The thought of a glass of iced tea at a table overlooking the beach in a quaint coastal town is an especially enchanting one given the year that 2020 has turned out to be. Thankfully, Bree Baker created Sun, Sand, and Tea in Charm, North Carolina so we can at least imagine ourselves in such a place!

Live and Let Chai is the first in a cozy mystery series that I am very eager to read more of! Readers meet Everly Swan and her aunts, among the other residents of the town. One of my favorite touches is that the Swan family has a wonderful touch of magical realism, reminiscent of Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic. Everly is just starting out as an entrepreneur in her hometown. But just as she opens, a man is found dead with a glass of her peach tea nearby. When the town’s new detective insinuates that the tea–and Everly herself–may be to blame, she takes on amateur detective work in order to clear her name.

I am charmed by this series and I can’t wait to spend more time with Everly on the North Carolina coast!