A Day in the Life with Sophie Taylor by Amanda Cooper

The Perfect Day

It goes without saying that the perfect day doesn’t involve murder. It’s not that it’s happened a lot, but it has been a weird year. First there was the woman who died in Mrs. Earnshaw’s tearoom next door to Auntie Rose’s, and then there was the lady who died while Nana and Laverne were in Butterhill at the teapot collector’s conference, and now. . . well, I won’t talk about that yet.

I was asked about a ‘Day in the Life’ kind of thing. Day in the Life— like there are any two alike? Okay, so maybe I’ll just talk about my perfect day. It involves food, both cooking and eating; I’ve worked in a lot of restaurant kitchens and even owned one. Nothing beats having total control, and that’s what Nana gives me in the kitchen of Auntie Rose’s Victorian Tea House. I love making up new soups, sandwiches, biscuits, scones, cookies, all kind of treats. There’s a creative buzz I get from it.

It also wouldn’t be a perfect day without a chat with Nana, and my godmother, Laverne. Those two ladies, in their eighties and seventies, respectively, give me so much more hope for the future than even my friends or parents. They have so much get up and go, though Laverne complains all the time that her ‘get-up-and-go got up and went’.

After the tearoom closes for the day and I’m done cleaning up so Nana doesn’t try to do it all alone, I love getting together with my Gracious Grove pals, the most normal bunch of friends I’ve ever had. Growing up in boarding schools I had friends, but they lived all over the world, so it wasn’t like I could call them to hang for a while. I can do that here. I don’t think I’ll ever get my mother to understand why that’s important to me. She prefers the kind of friends she meets while in Tahiti, or Paris, or Milan.

And then there’s Jason; he’s my first love, the boy I fell hard for while visiting Nana in Gracious Grove, the guy my mother broke me up with when I was sixteen, and the kind she wants to steer me clear of because he’s not a doctor or lawyer or entrepreneur. He’s a college teacher of English lit, the last thing I ever would have thought he’d become. But it suits him, his new academic role. You know, I don’t think I ever got over loving him. I hope to learn if he feels the same. Maybe some perfect day I’ll get up the nerve to ask him.

And the perfect day ends in my little attic bedroom above Auntie Rose’s, watching true crime shows and petting Pearlie Girlie, Nana’s beautiful Chocolate Point Birman cat. The next perfect day starts and ends the same way; that’s what happens when you finally figure out where you’re meant to be.

And the latest dead body? Yikes. . . don’t ask. Poor Jason; it doesn’t look good for him. I just hope it wasn’t the tea that did the vic (as they call the victim on cop shows) in. I think I’m going to have to get involved. . . again. To find out what happens, read The Grim Steeper!

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The Grim Steeper is the third book in the “Teapot Collector” mystery series, published by Berkley Prime Crime, February 2016.

The national bestselling author of Shadow of a Spout invites readers back to the Finger Lakes town of Gracious Grove for more tea and murder. . .

Mid-October in the charming Finger Lakes town of Gracious Grove means it’s time for the annual Fall Fling Townwide Tea Party. The highlight of the festivities is a roaming tea-tasting, which includes a stop at Auntie Rose’s Victorian Tea House. Sophie Taylor would like to share her enjoyment of the event with her sort-of boyfriend, English teacher Jason Murphy, but Jason’s dean has accused him of falsifying grades to help an athlete at the local college. Steamed and stressed, Jason shows up the night of the party with bags under his eyes.

But the dean shows up under Sophie’s Japanese Maple later that night, murdered, and now Jason is suspected of far worse than fudging grade reports. It’s up to Sophie, her Nana, and their friends the Silver Spouts to pore over the clues to find out who really decided to teach the dean a lesson.

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About the author
Amanda Cooper, aka Victoria Hamilton is the author of three bestselling series, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries and Merry Muffin Mysteries as Victoria, as well as the Teapot Collector Mysteries. Victoria loves to cook and collects vintage kitchen paraphernalia, teacups and teapots, and almost anything that catches her fancy! She loves to read, especially mystery novels, and enjoys good tea and cheap wine, and the company of friends. She enjoys crocheting and beading, but a good book can tempt her away from almost anything… except writing!

To learn more about Amanda Cooper, aka Victoria Hamilton visit these social media links:
Amanda Cooper/Victoria Hamilton Mysteries
Amanda Cooper/Victoria Hamilton Facebook
Teapot Collector Mysteries Facebook
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Giveaway: Amanda Cooper is giving away one copy of The Grim Steeper with a bookmark to one reader who comments here! This is open to Canadian and US addresses. The giveaway will end February 22, 2016 at 12 AM EST. Good luck everyone!

All comments are welcomed.