Theodosia does her best to keep Delaine calm and keep the wedding on track, but this proves to be an insurmountable task when the groom turns up dead. Delaine knows that Theodosia has a knack for successfully investigating various issues throughout the years, and she begs her bridesmaid to solve the murder of the man who was very nearly her husband. Although Theodosia is reluctant to do so at first, she slowly but surely gets pulled into sleuthing around, and she finds that there's much more than meets the eye with this late attorney.

Dougan's law partner is being less than forthcoming with Delaine about the will. Could it be that their business partnership gave him a motive to kill Dougan before he got married? Theodosia visits Dougan's ex- girlfriend (who attended the almost-wedding) to get some information on their relationship and Dougan's former drug use, only to find out that she had motives for wanting Dougan dead. And finally, the ATF is investigating Dougan's cigar store on suspicion of illegally importing Cuban cigars.

While she's sorting all of this out, Delaine lets Theodosia know that Dougan's house was part of a garden tour. As his house is next door to the Indigo Tea Shop, Delaine "suggests" that Theodosia can prepare his house, including providing refreshments. And to top it all off, a ghost hunting team from a reality television show wants to take film Theodosia visiting the crime scene.

Although the murder took place in the very beginning of the book, it took awhile for this book to really grab my attention, which I think had a lot to do with both Theodosia's reluctance to get involved with solving Dougan's murder and Delaine's bratty behaviour. Although it's understandable that she was grieving after Dougan was killed, she was painted in a very unsympathetic light from the first pages of the book, and nothing ever happened to make me root for her after that. Although I typically appreciate a book full of suspects and motives, SWEET TEA REVENGE felt overcrowded with them, and it felt as if more than one served as the proverbial red herring. The final piece of criticism I have is one I cannot share without revealing a plot spoiler, but it has to do with the true culprit and the reveal.

I typically enjoy this series, though, and I will continue to read it in the hopes that SWEET TEA REVENGE was a minor stumble in what is usually a very charming series with warm, inviting characters.

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