Tide and Punishment By Bree Baker: Review/Giveaway

Dec 14, 2019 | 2019 Articles, Food Fun, Mysteryrat's Maze, Sandra Murphy

by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Tide and Punishment, a link to purchase it from Amazon, and an indie bookstore where a portion of the sale goes to help support KRL.

Snow in Charm, North Carolina? Who would have thought? The timing is right though as Christmas is close at hand.

It’s Everly Swan’s first Christmas at her new iced tea shop. She’s overwhelmed by the number of special orders for holiday cookies, the progressive dinner menu, and her Aunt Fran’s decision to run for mayor against a long-time incumbent. Aunt Clara is fighting seasonal stress by painting garden gnomes as gifts for friends and family.

The night Fran is to make her announcement, the current mayor, Dunfree, drops in at the open house. Fran tells her news, but the mayor has a bombshell of his own. Another candidate, Everly’s high school enemy, will be his running mate. For the first time, Charm will have a deputy mayor. mystery

The mayor, not a nice guy, is set on keeping everything as it is and has always been, down to the oldest and most ridiculous laws. Fran wants to retain the town’s ambiance but also attract tourists – and get rid of some laws, like the one about it’s illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your pocket.

After the big announcement, Fran goes outside to cool off, both her temperature and her temperament. The mayor and his wife leave shortly after. It’s only a matter of a few minutes before a scream is heard, sending guests running to help. Everly is first on the scene, only to find Fran standing over the mayor’s body, bloody garden gnome in hand.

Grady is investigating but Everly doesn’t let that stop her. In spite of his request she stay out of it, she forges ahead, even after receiving threats – which include beheaded garden gnomes.

Although the weather may still be warm, reading about snow on the beach will cool you off and get you in the mood for the holidays. The antics of the aunts, the gnomes, and Everly’s determination to find the truth will keep readers turning the pages.

Sadly, there are no recipes included, but Everly does explain as she cooks so readers will not be disappointed in the food details. The potential for romance between Everly and Grady adds sizzle. Grady’s son adds childlike enjoyment of the holidays.

This is book three in the series. Live and Let Chai and No Good Tea Goes Unpunished, were reviewed for KRL.

To enter to win a copy of Tide and Punishment, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “tide,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen December 19, 2019. U.S. residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. You can read our privacy statement here if you like. We delete all emails after the contest is over.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Be sure to check out our new mystery podcast too with mystery short stories, and first chapters read by local actors. A new episode went up last week featuring a Christmas mystery short story by Donna Andrews.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

You can also use this link to purchase the book on Amazon. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Opens to author website

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She writes about eco-friendly topics, pets and wildlife for magazines and reviews mysteries and thrillers for KRL. A collection of her short stories, published by Untreed Reads, From Hay to Eternity: Ten Tales of Crime and Deception can be found at all the usual outlets. Each one is a little weird and all have a twist you won’t see coming.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases using those links. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.

14 Comments

  1. Sounds like an interesting conflict, even before the murder. Count me in!

    Reply
  2. Tide and Punishment interests me greatly. Thanks.

    Reply
  3. I’ve been snowed in in North Carolina, so I’d believe that it could happen to others. Who knew that eight inches of snow can shut down a whole state? Thanks for the chance to win and read this book.

    Reply
  4. Love the concept of a Christmas mystery set in a newly opened iced tea shop. And there’s a lot going on. We all remember our high school enemy and that’s the last person we really want to deal with in our adult life.

    Reply
  5. Would love to read this.

    Reply
  6. Great series. Would really like to read.
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply
  7. Love the cover and it looks like a terrific read. Thanks for your generosity. lindamay4852@yahoo.com

    Reply
  8. Living on the coast of NC,we rarely see a good snow,but it happens as in the years 1980 and 1989 are a couple that I remember..This book sounds fantastic

    Reply
  9. Thank you for the chance to win this book.

    Reply
  10. Sounds like a gnome of a mystery…please enter me.
    Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com

    Reply
  11. Love the story. Living where we have snow and cold for much too long, I’d love to live near the beach in a warm climate. Great cover!
    Margaret: scarletbegonia5858(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply
  12. We have a winner!

    Reply
  13. This would be a new series for me.
    Love to find more “friends” to
    read about. thanks
    txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

podcast