Lauren Elliott continues Crystals and CuriosiTEAS series in Murder in a Cup. Shay Myers has an Irish witch in her ancestry and blends teas and her seer's abilities in her tea shop. As she does a reading the lady who drops dead is the girlfriend of the father of her young friend.. This father is a lawyer and is trying to get control of his daughter. Suspects abound. The paranormal angle adds some spice. Read and enjoy.

Murder in A Cup" By Lauren Elliott. The second book in the series it's off to a magnificent continuation with characters and the fun and amazing mystery and suspense of who did it. Who is this mysterious lady that has come to haunt Shay and feels she has to get to the bottom of this mysterious women?
An enjoyable fun read with trying to make it seem she is a real witch with all the fun. Looking forward to the next book. Shay's tea shop is an exciting place to be and find out information..

This is such an amazing series! I think this one is even better then the first! I can't wait for the next one!

Shay Myers and her sister Jen are having great success with Crystals & CuriousiTEAS in the quaint coastal town of Bray Harbor, CA Shay inherited the shop from her previously unknown birth mother, and has transformed it into a very popular new age tea shop. Shay is also slowly learning about some talents she didn't know she had, such as reading tea leaves, palms and sensing peoples' auras.

Liam owns the local pub near the tea shop. He's been in Ireland settling the affairs if his late grandfather and has brought his Gram back with him. Shay bonds with Gram almost instantly and a new chapter in her life begins.

When someone is murdered during a group tea reading, it's Gran that helps Shay tune in to her talents to identify the killer.

I love this series of books and can't wait for the next installment.

#MurderinaCup

Thank you to Netgally, the publishers, and Lauren Elliott

When I requested this book I was unaware that it was apart of a series, one that requires you to read the previous books for this one to make sense. I am unable to read all the previous books along with this one before the publish date. Therefore, I will rate this a fair 3/5 stars and will adjust the rating and review when I am able to read all the books in the series along with this one.

Shay Meyers is still learning about her biological mother and her own ability to read aura's. She is enjoying running the tea shop she inherited from her mother called Crystals and CuriousiTeas. However, she is worried about all the poisonous plants in her greenhouse. When the one of the members of the group dies, Shay's shop comes under suspicion. The woman died in her shop and the poison may have come from one of her plants. Her shop assistant is the prime suspect as she didn't like the victim, who was her Dad's new girlfriend.

I enjoyed this story. I love learning about the Irish myths and like the characters. It is easy to read and and nice escape.

A great addition to the series. We get to know our characters a little better and the mystery was solid with a few twists. I was kept guessing.
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is such a great series, tea, a little bit of witchiness, Irish accents, and solving murders!

This series has something for everyone. I was hooked from the beginning of the first book. Lauren's writing is engaging and the setting and characters are perfect. Looking forward to so much more from this series.

Really good book. Fun read, even if the Scottish accent was a bit hard to decipher sometimes. Good mystery. Kept me guessing! Looking forward to book #3!

I read the first book in this series at the end of 2022 & knew this series would quickly become a favorite. So when the newest installment came out I gobbled it up on release day.

It has all my favorite things in a cozy:
- small oceanside town 🌊
- an inherited tea shop ☕️
- a big dog 🐩
- quirky cast of characters 🫶
- a little magic ✨🔮
- and murder! 🔪

So pick this one up today! This series is a great one to start if you haven’t tried cozies yet!

Special thanks to @kensingtonbooks for the ARC.

It was so wonderful to dive back into Shay’s world of crystals and curiosiTEAS. I actually loved the audiobook narrator so much on the first book that I waited for the audiobook of this one. I think it’s the Irish accents she does for Gran and Liam, I just love listening to it.
Murder in a Cup takes place a year after the events of Steeped in Secrets. Shay seems to have really mastered the art of running a tea shop, but she’s still having trouble with the witchy seeing the future tea leaf reading stuff. Luckily, Liam has brought home his gran from Ireland, and she is excited to teach Shay everything her mother wanted to teach her.
Gran is an absolute gem and really brings in some more cozy found family elements to the story. Plus she’s answering all the questions i still had from the first book. Gran teaches Shay a bunch about Irish fairy lore, and it’s so lovely to listen to on the audiobook.
Once again we’re getting new knowledge of plants and crystals and their properties, and it’s very interesting and helpful to the plot. The mystery itself really kept me guessing once again, though some parts were a little predictable and I find that Shay is often too nice/naieve. But she is also a nice person who wants to think the best of everyone, and I am not that type of person 😅😅
Also Spirit the dog is wonderful and loyal as ever, he’s the smartest character in the book and I love him forever. Tassie is precious and I can’t wait to see more of her character growth.
I will say the ending surprised me a bit, but this definitely felt like a book that’s building the series/plot, like a lot of new information was introduced that I assume we will see more of in the next book(s).
So personally I loved this book. If you like cozy mysteries or paranormal cozies or stories that involve tea and crystals, I think you will definitely like this book. This is one where you should read the 1st book before starting this one, because it answeris a lot of questions and adds more to the plot

I'm really enjoying this series so far! This was a delightful and fun cozy mystery with witchy vibes. It's nice seeing Shay grow into her craft, and the addition of Gran to help her with her magic was wonderful. I'm also getting very invested in the building relationship between Shay and Liam.

The story is well written, entertaining, and filled with plenty of twists along the way. I had an inkling of the identity of the culprit but still enjoyed everything leading up to the reveal.

I highly recommend Murder in a Cup to anyone who likes a good witchy cozy mystery!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Murder in a Cup is a delightful witchy tale by Lauren Elliott, and not one to be missed.

Shay and her sister, Jen, are back for a new adventure. When their employee Tassi's to-be-step-mom is killed at a reading in the shop, Shay has to put all her sleuthing skills to the test, before Tassi is convicted of the crime!

I love this series, which is saying a lot since I really, really love Lauren Elliott's bookshop series. She's combined a paranormal tale with a cozy mystery, intertwining the two seamlessly. A welcome addition to the neighbourhood is Liam's grandmother, Gran, who has come to live with Liam and overs insight into Shay's "talents". I just adore Gran and I can't wait to see what she gets up to in the next adventure!!!

If you like witchy mysteries I can't recommend this series enough! I read a fair amount of paranormal mysteries, and I feel like I'm learning more "witchy" things with this series and I'm here for it!

"As the descendant of an Irish witch and the owner of a New Age tea shop, intuitive gemologist Shay Myers has been living her most authentic life since moving home to California’s scenic Monterey Peninsula. But in the latest Crystals & CuriousiTEAS Mystery from USA Today bestselling author Lauren Elliott, not even her heightened senses can predict how to run a business—or catch a killer."
This is an okay book. I couldn't get interest in it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book.

Not nearly as good as the first one [MUCH more eye-rolling romance issues that borderline on ick and the whole "it is ALL my fault" issues made me crazy - until Gran practically smacks it out of Shay - hallelujah] with a very rushed ending [WHY is this a thing now with cozies/mysteries?? HOW can readers make it stop?? It is so frustrating] that was so...meh [I had guessed the killer, and soon after, the why] that I was left...disappointed. I will say that I liked it well enough that I will read book 3 [because, you know there will be another one due to the ending] and hope that the magic that was in the first one returns to that one. I will also say that this was better than some I have read as of late and I am grateful for that. It wasn't horrible, just not as magical as book one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren Elliot, and Kensington Books for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Murder in a Cup: A Crystals and CuriosiTEAS Mystery
By Lauren Elliott
Kensington
December 2023

Review by Cynthia Chow

After her ex-husband left her bankrupt and out of a job, the unexpected inheritance of Bray Harbor’s Crystals & CuriosiTEAS tea shop was a lifesaver for Shayleigh Myers. She didn’t expect to also learn that her intuition was actually something more, with her “inky feelings” actually a more psychic ability to sense people’s energies. The professional geologist still resists accepting her paranormal gifts though, and Shay attempts to find scientific explanations for the unexplainable. She has allowed the self-proclaimed psychic Madame Malvina to come into the late Bridget’s greenhouse to weed out the most poisonous plants growing there though, as despite their benefits Shay fears that misuse could be fatal. Which does ultimately happen when a group tea leaf reading party ends with the death of one of the participants.

Shay wasn’t enthusiastic about hosting the session in the first place, and now she fears that somehow one of her greenhouse plants may have been used to commit a murder. Even worse is that her teen assistant Tassi has become a prime suspect due to her arguing with the victim. Jasmine Massey was the new girlfriend of Tassi’s father, and he adamantly disapproves of his daughter’s employment in a “witchy” store. Following a possible clue left in Jasmine’s tea, Shay begins to look into Jasmine’s life and prove the teashop and Tassi’s innocence. As it turns out, Shay’s official police officer brother-in-law is able to take over most of the investigation, allowing her to focus on her own history and reasons behind her psychic gifts. The arrival of the grandmother of Liam Madigan, owner of the pub next door, shares with Shay her own Irish folklore and knowledge of the otherworld. Gifted with his own eerily-accurate abilities, Shay’s psychically-attuned white German shepherd Spirit joins Shay, Gran, and Liam in their efforts to solve the mysteries behind both the poisoning and their own mythical heritages.

This second in the series begins as a classic cozy mystery and evolves into a fascinating paranormal fantasy of Irish myths and legends. Shay continues to struggle with happenings that can’t be explained scientifically, but she is slowly becoming more comfortable with her new realities. She also seems to keep losing her windows of opportunities with Liam, and while she insists that he is only a friend he is also the one person with whom feels is able to relate to her unusual situation. Readers will become as invested as Shay in learning more about her psychic gifts, and the unfolding lore adds a compelling layer to this cozy mystery. Engaging characters and an adorable intuitive dog ensure that this blend of genres pleases an abundance of mystery and paranormal fans.

I am absolutely loving this series!!

Murder in a Cup is the second installment of the Crystals & CuriousiTEAS Mystery series by Lauren Elliot. We follow Shay as she learns the ins and outs of running her new age tea shop, study medicinal plants, help her friends/neighbors and…solve a murder? It’s magically cozy and full of all the good vibes! 10/10 recommend!

Thank you Kensington Books for the gifted copy!

I love reading this series. The mystery kept me guessing and I like the characters. Things always move forward. I look forward to more.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review

This is a good series and I enjoyed it: well plotted and entertaining. The characters are fleshed out and there’s enough world building to make the story intriguing
Recommended
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Murder in a Cup
(Crystals & CuriosiTEAS 2)
Lauren Elliott


Lauren Elliott is the author of the new Crystals & CuriosiTEAS mystery series. This is the second book in the new mystery series!

We return to Bray Harbor, CA, for the second Crystals & CuriosiTEAS.

Shayleigh has a flourishing tea shop now. While she occasionally misses her former jewelry business she is focusing on her new love of tea, a gift of rebirth from her birth mother. Everyone from Steeped in Secrets, returns. We also welcome Connor and Gran, Liam’s relatives. Ultimately, the focus is on Tassi, Shayleigh’s young helper and friend. We subsequently meet Tassi’s father, Peter, and step mother to be, Jasmine. Turns out Tassi’s estranged father is taking her mom to court for custody! Starting from chapter one things go from bad to worse, fairly quickly for the ladies of Crystals & CuriosiTEAS!


I enjoyed the book, but I doubt if I’ll re-read it, unlike the first book. I enjoyed the action and absolutely fell in love with Gran!

Sadly, I felt like too much happened off “screen” with this story. I didn’t feel like we had enough direct interaction with Tessi’s family other than her aunt Jo to bolster this storyline. This book also did not, for me focus enough on continuing the previous storylines from Steeped in Secrets.

Overall, a good solo mystery but not enough follow through from the first book to make it feel like a real series player.
Stars 3***