I downloaded this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This was the first book I've read by this author and the first in her new series. And, frankly, it read like it was the first in a series. Which isn't to say it wasn't enjoyable because I still finished it since I wanted to know how it worked out. However if I didn't know going in that this was a spin off from another of the author's series, I would have thought this was her first book.

First I want to just get out how much it was hammered home that the victim was not liked. By golly did that keep getting brought up. And I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because the would be sleuth in this series is a Pastor and one of the primary settings is a church. So the author wanted a balance between the gruesome factor of the murder with that. But my goodness did it grate after a while and it seemed like his evil doings and flaws kept getting doubled down on. At one point I actually exclaimed, "We get it! He's a bad bad person. Now let's move on."

The characters were endearing if stereotypical. There was some inconsistencies with the characteristics of them though so that was hard to adjust to. There were pacing issues, especially towards the end when the mystery was trying to be solved. And speaking of the mystery, I'm not sure how I felt about how that resolved. It seemed....off. And the last section was a bit hokey and seemed to serve only to set up the rest in the series.

Now all that said I did enjoy the book. I really appreciated how attention was called to how some Christians judge on appearance only, such as an elderly church member being judgmental of a youth's sleeve tattoo and thinking that was why she wouldn't make a good secretary. I like how Pastor Hope was willing to listen to everyone in her church and outside of it, as well as not being judgmental herself. I really liked the idea behind the tea in the book since I feel that is something that all denominations should strive to do and get along with each other. If the series continues the characters need to be stronger, the pacing better, and there need to not be as many strings for other mysteries or red herrings since that takes away from it. Also don't keep compounding all the ways the victim was a terrible person. While the victim here was, piling on him was unnecessary all things considered.