In Too Steep (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781639100668)

The peace and tranquility of the Misty Bay Tearoom is rocked by murder and a long-buried secret hidden in a most unlikely place in bestselling author Kate Kingsbury's second charming book for fans of Cleo Coyle and Laura Childs.

It seemed like a simple case: the murder of Lewis Trenton, a beachcomber who lived alone in a cabin in the Oregon hills. But the newspaper article piques the interest of Vivian Wainwright, owner of the British-style Misty Bay Tearoom. The photo accompanying the article shows Lewis's cluttered living room, and on the shelf is a replica of Big Ben. Vivian is sure she sold the clock a week before in her shop. Who could have given the replica to Lewis?

Unable to keep from doing a bit of sleuthing, Vivian hunts down the replica in a local thrift shop, noticing that the base is missing, rendering it worthless, but just as Vivian is about to throw it in the trash, a sparkle catches her eye. It's a diamond, hidden away in a crevice in the clock. Vivian takes the diamond to Detective Tony Messina, who identifies it as part of a jewelry heist in Portland a month earlier. Portland police think Lewis was the fence who sold the jewels, and that he was killed after double-crossing the thieves--but Messina doesn't believe the story.

What was the true motive behind Lewis's murder? How did he come upon the diamond? And what secrets can the clock tell--before the killer strikes again?


Author: Kate Kingsbury
ISBN-10: 1639100660
ISBN-13: 9781639100668
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Language: English
Published: 08/09/2022
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 7.40h x 5.40w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 06/13/2022
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2022