about the matter. Jazzi agrees, and she and Brie hit it off right away.



Thirtysomething Brie tells Jazzi she wants to get married and have a family. To this end, Brie has been going out with men from dating apps. If something works out, Brie wants information about her medical history, which her biological dad can provide.

After speaking with Jazzi, Brie meets her birth father, a VERY WEALTHY man named Joseph Covino. Covino lives in a mansion with his wife and two grown stepchildren. Joseph is happy to meet Brie.....



.....but the rest of the family is distinctly hostile.





A few days later, Brie is found strangled to death in her apartment. Detective Sergeant Paul Milford is the lead investigator on the case, and he interviews Jazzi and other people who saw Brie in the days before she was killed.



Brie's adoptive mother Estelle, who's completely distraught, looks to Jazzi for information and emotional support.



Because of this, Jazzi wants to help the police catch the perpetrator. Though Detective Milford tries to discourage Jazzi, she plows ahead with her 'investigation', which concentrates on the men Brie dated, as well as the family of Brie's biological father, who clearly resented Brie.



As all this is going on, Jazzi gets on with her personal life. Jazzi and Dawn adopt two rescue kittens, and have fun playing with the adorable felines.



Jazzi also paddleboards; rides her bike; and is friendly with a handsome Australian restaurateur named Oliver Patel.....



.....and a nice-looking software developer called Parker Olsen.



Jazzi isn't interested in serious romance though, so these fellows are just friends (so far).

Author Karen Rose Smith likes to describe what everyone is wearing all the time, as well as the features of people's homes. For example: Jazzi is wearing 'lime-green bell bottoms, a yellow spaghetti-strapped tank, and a tie-died bolero jacket'; Oliver sports 'stonewashed jeans with slits at the knees, and a two-toned red and white Henley shirt'; Dawn is dressed in 'navy linen slacks and a pale blue short-sleeved sweater'..... and there's lots more of this.



As for home décor, Jazzi's room has 'whitewashed furniture and a colorful lilac and blue patterned bedspread.' And so on. All this gets to be a bit much, but I think some readers like it.

I enjoyed this light cozy mystery and will probably read more of Jazzi's adventures.

Thanks to Netgalley, Karen Rose Smith, and Kensington Books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars