by Victoria Tait (Author) 

The Cotswolds, a picturesque cafe decorated for Christmas and wafting holiday aromas, friends and lovers, and a female police officer with a twisty tragic murder to solve…or maybe two. What more could you ask from a Cozy Festive Mystery?

There is a lot of change brewing in book six. Police Sergeant Keya has been on leave due to an injury, but her “arm is twisted” (the good one) to get her to return and help with the latest case. There’s an eagerness to get it solved before Christmas. Changes are in the air for the Station and the team, too.  

Keya happens to live in the area where an “accident” took the life of a neighbor.  He was not well-liked, and his gaudy decorations and blasting holiday music irritated everyone. The collected evidence suggested that it might be murder. On the scene in a jiff, it was easy for Keya to slip into the investigation. Before the book is finished, she is leading it. 

Back at Keya’s Waterwheel Cafe, business is booming. Crowds eating and ordering cakes and gift baskets put a strain on her hard-working employees. Some have visions of getting on with their lives elsewhere after the holidays.  With the murder case getting more complicated, Keya finds it hard to be in two places simultaneously, let alone think about hiring new people. Talk about stress!

A shocking twist in the investigation nearly throws Keya and the team for a loop. But suddenly, the details come into sharp focus for Keya. And she shows the “stuff” she is made of, commanding the team like the chief himself.

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Author Victoria Tait says this is the last in the Waterwheel Cafe series but that readers will see Keya again. This made me feel sad while reading the last several chapters.  But we will just have to trust her to keep us reading the mysteries in the Cotswolds and, maybe, beyond. 

I’ve enjoyed reading this series and have come to know and really like Keya. She’s a strong woman with many irons in the fire but always seems to overcome them.  Sometimes, I felt real stress as I read the books depicting her being pulled between her police work and her struggle to run the cafe.  Now, things are looking up for her in other ways. Will she continue to walk the middle road? Or take another?