Masher of Ceremonies

Vintage Kitchen Mystery #13

by Victoria Hamilton

A fundraiser for the local historical society nearly goes bust when someone fills the coffers with blackmail and murder . . .

The annual Tea With the Queen fundraiser always makes for a festive weekend in Queensville, drawing visitors from far and wide and giving local shops a welcome boost. This year, vintage kitchenware collector Jaymie Müller is running the event, and she’s got her hands full organizing old and new volunteers along with a surly catering crew. Then her master of ceremonies tells her he’s being blackmailed but can’t go to the police, and before Jaymie can sort that out she stumbles over a dead body at the tea.

Despite the demands of keeping the event up and running, Jaymie can’t help puzzling over the murder. There’s no concrete evidence linking the cretin behind the blackmail scheme to the dead body, so she begins questioning everyone connected to the blackmail, hoping to expose the killer. And just as she discovers a web of relationships that leads her to the culprit, she realizes that the Tea With the Queen may have been a royal pain, but outwitting a blackmailer and catching a killer may be the death of her . . .

Includes a vintage recipe!

Praise for the Vintage Kitchen

“I have loved this series from the first book . . . it’s like returning to a favorite nook for a cup of tea. It will delight, entice, and drive a reader to want to solve the murder.” —Goodreads on No Grater Danger

“A chilling whodunit.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Well-plotted with several unexpected twists and well-developed characters.” —The Mystery Reader

“Jaymie is a great character . . . She is inquisitive and full of surprises!” —Debbie’s Book Bag


About the

Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson. Victoria is the bestselling author of four mystery the Lady Anne Addison Mysteries, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, the Merry Muffin Mysteries, and A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder Mysteries. Visit her website at victoriahamiltonmysteries.com.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 19, 2026

About the author

Victoria Hamilton is the bestselling author of several mystery series including the national bestselling Vintage Kitchen Mysteries and Merry Muffin Mysteries. She does, indeed, collect vintage kitchenware and bake muffins. She drinks tea and coffee on writing days, and wine other times. It doesn’t do to confuse days. A solitary being, she can be coaxed out of her writing cave for brownies and cat videos.

She started her writing life as Donna Lea Simpson, bestselling author of Regency Romances, paranormal historicals and historical mysteries, and still has a soft spot for the Regency period.

In fact her latest writing adventure is the new Regency-set historical mystery series - to be published by Midnight Ink - beginning in February 2019 with A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder, featuring Miss Emmeline St. Germaine, a young lady who dares to defy society. She will fight for her right to live her own life, despite the dangers that presents. She has a dagger, and she's not afraid to use it.

If you Google ‘Victoria Hamilton’, you will find listed first a famous actress who starred as the Queen Mother in the Crown and as Charlotte Brontë in ‘In Search of the Brontës’. That’s not the Victoria who writes mysteries.

No, really, it’s not!

You can find her buried in a good book, (entombed in a good tome?) or online at:
Website: http://www.VictoriaHamiltonMysteries.com (Sign up for her annoyingly infrequent newsletter for all the latest!)
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorVictor...
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/MysteryVictoria

Reviews

[James]

I've come to enjoy this series a lot. From the thoughtful and kind characters to the complicated relationships around town, there's a story within a story that comes to life. In this installment, the murder is a surprise victim. I'd be assuming someone else would be the target, and when it doesn't happen until 50% through, you realize things are going down a different but solid path. The solution made sense, even if one or two of the characters (victim, red herring, killer, et al) were super annoying. Oy, I would have gotten rid of them sooner! Looking forward to more in the series.

[Short, Sweet and Cozy]

Masher of Ceremonies is the 13th book in Victoria Hamilton's A Vintage Kitchen Mystery series and it is a good addition to the series. Jaymie Layton Muller is in charge of the annual Tea With the Queen fundraiser and is working with Nigel Charles Dudley who owns Stow House where the event will be held. At the end of the event they find someone dead and it leads to blackmail and secrets. Jaymie and her friends Val and Violet are creating Kitschy Kitchen, a store specializing in vintage kitchen items. Jaymie is married to Jakob and loves his daughter Jocie. Jakob is caring and supportive but is minimally involved in the mystery which works well. There are always some returning characters but some new ones as well which keep the books interesting. The murder doesn't happen for a while which slows the pace of the book. The characters are likable and Jaymie's family and friends make it nice. This is an enjoyable cozy mystery. #MasherOfCeremonies #AVintageKitchenMystery #NetGalleg #BeyondThePagePublishing

[Trish]

Jaymie Müller is planning a big fundraiser in her Queensland, Michigan hometown called Tea with the Queen. It is a week long event, even including townspeople dressed up as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In the midst of this festival, her friend's assistant is found murdered. Jaymie works - on her own and with the police's blessings - to find the killer and solve the mystery.

I wanted to read Masher of Ceremonies because of the Vintage Kitchen Mystery theme. I love all things vintage, and especially kitchenware, cookbooks, etc., so I was intrigued.

This is my first read in this series, but there is a wonderful, descriptive Cast of Characters list included. This helped me to jump right in and enjoy Masher of Ceremonies as a standalone read. I wish more cozy mysteries would include a character listing - it is always so helpful!

This is a fun, leisurely paced read. (The murder occurred almost half way through the book.)

I really like Jaymie. We see her home life with her husband, daughter, cat, and little Yorkie Hopalong (Hoppy). We see her doing event planning, working with vintage kitchenware, and also as an amateur detective. The author did a wonderful job at creating a fully rounded character with a lot of nuance.

Jaymie has a gift of detecting, following her hunches, and having great intuition. I really enjoyed solving the mystery along with her.

I found the details of the weeklong Tea With the Queen festival interesting as well!

I look forward to reading more books in the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series. I recommend Masher of Ceremonies to other cozy mystery fans. It's an engrossing, well written mystery.

[Cozybooklady]

#MasherofCeremonies #NetGalley
It's time for the annual Tea with the Queen, and Jaymie is running the event for the first time.
Jaymie knows so much depends on this event, and whether or not it will continue.
When things go horribly wrong, Jaymie's knack for solving crimes kicks in, and she's determined to make the tea with the queen a memorable event.

[Tracy Condie]

Have you ever been to an afternoon tea? I mean a proper afternoon tea with all the bells and whistles and overseen by Queen Victoria and her consort. Not a high tea, that is something completely different, as explained in the story. I have not but sure do wish that this wonderful plot point was an actual event that I could add to my cozy mystery location/event bucket list.
Masher of Ceremonies, the 13th book in the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series and it starts out with the annual Tea with the Queen event. Every year for decades, Tea with the Queen has taken place in Queensville, Michigan and is a major tourist event. This year, our sleuth, Jaymie Mueller, is in charge of the event and she has been told that the event needs to show a decent profit or else it will cease to continue. Talk about a pressure cooker of a situation. There are so many moving parts to this event and the last thing that Jaymie needs is for it to be spoiled by an extortionist or worse, a murder. Not to mention that Jaymie is trying to balance the volunteer event with the impending opening of her new business venture with tea shop owner and friend Val. It makes me tired just wondering how Jaymie is balancing so many things.

This was my first time reading a Vintage Kitchen Mystery and Masher of Ceremonies did not disappoint as a good stand-alone with a relatable sleuth. There is also a cast of characters at the beginning of the book to introduce the reader to the characters before the story begins. I also liked that there are unexpected and real-life aspects to the story such as Jaymie’s fur baby, Hoppie, a three-legged Yorkie-Poo, Jaymie’s daughter, Jocie, who considers herself a little, little person, and possible clashes with her mom over certain life choices.

Suspects include Ryan the belligerent blackmailer, Nigel the temperamental blackmail target, Sterling the stylish yet suspicious spouse, Charlie the snooty sister, and her husband Rudy the frozen food Chef. I honestly thought that Ryan the blackmailer would end up being the victim because he is sneaky, arrogant, and relentless, so I was completely fooled by the who and the why. This story does a great job of laying out the clues but not making them obvious. This was not an easy one to solve as an armchair sleuth, but you are rewarded at the end of the book with a very tasty and savory sounding recipe for Schinkennudeln, which I will be making for dinner this weekend.

[Acantha]

Tea with the Queen, an annual fundraising event is back, and this time Jaymie is in charge. She has so much going on in her life and all she wants is for these three days to pass without drama. So naturally, there is a body in the grounds.

I really like Jaymie as a main character, she's smart, she's savvy, she knows enough about herself and the police to know what she can and just as importantly, can't do. She makes the decision not to withhold evidence because she rightly thinks she doesn't know what the police need to know or not, so best to share it all. She refuses to deliberately put herself in harms way - although that doesn't stop the drama from reaching her. She does some snooping, some investigation, but always with some authority, public or private at her back. All in all, she's the kind of amateur sleuth you want on a case.

The title was a bit of a reach, but the image of the masher in hand was just amusing enough to be forgiven.

There are a couple of moments that made me snicker with amusement, some lines of pure exasperation, as if the characters themselves realise they are in a slightly crazy cosy (all the best cosy's are also somewhat crazy.)

I couldn't give it any higher a rating because there was so much that just didn't make sense, so much that was kept from us. I'm a big believer in a crime novel playing fair, and having stuff that the reader doesn't know, or happens off page, just isn't playing fair. The ending when it came, was completely out of left field, which would be fine if this was a thriller, but it isn't.

I still really enjoyed it, it was entertaining, easy to read, some characters you really found yourself rooting for and there was even one character I started off disliking but was completely turned around with by the end and that takes skill. It's a series I will continue but I hope the next one makes a little more sense.

~Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review~

[Tzia]

The town of Queensville is preparing for its annual Tea with the Queen event. It's a 3 day affair and of huge importance to the town - and for the first time this year it's Jaymie at the helm. As a constantly busy person, she's all to relieved to partner with own newcomer Nigel - that is...until she gets pulled into his unfolding drama. When a body is found on the final day of the event, Jaymie is pulled into the investigation. Can she work out what happened...and more confusingly, why?

This is the first book I've read in this series and I have to say, I did find it tricky being a newcomer. There were definitely points when I felt like I was missing something and that did stop me from being able to jump in with both feet. There were quite a few moments where things just didn't seem to make sense, the dialogue didn't help and it felt like a lot happened off page. Some of the characters seemed to do a personality 180 turn for no good reason, which was a little jarring at points.

I did have fun with this though. Jaymie is a really good main character, and somewhat unusually sensible! She doesn-t rush headlong into danger, is very clear about co-operating with the police and encouraging others to do so. She's inquisitive and able to get others to open up to her and doesn't make enormous logic leaps which is a major bug bear of mine.

The other regular characters seem well thought out and the relationships between everyone are clear - there's a good picture painted of the town and its inhabitants which I really enjoyed. There were a couple of characters of whom my perception changed as the book progressed, that's not always easy to do so definitely props there.

The last few chapters felt quite rushed in comparison to the rest of the book and the plot spiralled quickly. This was definitely entertaining and easy to read, I'll be coming back to this series for sure.

- Thanks to NetGalley for granting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review -

[Lady Galaxy]

The thing I always loved most about this series was how each book focused on a particular vintage kitchen item, giving background about the item, explaining how it came into her collection. This time, the vintage item was barely mentioned and then only because it was found on the body of the murder victim. There were details about the progress of the opening of her shop and tea room, but again the emphasis was on her badgering people for alibis and trying to solve the murder—and kids planting pumpkins. Who cares about kids planting pumpkins? For me, kids and husbands ruin the personal narrative part of cozies. And if she's so devoted to the kid, why wasn't she at the school Memorial Day program to see the kid give her presentation? Even though my mom couldn't drive and there is no bus service where I live, she found a way to make it to any school program in which I was a part.

The murder itself was well constructed. I figured out who dunnit it fairly early, but I kept having doubts, so it still kept me second guessing. The recipe at the end sounds yummy. I like that it doesn't have to go into the oven since my oven is currently out of order and I'm having trouble finding a replacement heating coil for a 34 year old Kenmore.

Ms. Hamilton, if you read reviews and see this, could you pretty please with sugar on it go back to focusing on the vintage kitchen items for which the series is named? Thank you. I'm old enough to have used, and still own many of the items you have written about in the past. Reading about them in your books often brings about happy memories. And yes, my mom had the utensils with the red and white handles. Our kitchen table had a white enamel top with red edges. There were pull out table extensions. (If you ever watched Gilmore Girls, one of the tables in the Luke's Diner was exactly like it.) Mom also had a tin canister set with red lids, white background, and clusters of apples decorating the sides. Wish I still had those!

[Vicky]

THOUGHTS: Jaymie Muller is trying to get her new store ready to open, help at her sister’s store, raise a child, and manage the Tea with the Queen weekend–just the biggest event of the season! She has to wrangle Nigel (owner of house where the event will take place), the volunteers, the chefs, and everything else and pray it doesn’t rain. What she doesn’t count on is a blackmailer photo-bombing the event and a dead body on the last day.

Even though the pace was a little slow, there were lots of suspects for the reader to check out. I will say, though, that the murder didn’t happen until almost half-way through the book, so there’s a lot of buildup beforehand. Actually, when you find out who the victim is, you might be surprised.

The characters are well done, especially Jaymie. And I loved that there is a descriptive “Cast of Characters” at the front of the book so you know who’s who and what the relationships are. That really helps if you haven’t read the other books in the series. What I found unique about the story was that it was German in flavor – the names of many of the characters and the recipe at the end. Very different from the usual small-town flavor.

Still, even though I found it a slow read, I did enjoy it and the ending was satisfying. I really liked Jaymie and her mother-bear attitude with her step-daughter and her organizational skills.

Recommended.

Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” Thanks to Netgalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for providing this ARC.

[Charissa Wilkinson]

I received this book courtesy of NetGalley for the purpose of a fair and honest review.

Overview: The town of Queensville, Michigan is right along the border of Canada. Ontario is right across from them. They are close enough to each other that Queensville hosts a 'Tea with the Queen' celebration for Victoria Day. Unfortunately for Jaymie, Nigel (the newest social media influencer) has offered to host 'Tea with the Queen' at his home, that he is renovating. And now, he needs help with a blackmailer plot. Can Jaymie make 'Tea with the Queen' a success. And can she help Nigel with his blackmail problem? Let's find out.

Dislikes: Ryan was a horrible person. The lazy little brat just thought that he was owed thousands without doing anything to earn said money. I guess that digging up dirt on people is a skill. But then he should have joined a gossip rag, and then published the dirt, getting paid for his mudslinging.

Then we get to the Kiwi or Aussie podcasters. Um, if someone has turned down your request for an interview, why would you be okay with stalking them? That's a good way to get yourself shot in some locations.

Likes: Mrs. Stubbs has a way with tact that I'm jealous of. I mean, she kept the original menu for 'Tea with the Queen', and convinced Nigel and Charley that it was their idea. That's skill.

Angela and the rest of the police force were willing to work with Jaymie.

Conclusion; This was an interesting mystery. If you are a fan of slow-burn cozy mysteries, then this book is for you. Enjoy the read.

[Shaina]

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Victoria Hamilton for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Masher of Ceremonies coming out May 19, 2026. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoy this author’s writing. I love cozy mysteries. This was a fun one. I enjoyed the characters. I would definitely check out more books by this author.

[Sheri Jesse]

Another very good installment in the series. I'd almost forgotten this series when I ran across the newest release and am so glad I did. Reading this book was like visiting old friends.

[Short, Sweet and Cozy]

Masher of Ceremonies is the 13th book in Victoria Hamilton's A Vintage Kitchen Mystery series and it is a good addition to the series. Jaymie Layton Muller is in charge of the annual Tea With the Queen fundraiser and is working with Nigel Charles Dudley who owns Stow House where the event will be held. At the end of the event they find someone dead and it leads to blackmail and secrets. Jaymie and her friends Val and Violet are creating Kitschy Kitchen, a store specializing in vintage kitchen items. Jaymie is married to Jakob and loves his daughter Jocie. Jakob is caring and supportive but is minimally involved in the mystery which works well. There are always some returning characters but some new ones as well which keep the books interesting. The murder doesn't happen for a while which slows the pace of the book. The characters are likable and Jaymie's family and friends make it nice. This is an enjoyable cozy mystery. I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley and Beyond The Page Publishing and I voluntarily leave this review.
#MasherOfCeremonies #AVintageKitchenMystery #NetGalleg #BeyondThePagePublishing

[Kristina Anderson]

Masher of Ceremonies by Victoria Hamilton is the latest A Vintage Kitchen Mystery. Because the cast and backstory build over time, it’s best to read this series in order. Jaymie has her hands full with opening a new store and organizing the annual Tea with the Queen event. If the tea is not successful, it will be discontinued, much to Jaymie’s dismay. There’s a lot happening in this story, and it never slows down. The whodunit was entertaining and fun to solve. I enjoyed hearing about the vintage kitchenware items. I wish Jakob and Jocie had a bigger presence; it felt like Hoppy got more page than Jaymie’s husband and daughter. I like the cast of quirky characters—they keep things time lively. The author weaves family drama, blackmail, murder, secrets, a store opening, and a grand tea event into a charming cozy mystery. Masher of Ceremonies pairs perfectly with a cuppa and a scrumptious scone.

[LittleRead]

Jaymie is bound and determined to make sure the Tea with the Queen event is one of the most successful in ages. After all, the society’s president wants to cancel it for good, but Jaymie and the others will do anything to keep it going. It’s part of their village and has been for a long time.

With everything planned and going as well as can be expected, the one item Jaymie didn’t plan having on the menu is murder. But there’s a body right there in the hedges and she finds it. Now if only Jaymie can help the police solve the murder and it’s not the new owner of the Victorian mansion where the event is held every year.

Can Jaymie serve up scones, tea, macarons and a murderer? Or will the whole event come crashing down around her and drag her under too?

I have always enjoyed this series. From vintage kitchen accessories to sweet fur babies and a solid cozy mystery in every entry, this one really delivers a healthy dose of cozy mystery every time. I will come back for more.

[Jess Hunter]

Another great installment of the vintage kitchen mystery series! It was fun to see Jaymie take on the Tea with the Queen event. I love this little town and all its eccentric and lovable characters.

I was sad there wasn’t more of Jakob or Jocie in this book, but it was an enjoyable read regardless. It was action-packed, and I didn’t expect the murderer to be who it was. Full of blackmail, murder, and plenty of secrets, there was a lot to love.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #BeyondthePagePublishing for an ARC