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Tea with Milk and Murder: A Daisy Fields cozy Mystery
Teacups, Welsh Cakes… and a dead man on the doorstep
For Daisy Fields Life in the small Welsh village of Penbodlen is comfortably bake lots of yummy cakes, brew delicious blends of tea. Repeat. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by stunning scenery and a sometimes overly friendly community. It’s all rather idyllic.
It all changes when Daisy wakes up to find a dead man lying in her shop doorway.
Naturally, the news spread through the village quicker than you could brew a pot of tea and the victim is identified as a long-gone local who left in disgrace twenty years earlier, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
Enter DI Locke, the city detective who treats small villages the way most people treat spoiled milk. He’s determined to wrap up the case quickly, preferably by pinning it on Dafydd “Sparks” Jones—the valley’s resident mountain wanderer and wannabe hermit. Unfortunately walking into the crime scene holding the weapon didn’t help his case at all
With her friend, Sergeant Tom Griffith, unable to bend even a millimetre of police protocol, it falls to Daisy, armed with little more than curiosity and a killer Welsh cake recipe, to clear Dafydd’s name. But as she digs into Penbodlen’s past, she discovers that even the quietest village cupboards hide a surprising number of skeletons.
Can Daisy sniff out the real culprit before an innocent man is sent down?
For Daisy Fields Life in the small Welsh village of Penbodlen is comfortably bake lots of yummy cakes, brew delicious blends of tea. Repeat. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by stunning scenery and a sometimes overly friendly community. It’s all rather idyllic.
It all changes when Daisy wakes up to find a dead man lying in her shop doorway.
Naturally, the news spread through the village quicker than you could brew a pot of tea and the victim is identified as a long-gone local who left in disgrace twenty years earlier, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
Enter DI Locke, the city detective who treats small villages the way most people treat spoiled milk. He’s determined to wrap up the case quickly, preferably by pinning it on Dafydd “Sparks” Jones—the valley’s resident mountain wanderer and wannabe hermit. Unfortunately walking into the crime scene holding the weapon didn’t help his case at all
With her friend, Sergeant Tom Griffith, unable to bend even a millimetre of police protocol, it falls to Daisy, armed with little more than curiosity and a killer Welsh cake recipe, to clear Dafydd’s name. But as she digs into Penbodlen’s past, she discovers that even the quietest village cupboards hide a surprising number of skeletons.
Can Daisy sniff out the real culprit before an innocent man is sent down?
201 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 22, 2025
2 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 25, 2025
Tea with Milk and Murder by Katie O'Neil was my first book categorized as a Cozy Murder Mystery, and I agree that it’s fitting. No gore, very small-town charming, it reminded me vaguely of the kind of sleuthing done in the Nancy Drew books that I devoured when I was little.
A light quick read (yes light, despite the murder) and it works well as a stand-alone. This seems to be the first book in what will be a series judging by the subtitle ″A Daisy Fields Cozy Mystery″, so it remains to be seen how the subsequent books fare as stand-alone reads. There are quite a few characters (sadly some go by different alternate names which I think is a pet peeve of mine) so I can see where they might take turns being highlighted in subsequent books with a regular cast of supporting characters.
I did take issue with one point of continuity – along the way, the murder weapon changes from a knife to a screwdriver – not in the sense that it was thought to be a knife but was revealed to be a screwdriver, in the sense that a knife was found, and a screwdriver was confessed to, yet no one batted an eyelash.
At the beginning, ″A Note on Spelling″ points out that British spelling and terminology is used throughout, as well as a bit of Welsh for seasoning! Excellent.
As a Canadian who uses British spelling in daily life, I didn’t stumble over it, your mileage may vary. I do think that some of the terminology was taken a little too far though – if you’re putting in a disclaimer of sorts then you’re clearly aware that your readership will be wide enough to warrant it, so why use things like ‘mod cons’ instead of taking the time to spell out modern convenience? If you can bring up teething biscuits multiple times, surely you have space to spell out those two words?
Welsh IS peppered about, most times you can make out or infer the meaning, BUT…why not use the aforementioned ″A Note on Spelling″ to point out the Welsh-English glossary that sits at the END of the book. Better still, why not help your readers out and include it in said Note, as it’s very short.
These little hiccups aside, this Cozy Murder Mystery was a pleasant read, a genre that I will come back to as a palette cleanser between some of the heavier non-fiction subject matter that I often read. Much continued success to Daisy Fields and her tea shop!
Many thanks to BookSirens and the author for the opportunity to join the ARC team, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
A light quick read (yes light, despite the murder) and it works well as a stand-alone. This seems to be the first book in what will be a series judging by the subtitle ″A Daisy Fields Cozy Mystery″, so it remains to be seen how the subsequent books fare as stand-alone reads. There are quite a few characters (sadly some go by different alternate names which I think is a pet peeve of mine) so I can see where they might take turns being highlighted in subsequent books with a regular cast of supporting characters.
I did take issue with one point of continuity – along the way, the murder weapon changes from a knife to a screwdriver – not in the sense that it was thought to be a knife but was revealed to be a screwdriver, in the sense that a knife was found, and a screwdriver was confessed to, yet no one batted an eyelash.
At the beginning, ″A Note on Spelling″ points out that British spelling and terminology is used throughout, as well as a bit of Welsh for seasoning! Excellent.
As a Canadian who uses British spelling in daily life, I didn’t stumble over it, your mileage may vary. I do think that some of the terminology was taken a little too far though – if you’re putting in a disclaimer of sorts then you’re clearly aware that your readership will be wide enough to warrant it, so why use things like ‘mod cons’ instead of taking the time to spell out modern convenience? If you can bring up teething biscuits multiple times, surely you have space to spell out those two words?
Welsh IS peppered about, most times you can make out or infer the meaning, BUT…why not use the aforementioned ″A Note on Spelling″ to point out the Welsh-English glossary that sits at the END of the book. Better still, why not help your readers out and include it in said Note, as it’s very short.
These little hiccups aside, this Cozy Murder Mystery was a pleasant read, a genre that I will come back to as a palette cleanser between some of the heavier non-fiction subject matter that I often read. Much continued success to Daisy Fields and her tea shop!
Many thanks to BookSirens and the author for the opportunity to join the ARC team, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
January 16, 2026
This is a great cosy murder mystery book.
It did take me a little bit to get into the boo to figure out all the characters and who they were to Daisy but once I figured that out, we were flowing.
Even though I’m not Welsh, I enjoyed the sprinkle of the Welsh language/sayings throughout the book (thank you for the translation at the end of the book)!
The only reason I haven’t rated this book 5 stars is that at the beginning of some chapters, it felt like too much of a jump and I felt like I was missing something but this only happened a few times so it wasn’t too big a deal.
Overall I enjoyed the pace of the book and the whole storyline. I was still questioning who dunnit at the point where you find out which is something I enjoy with a murder mystery!
Great read and highly recommend to those who enjoy a cosy murder mystery!
It did take me a little bit to get into the boo to figure out all the characters and who they were to Daisy but once I figured that out, we were flowing.
Even though I’m not Welsh, I enjoyed the sprinkle of the Welsh language/sayings throughout the book (thank you for the translation at the end of the book)!
The only reason I haven’t rated this book 5 stars is that at the beginning of some chapters, it felt like too much of a jump and I felt like I was missing something but this only happened a few times so it wasn’t too big a deal.
Overall I enjoyed the pace of the book and the whole storyline. I was still questioning who dunnit at the point where you find out which is something I enjoy with a murder mystery!
Great read and highly recommend to those who enjoy a cosy murder mystery!
October 27, 2025
Really cute cozy mystery.
I hope this is the start of a series, as I feel these characters have many more adventures to have.
When tea shop owner Daisy opens her front door to find a dead man there, she is determined to find out who he was, and why he was dead on her doorstep. Her investigations lead her into the history of her shop and village, and up against the visiting police inspector who has been brought in to lead the police investigation.
Set in a small Welsh village in the valleys, the characters are really nicely developed, and the plot moves along at a good pace.
Really enjoyed this one, as I said I hope it's the start of a series!
Thanks to Book Sirens for sending me an advanced copy to read and review.
I hope this is the start of a series, as I feel these characters have many more adventures to have.
When tea shop owner Daisy opens her front door to find a dead man there, she is determined to find out who he was, and why he was dead on her doorstep. Her investigations lead her into the history of her shop and village, and up against the visiting police inspector who has been brought in to lead the police investigation.
Set in a small Welsh village in the valleys, the characters are really nicely developed, and the plot moves along at a good pace.
Really enjoyed this one, as I said I hope it's the start of a series!
Thanks to Book Sirens for sending me an advanced copy to read and review.
November 17, 2025
I am an ARC reader for Book Sirens and this is my honest opinion. This is a pleasant little book - aside from tea shop owner Daisy finding a body on her doorstep when she opens up one morning that is. I liked the characters and I always enjoy stories written in villages or small towns, in this case in Wales, UK where some of the local people speak a few Welsh phrases, some of which I could decipher, having briefly tried to pick up a bit in the past. I enjoyed the investigation into the past life of the community, that Daisy discovers through amateur sleuthing. There's even a link at the end to get an extra chapter from the diaries Daisy found from the 1880s. The story is well written and interesting. Plus, I'd love the recipes for the teas that Daisy makes - they sound very good!
October 30, 2025
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
🫖 Quaint, cozy mystery
☕️ Charming characters who are endearing and relatable
🍵 Descriptive writing and scene setting
🎃 Entertaining plot with cozy, murder vibes
The writer did a great job bringing us into the world of these wonderful characters and make readers become amateur sleuths. A perfect book for a cool, crisp fall night.
🫖 Quaint, cozy mystery
☕️ Charming characters who are endearing and relatable
🍵 Descriptive writing and scene setting
🎃 Entertaining plot with cozy, murder vibes
The writer did a great job bringing us into the world of these wonderful characters and make readers become amateur sleuths. A perfect book for a cool, crisp fall night.
November 3, 2025
Tea with Milk and Murder is a novel by Katie O'Neil. I enjoy reading stories set in small towns. Daisy has a tea shop where locals like to visit and tourists enjoy. But, Daisy did not want to find a dead body out side of her business… it is not good for business! I found that the author wrote an excellent mystery with just enough clues to help me solve the murder. I beat Daisy, will you? I received an arc for free and am leaving my review voluntarily.
January 3, 2026
ARC REVIEW
This was a cute book that made me hungry.
I found it to be well written . It has a series feel to it (fingers crossed) I really like the character Daisy Felids. (Cute name). I love the small town vibe. I was able to figure out the mystery.
Thanks to Book Sirens for sending me an advanced copy to read and review
January 12, 2026
This cozy little mystery was a real treat. I loved meeting Daisy Fields and look forward to more books about her. The characters are rich and I love how O’Neil wove the little town’s history into the story. The perfect “cozy up on a Sunday and read” book, and I look forward to the next one.
Many thanks to BookSirens for an ARC in exchange for my honest assessment of this work.
Many thanks to BookSirens for an ARC in exchange for my honest assessment of this work.
January 16, 2026
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. The characters, the mystery itself. It's a really good storyline. My main problem is that I wish the Welsh was explained. maybe translated. I didn't understand and I tried to understand the context, but I couldn't always do that. Other than the language barrier, and edits that I hope were fixed, it was a good story. I look forward to reading the next.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews